Scene 1: Men are like wolves, they enjoy the night and prey on the weak The moon begs them to stop howling at it, feels a false praise As it tries to light the way home for people like me For gentle people, who forget stars are dead Who live in the moment, and try to forget the ones that …
Out of Many, One People
When someone asks me how I identify myself I may say Canadian.This will always lead them to ask, “But where are you really from?” If I go to the generation before me, I would once again say that my mother was also born and raised in Canada. Deeper. I would finally explain that my grandparents are from Jamaica. Jamaica explains …
CITY, yr. 2267
You hop off the hover-monorail and onto the misty platform with shoulders slumped and eyes downcast. The doors slide closed behind you and the hover-monorail starts up again, floating along its path and into the distance. You are alone. Your face finally meets the sunlight. Your silver earrings shimmer in one of autumn’s first sunrises and you breathe in the …
Losing my Language
I was five years old when I visited Ghana for the first time. I don’t remember much, but the few memories I have are strong. The smell was the first thing I remember noticing when we came off the plane. It’s a warm, tropical, almost smoky smell that’s hard to describe, but it smells like home. I remember seeing myself …
Orí Buruku
Wáwòyí had been defeated. They say that Life is mysterious and that she chooses to bless and curse on a whim. For the entirety of Wáwòyí’s life, he had only experienced curses. From birth he had been unfortunate; to bring him into this world, his mother had sacrificed her life. If Life was kind, she would have made him a …
A Personal Letter
Dear Vabereke (Elders), I am certain that I do not have to introduce myself, but I feel some formalities may be in order. I am you, all together in one form, I am Zimbabwe, but I was known by other names in your time and the time before. I must acknowledge our family ancestors, tribal ancestors, and national ancestors of …
I Have Heard Many Things About You
This grief is limitless. She sees it extending endlessly into her future, she recognises it in her past. There’s a sadness she used to find impossible to explain, but now she recognizes it as this very grief. It is out of her control, a force from within that has formed into a partner she finds herself in some sick marriage …
