Glissade

The average Hausa trader is voluble. Ask the price of an object in a rural market, he’ll reply, “Hundred. Do you want me to speak gaskiya?”

  He brought an honesty to work deemed unskilled and menial. A self-respect that towered over the egos of overlords occupying fancy positions, in a hierarchy of thanklessness. He had to work. As a younger man, he preferred the solitary jobs that kept him away from the world for days and weeks. Sometimes it got …

Little Inhabitants The poet wakes in the middle of the night to find that his room, Barely enough for his lean body, is a megacity for the little Inhabitants. Roaches are going and coming, each one with A different sense of urgency, some slow as clumps of dew, Others civil servants in love with the …

In movies, the actors intertwine lips, and hold the other person’s bodies. You wonder if you should do this. Kendi beats you to it.

Familiar slogans clog social media pipelines. The red river swells with braids undone.

1. It’s midnight. I’m sitting on the veranda drinking cardamom coffee, trying hard not to call Chris. “Don’t call him and accuse him,” my therapist says. “That will only make things worse.” She suggests filling my mouth with water and keeping it there. “Bite your tongue if you feel you might say something that will …

ISSUES

Subscribe to the Efiko Newsletter

From the Archives

Join Us