Valentine Okolo

Valentine Okolo Poems

Valentine Okolo Biography

Valentine Okolo is a poet, a social activist and a spoken word artist. He is the author of the thought provoking book I Will Be Silent and the studio album I Will Be Silent Spoken Words. His poetry has been published internationally in various literary magazines, including Apogee Journal, Origins Journal, Shot Glass Journal, African Writer and Best New African Poets 2018 Anthology, edited by Tendai Rinos Mwanaka & Nsah Mala. An anthology of African poetry which brings together the work of 154 African poets from over 30 African countries, and the African Diasporas. His work was also featured in a community based pandemic poem, along with the lines of 220 other poets, selected from sixteen countries from across the globe. This community poem was published by Muse-Pie Press, a literary establishment based in the United States, which has been publishing award-winning poetry since 1980.)

The Best Poem Of Valentine Okolo

Sunglasses

I will wear sunglasses,
so as to hide the tears which form in my eyes.
For a man is not supposed to cry,
so they say,
and because of this:
my heart I have kept in a safe.

But I will wear sunglasses all the same
for I am emotional as poets come.
As emotional as Thomas
who found solace in a bottle.
As emotional as Byron
who went to Avalon without a drink.

For my feelings I carry with me,
visible for you to see
like Magritte's apple stuck to a forehead.

Glasses which will be taken off
when I go to bed at night,
lulled to sleep by the stars,
my nightmares forgotten.

And when tomorrow comes
again, to put them on.

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