Madam, not sir

Madam, not sir

by | Oct 20, 2020 | Fiction

Featured image by Adejonwo Kizito and Dantala Ali. The tell-tale sign of squealing tires came first, skidding hard against the road as the owner struggled to avoid the inevitable. It was too late. At the intersection between Mississippi and King’s Cross roads, the two...
ON SURVIVING LIFE AND FIRE

ON SURVIVING LIFE AND FIRE

by | Oct 16, 2020 | Poems

You know the pain you have to go throughto be a bird flirting one window after anotherBeing in flight when your spine is that of a humanand your heart beat is that of a sparrowhijacked by an unknown gravity is the kindest wayTo survive on a pop lyric on top of an...
BURNT BREAD & SURVIVAL SONG

BURNT BREAD & SURVIVAL SONG

by | Oct 16, 2020 | Poems

You always ask, why is lifeAn olden photographthat evolves with time and gives awayher innocence to sultry, to little things of colourwhen life itself is a cosmic writer of poetrydenied of ethereal exploits in space. Blue flames are hard to light in the heartso is an...
My sister’s prayers

My sister’s prayers

by | Oct 9, 2020 | Poems

(after Derek Walcott’s ‘Love After Love’) I sometimes walk with Halima to a building where her pelvis is a bow and her legs draw whirlwind-circles on the roofing. I point out how badly her track suit needs stitching she smiles, pretends not to hear like when she prays...
To want to die

To want to die

by | Oct 9, 2020 | Poems

is to let your feet stiffen into a pillar of salt, to let them be torn apart, in a room full of dehydrated men, pilgrims advancing by faith, each seeking your temple key each seeking kind admittance each supplicant crooning passwords. Calling out. Come, salt of the...