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
After they married, Moleboheng and Tsepang were the image of the marital bliss she had always imagined. She baked every morning and filled their kitchen with a nostalgic sweetness. Moleboheng knew her way around the kitchen, and she had an especially good baking hand. A meticulous hand which always emerged from the flour bin with … 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
And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thine power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand… Job 1: 12 The village of Kamadzi was the capital city’s underprivileged neighbour. One only had to drive a couple of miles outside Lilongwe before reaching the indistinct dirt road that branched … Read more
Minika stacks her waist beads one after the other. Red coral on eel-bone on bronze. Strength on wisdom on luck. She layers on the traits and breathes out the tying song in her low, gruff voice. The waistbeads sit on her low waist, over the bulge of her stomach. She fingers the beads reverently; she … 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
You The tents and stalls are alive, and so is the ground beneath your feet. They rotate, shift, and spin, like chess pieces on a chessboard moved by invisible hands, until once again, you are thrust into unfamiliar territory. You grit your teeth in frustration. Seconds ago, you had found the Shaman’s tent, now it … Read more
The scorching sun beat down mercilessly, casting a harsh glow over the ruins of old Nairobi. Simiren leapt over chunks of debris, never missing a step even as his eyes scanned the desolate landscape. He ran his hands through his ochre-caked locks, the undying symbol of Ole Nyirobi since before, at least according to the … 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
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