‘When I was first brought here, Those hallways were more beautiful Than any palace…’—Merlin Two lines stretched apart And we fell through. The Isle of the Blessed. Shrouded by mist, Pulsing with possibility and life; The air never extreme Which for rain had a little silver dew. Your voice was a given, [...]
There was a forceful banging at the door. Gadi was up and getting dressed. He looked over his shoulder at his wife. “I love you,” he said. “Don’t worry. Stay in bed.” He whistled as he limped down the corridor, a slight sway to his gait due to a childhood accident that broke his right [...]
Driving home from the office on Addis Ababa evenings, but not all, The berbere makers would grind chiles and spices into a mix In small mills on the back streets, the smells floating over the beeswax Candlestick sellers and men drinking coffee, passing through the car window. Berbere is found in [...]
Ills, thriving on carts with colourful wheels, Errors, steaming from grey pots of ignorance, Rotten stars, smiling gaily from above. Wherewithal shall salvation be? Corrupted gems, polluted treasures, Thieves, with ties and well-suited suits, Men with the belly of a ball, in flowing agbada. Unto which rock shall we call for safety. A [...]
Jimi got off the motorcycle when it arrived at the junction that led to Jericho Villa, a sly smile plastered across his face, "Cheers to the first of its kind," he muttered as he enjoyed the charms of the odd hour. Whenever he came home in the past, there was always the stream of evening traffic, [...]
"You ill-mannered woman!" The yell that filled the room startled Adesua as she walked into her father's quarters. The woman who yelled pointed a finger at the other. "Why would you think my son stole the talisman?" The older woman didn't budge at the act. She only adjusted her crown before speaking up, "Do you [...]
Tales by moonlight are the archives from which our history is passed down through generations. One story after another, the old and frail gather their young and feed their minds with events that they too will pass on to their children when the cycle of life has greyed their hairs and hunched their backs. The [...]
I know what it means to set a time-bomb. It is your mother kneeling for the births of going-to-die children. That is what it means to be an Abiku; a sun that shines during the day and gets clouded by the spirits of the night. I walk in the streets like a squirrel, taking every [...]
I’m standing on a Cliffside guarding this border, my diary in hand, looking unto yesterday - a time when I wanted nothing but death. O body! How have you grown! Away from negatives, all strengthened as I am in this momentous adulthood. I owe God today and the father that fostered me. * Yesterday, I [...]
The woman never looks at Nana. She is always bowing, her hands holding the hem of her black threadbare hijab and removing strands. Nana would ask if she slept well last night if the medication worked, and the woman would start shaking her head frantically. She would stand and pace about the room, muttering, littering [...]
