We Could Have Phrased Goodbye Differently, & We Love in Transit | Kuln’Zu

We Could Have Phrased Goodbye Differently

I am having a relationship with a sentence

that blooms unsure with summer heat, it asks: what if?

Cold mornings, bird-songed early in September while

a lonely chill yawned for August, we shivered: why?

Sentenced, it rises to steam tea, Black, sweet, the colour
of a sleeve; in the morning we share

slowness: we keep talking, soft & honeyed hush

bare in each other’s secrets, loose on the lip

is cardamom, a dark beauty spot, words

lost to urgent breaths, a sentence

lifted past my lips – dearly departed and uttered

3000 miles away – too far so far to speak, a sentence

whose period is right around the corner

it sighs, sees me, and says; love.

We Love in Transit

Holding all we’ve ever been

in lips parted to story

in 2 suitcases and backpack

Holding all the ways to

de part
be part
a part
part of
part ly
part ner &
part hair and twist
and fragment story
lines at the terminal

Holding an endless embrace;

we break.

Kuln’Zu (Fred Zucule)

is a non-binary lens-based artist born and raised in Mozambique, and Kenya. Their aesthetic practice explores the transformative quality of art to heal and offer strategies of care, intimacy and mindfulness from an Afroqueer lens. They hold a BA in Africana Studies from Pomona College, and they are an alumnus of the African Leadership Academy in South Africa. They have work published or forthcoming on Agave Review, Kenga Magazine and Business Insider. They are on Instagram and Twitter as @kulnzu.