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 [...]
The much-awaited day was finally here. On the 5th of December 2016, my father chauffeured me to the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport of Mauritius. Throughout the entire road journey that leads to the airport, I kept babbling about the iconic landmarks I intended to visit during my stay in Marrakesh. My father responded with occasional [...]
I can never forget how I made my life fall apart. How I watched it tear, with my eyes bulging with anger and my legs walking to a path I never knew, without hesitation. I was amazed at the journey beyond my family walls until I finally saw how dark the world was, felt the [...]
