Say yes to Mr. Original Swag, and he will hold your hand, fit his rust-orange fedora on his head, and dance you out of the world. Take you to his arena, outside space and time. Yes, that’s his name. It’s what everyone calls him. And it’s how he introduced himself to me. I don’t know … Read more
ACCEPTANCE A place where heroes go to rot their flesh to white bone. We Blacks have it, down to the whitest bone. They said, they said, and we heard their words. Here we are, alive and clicking from having met the orators of our time. How alive are we, I ask you? I have asked. … Read more
They ask you what Aliyah Danjuma reminds you of, and the word that bursts forth from your lips is the wrong one because you tell them she reminds you of glass. “Glass?” the man closest to you sputters out, a shaped eyebrow raised in condescension, “She reminds you of glass?” Yes, you want to say, … Read more
Gods love a good party, and it is the scribe spirit’s duty to record everything: heavenly decrees, the songs of the angels, and even the gossip the harmattan spirits and sandstorms whisper to each other as they kiss. Anansi’s cousin, the spirit of drunkenness, who once lived on the earth as a human, tells the … Read more
The appeasement ceremony happens on a Wednesday morning. You don’t know that you’re lost. You will never know. Your Gogo and Mama stand under that baobab tree, the one where you had your first kiss stolen by a boy you will never remember, the one where you played nhodo with a friend who later tries … Read more
I smell the imminence of my death. ‘’Finally!’ Today, we graduate from arwate girls to saale women ready for marriage. My fellow initiates beam, all of them looking forward to being 5th wives. But for me, death by the Miilika, to see Mama again, is utopia, as compared to a forcible wedlock. The promise of … Read more
As a frequent traveller to Okanowach, due to the nature of my work, I want to share what I’ve learned so far. To be able to visit Okanowach, you must lure it into existence, for this elusive place only makes its presence known to those who can reach it should they try. To get to … Read more
The day Nkatha fell began so unexceptionally ordinary in every way but for the warm, clear skies in the middle of July. The yellow sun above haloed bright over the snow-capped mountain so that everything its light touched gleamed in the startling hues of emerald and blue. And all about, stretched out far past the … Read more
When Natelo was 14 years old, she died. Her mother, Amy, was special; she could see and hear things that no one else could. Sometimes, she could even see into the future — as if her eyes were a God-given telescope. She had been blessed with this gift when Natelo was 11 years old, and … Read more
Bukata blasted off in her family drifter, accelerating into Chepela’s sky at the planet’s teeth-rattling escape velocity. Gravity pushed her stiffly into her seat, triggering the drifter’s A.I. to take over the rushed flight to orbit. The universe’s dark, radiated womb greeted the drifter with a cushioning embrace as propulsion slowed. She was late for … Read more