Misaligned Stars – Christy Ogbenjuwa
Misaligned Stars Christy OgbenjuwaI have been sick since I was born, but who would have thought it? I wouldn't have known if I had never tried to model, or rather, I wouldn't have known as early as I did if I had never tried to become a model. I tried to venture into...
Just a Friend – Edwin Chege
Just a Friend Edwin ChegeIt was about midnight when she texted: I’m with Hera, but I’m thinking of ditching her. I want to come over to yours. I’m only five minutes away. Moments later I heard a knock on my door. That was fast, I thought. I opened the door to Caren...
This Is What the Darkness Taught Me – Mofiyinfoluwa Okupe
This Is What the Darkness Taught Me Mofiyinfoluwa Okupei This darkness obliterates even the memory of tenderness. There are no caresses here. No embraces to ward off the pain. All you will have is the fading memory of softness. Here in this place, all you will find...
This Is Only the Beginning – Busamoya Phodiso Modirwa
This Is Only the Beginning Busamoya Phodiso Modirwa 1. I am aware of the piercing dark eyes behind me – their heavy gaze fixated on my every move. When I walk through the corridors, they trail behind, lurking. I have never seen them, but the same way I know my shadow...
Imagine Massawa – Saba Sebhatu
Imagine Massawa Saba SebhatuA fire is beginning to crack throughout the sky, day turning into an unnatural night; through thickets of smoke, the wind wrestles with the flora left on the ground. What was bright green turns into a scorched patch of earth. Shots fire...
Notes on a Plane – Siyanda Mohutsiwa
Notes on a Plane Siyanda MohutsiwaFrom all available evidence, the man sitting beside me was a Frenchman. He was one of a pair of middle-aged European men who’d descended on my aisle brandishing EU passports and little English. They spoke to each other in bursts and...
I’m Toni and I Approve This Message – K.E. Mullins
I’m Toni and I Approve This Message K.E. MullinsThere was a certain eeriness to the night, but I didn’t catch what it was, perhaps that sixth sense you fail to acknowledge. I failed. Epically. Let my mom tell it. I’d proven myself to be a true Mack or Williams or...
Everywhere You Go, There You Are – Thulani Angoma-Mzini
Everywhere You Go, There You Are A Review of Rémy Ngamije’s The Eternal Audience of One Thulani Angoma-MziniWe know much less than we think we do. We can hardly tell in real time which parts of our unfolding lives are good news and which are bad news. Not until right...
If a Bird Wishes to Fly – Adaeze M. Nwadike
If a Bird Wishes to Fly Adaeze M. Nwadike I was at the climax of my adolescence when I had my menarche. I did not tell my mother. I was too shy to mention to anyone that womanhood had come upon me; that I was beginning to ripen and soon, a man would pluck me like...
A Smuggler’s Story – Esther Eze
A Smuggler’s Story Esther Eze“Mummy, Ijeoma o, ahia oma o.” I am repeating the prayers my sisters flung behind my mother and me just before we left the house this morning. Our driver hits a pothole – sending me down from my mother’s lap – as he swerves to avoid...
The Daily Chaos of an Anxious Life – Rockebah C Stewart
The Daily Chaos of an Anxious Life Rockebah C StewartSometimes, I look back at my life at eighteen and wonder: if I knew the struggles that were ahead, would I have made the same decisions? Would I have remained in Grenada, satisfied with only an Associate Degree?...
For the Shell of a Woman – Timi Odueso
For the Shell of a Woman Timi OduesoYou grow up watching your grandmother waddle. Not in the humorous way penguins move with their hands plastered to their sides and their heads pushed forward, but in an arduous way – one that presses her soles deep into the rubber...