you laid here, on my bed
within ear reach and finger touch
but I was mute, crippled
more than mere flesh and bone (and 3 other poems by Linda M. Crate)
don’t get mad at women
for refusing you
we want to be seen as something more
than our mere flesh and bone
women don’t owe you anything (a poem by Linda M. Crate)
we don’t owe you anything
just because you were nice to us;
FAREWELL, NNEDI (a short story by Jason Joshua Chigozie)
Mama has always known pain. She had lost every battle in life, battles she fought armed with only love. As her accusers’ words stung her, she looked up and recounted her losses in loud wails punctuated by weeping bouts.
FESTIVAL OF CLOUDS (a poem by Salam Adejoke)
The wind hummed along
Then it was cloudy and windy
And soon all was bright and clear
And cloudy once again
HELIUM BALLOON (a poem by Franklyn Orode)
There are days when the coughing clouds spit acid on me
When rain comes pouring like prickly pieces of memories
AYOMIKUN (a short story by Temiloluwa Glory Motajo)
I was tired. I took a pillow over its face, its blind innocent face, and did not give a second thought. I killed it and by the next minute, murder had become my surname.
‘NIGHTS VOID OF DAWN’ & ‘WILL YOU STAY FOREVER?’ (two poems by Adeyeye James Oluwatobi)
I said I know what love is
I saw how you undo your pain
& sorround your broken heart with roses
Luscious, beautiful, poignant!
BEDBUGS (a poem by Adedamola Jones Adedayo)
Sometimes my skin slithers that I feel
snake-calculating gestures of foreboding,
HUE (a poem by George Oge-Kalu Comfort)
The world made her the best version for herself
Even when she was seen as just a rare piece of china on her mother’s shelf