Drawing from Igbo heritage, diasporic dislocation, and a life lived between Nigeria and the United States, A Kiss That Never Was ushers readers into the fragile country of the “almost” — where heartbreak is not an ending but the spark that begins the writing
KELSAY Books has announced the release of A Kiss That Never Was: Poems of Heartbreak & Almost Love by Nigerian-American poet Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo. It is available worldwide on December 5, 2025.
In this collection, Okonkwo bares the grudges of a love that never fully opened, the stubborn ache of a promise that refused to die, and the unique triumphs wrestled from those ruins. The poems braid personal confession with far-flung myths and freshly minted farewell philosophies.
At the book’s centre is a decades-long dialogue with “Zp,” a woman whose near-mythical absence shaped his art and starved his smile. Through poems, elegies, and political meditations, he considers what it means to love in an age shifting from pen-pal tenderness to the unsteady light of the Internet.
Drawing from Igbo heritage, diasporic dislocation, and a life lived between Nigeria and the United States, A Kiss That Never Was ushers readers into the fragile country of the “almost” — where heartbreak is not an ending but the spark that begins the writing.
In a world fluent in breakups, few linger on the heartbreak that came before love—the kind that never stood a chance. This collection dwells in that territory with equal parts longing, ache, wonder, and unspoken what-ifs.
“A Kiss That Never Was,” says Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo, “is for anyone who felt deeply for someone whom life refused to deliver. If you have ever truly lived, you will find yourself on its pages—sometimes laughing out loud, sometimes gripping the edges.”
More than a poetry book, A Kiss That Never Was is a walk through sealed compartments, a journal of emotional honesty, and a diary of quiet defiance.
Okonkwo writes of love that never arrived, heartbreak without closure, and the truths we carry but rarely name. With restrained lyricism and intimate storytelling, his voice resonates with modern romantics, reflective wanderers, and anyone who has survived the gravity of almost-love.
Divided into two parts, the collection also turns its gaze toward dreams that never found air—ideas abandoned at the brink, nations that never formed, and ideals that slipped into stillbirth.
Already, the book is generating early buzz in poetry circles for its emotional force, performative precision, and unsettling relatability.
Where to Find the Book: Available through Amazon, Kelsay Books, Ingram, and independent bookstores.
Kelsay Books: https://kelsaybooks.com/products/a-kiss-that-never-was-poems-of-heartbreak-almost-love
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kiss-That-Never-Was-Almost-Love/dp/1639808280
Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo’s other works include Children of a Retired God, This American Life Sef, and Chimamanda: The Adventures of Little Mermaid’s African Cousin. Under the alias Rudolf t.g. Hess, he is the author of The Secret Letters of President Donald J. Trump, aged 72 1/6, and The Secret Letters of President Donald Trump, aged 73. His e-books, written under the pseudonym Rudolf de Passé, include Please Forgive Me: A Letter From Prison, When Trump Met Kamala: A Conversation That Could Only Be Imagined, and Rev. Sister Agnes’ Tales From Hess Island.