Men Like Chocolate But Don’t Say So
Oct 17, 2002
MILDRED Kiconco Barya’s anthology of poetry, Men Love Chocolates But Don’t Say So is the winner of this year’s National Book Trust of Uganda (NABOTU) literary award in the poetry category.
By Geresom Musamali
MILDRED Kiconco Barya’s anthology of poetry, Men Love Chocolates But Don’t Say So is the winner of this year’s National Book Trust of Uganda (NABOTU) literary award in the poetry category.
She wins the award by spilling secrets that she would have had better sense to keep to herself.
Kiconco claims in her poem on page 25, that her admirers, the men, will only rush to welcome her back and receive a chocolate in due course if her fellow women are not watching. She says if on the other hand there are fellow women watching, then the men will shy away and wait for another chance.
Men certainly love chocolate, but they also love her. The reason why the men do not fuss about her in public is because they respect her and they do not wish to spill any secrets about what she does to please them and vice versa. But gosh, trust Kiconco to throw her caution to the winds and tell it all in the excitement of her 92 page poetry.
That aside, Kiconco’s poetry is quite moving. In ‘Playing with the Words,’ for instance, she displays a mastery of her language.
In the 14 line piece she insists on end-rhyming fourteen words and still making sense. In Father Son Dialogue, she scribbles a narrative piece on a father who probes into what is gnawing at his son’s soul. And imagine the shock when the son simply says it is none of the old man’s business.
The trouble is that as Kiconco progresses, she begins to echo well-known bards.
In the ‘Farmer-Writer Conversation’, I overhear Hamlet’s famous line about words, words and yet more words.
If you value verse in its most free form, this book is a must-read or rather, a must-buy. Ends
MILDRED Kiconco Barya’s anthology of poetry, Men Love Chocolates But Don’t Say So is the winner of this year’s National Book Trust of Uganda (NABOTU) literary award in the poetry category.
She wins the award by spilling secrets that she would have had better sense to keep to herself.
Kiconco claims in her poem on page 25, that her admirers, the men, will only rush to welcome her back and receive a chocolate in due course if her fellow women are not watching. She says if on the other hand there are fellow women watching, then the men will shy away and wait for another chance.
Men certainly love chocolate, but they also love her. The reason why the men do not fuss about her in public is because they respect her and they do not wish to spill any secrets about what she does to please them and vice versa. But gosh, trust Kiconco to throw her caution to the winds and tell it all in the excitement of her 92 page poetry.
That aside, Kiconco’s poetry is quite moving. In ‘Playing with the Words,’ for instance, she displays a mastery of her language.
In the 14 line piece she insists on end-rhyming fourteen words and still making sense. In Father Son Dialogue, she scribbles a narrative piece on a father who probes into what is gnawing at his son’s soul. And imagine the shock when the son simply says it is none of the old man’s business.
The trouble is that as Kiconco progresses, she begins to echo well-known bards.
In the ‘Farmer-Writer Conversation’, I overhear Hamlet’s famous line about words, words and yet more words.
If you value verse in its most free form, this book is a must-read or rather, a must-buy. Ends