The abduction of the chief sent cries of pain and panic rippling through the village. Chief Konkwe was the head of Lukaro not just in status, but in power, too. He was a leader who was not scared of getting his hands dirty and he led his village with an iron fist. It was no [...]
I sleep in a hut of palms with you and the restless woodworm as the sun comes up with the elegance of the hibiscus you leave on a pilgrimage of wishes I watch over dry banana trees and wannabe mangoes and I lose to cards with Monkeys When in the afternoon all [...]
For three days it has rained intermittently The stalks have altered their stance into an eternal bow / and the roads are now mud-colored. My neighbor’s house now glugs water through an open roof— the aftereffect of an ardent rainstorm. My dad says God is attempting to cleanse the earth from darkness and the [...]
Memory is the story you were told about a city which fell off an atlas into the hands of assailants, who slashed the tongues of your elders, and smothered the night with bullets and blood. You were told that the sea was freedom when your fathers and sons drowned with chains into the blueness of [...]
Stuck in a moment, a moment that brought with it peace; an acceptance of fate. In this moment the confusion was over, he accepted a fate that was never his. The people that poured reviling vomit on him were gone and the echoes of their puke dried off. He had a series of wishes, wishes [...]
We are chandeliers with crystal brightness, The sun embraces us from her residence We have sinned against our souls & soils, Forgive our faults & let this hunger go down With the setting sun. We are rivers flowing into springs, Cliffs, gulfs, we fall into ourselves —water. No one resents water, may this thirst [...]
Help me to forget The land with devastated buildings, The smokes without fire, The trees lying lifeless, and The soldiers running restless. Help me to forget The forever dead ends, The runaway parents, The massacred children, and The whirlwind that swept their hope. Help me to forget The konga without boom boom, The [...]
As giant ants march ahead in nightly arrays Demonstrating against the ruling humans Along the main street of every major city Hordes of vampires flood in, Screaming aloud, Riding on hyenas and octopuses, Waving skeletons in their hairy hands, Whipping at old werewolves Or all-eyed aliens standing by With their blood-dripping tails Gathering behind [...]
Once, when the boy barely came to the man’s knees, when the man had to tilt to reach the boy’s tiny, soft hand, he would gently enfold the boy’s fingers into his own and guide him to the water’s edge. Now, after years of absence and interference - separated as other’s conflicts became theirs - [...]
~ tomorrow, when God calls from the heavens, we will say Amen because we have learnt that broken things don't fly they don't soar, they search through the dirt waiting for redemption. ~ today, we will lift our voices like cherubs and sing away the filth that clads our body. with black-winged cherubs screaming [...]
Sub-Saharan Magazine 