Shall I tell you of the bad bard whose vices know no known bounds? Shall I drive my quill over the papyrus, to the life of one worse than Loki of Norse? He is the Don Juan of the land’s leading literati, a Hitler wielding welded words in place of the Nazi army. Darling damsels [...]
Who will marry me? Who will marry this smeared calabash on my head? It sort of looks like treasure passed down from my three mothers: one who wore stolen necklaces made of gold plated silver; she learnt to pick locks from strong chains while her father watched the random direction of the wind. The mother [...]
Underneath the heap of rocks and stones a restive but captive stream waits, listening to the hilarious uproar of tumultuous world and of gaudy nature and cries to be a part of them and a heart of their joint incarnation for their vitality and immortality, flowing and cleaning the century-long dumped dirt and garbage, singing [...]
Congo. A bongo. A drum and a joke. A man on his knees with a knife to his throat. Bombing The Congo. A Belgian pastime. Lay out the bodies and dust them with lime. Rubber, Our Mother. A tree leaking gold. Lapping that sap? King Leopold! A song without notes. Dust on the tongue. No [...]
I was set at the very onset of the olden time when history was just born engraving me on a piece of stone, diagonal to the eyes but still straight to touch the universal heart inspiring artists to handshake with me appreciating me a gorgeous part of art God-fearing to touch the dust of my [...]
You chant, plead and pour libations on tethered stones, call forth lost gems trampled beneath desecrated soil while palm trees wave to dried up sappy sap. Amulets are but charmed wishes, imaginary baits of burnt out fretful fishermen. Treasures are only worth a dime to the hungry. Listen to yourself converse as the sky sleeps, [...]
You have a head, I have a head; Hence, we are alike. But you say you are man, and I am not. Therefore, I am weak. ~ I have a brain, Just like you do. Therefore, I can think And do the things you can. But you insist that I am frail. ~ You have a [...]
We upload your consciousness, it runs in a simulated 1960s Lagos, the quaint elder city; but it's totally cool! OK, it runs slowly, and it's grainy (a few details are lacking), but the Uploaded never notice; they lack detail too. Your body is destroyed in the process, but it's immortality; don't worry, we keep you backed up, we [...]
While some played for chump change, she played for rain born of island people stolen to move the great machines on another stolen island once rimmed with hills and green. The vast teal sea was always near. She sang when it was blue. She went within, among the finned. It taught her to sing true, [...]
The wildebeest— with formidable horns curved and hooked to gore, musculature evident in Serengeti sun, hooves heavy as iron, agile as a gazelle’s —prepare to cross the Mara River. Nile crocodiles lie in wait, their backs rippled like quiet water. Black eyes, like hungry bugs hatching from shadows of waves, survey the herd at water’s [...]
Sub-Saharan Magazine 