In the conclusion to this collection, I critically examine the theme of pluralism through the legacy of the poet Sargon Boulus (1944–2007), Kirkuk’s most famous writer. Boulus once described Kirkuk’s culture as a ‘crucible’ whose vernacular multilingualism made him into a writer. If Iraqis see Kirkuk as a microcosm of Iraq’s diversity, Boulus is most often claimed as a human exemplar of the value of that pluralism. Yet, there are competing versions of his legacy that lead to incompatible readings of his work. Boulus’s own words reveal that he was less interested in diversity, heterogeneity or ethnicity than he was in developing layered understandings of literature and land. His literary project was not nostalgic and did not elide differences. Ultimately, northern Iraq’s history of conflict amid pluralism must be reclaimed and explicitly reckoned with in order to understand the extreme divisions and homogenization of communities and territories facing Iraq today.