Hanging Participle
By Anna Kente I am becoming. I have the proof. Documents, photos, evidence. Raise the right and you are an American. They give you a passport. Your new identity. You are Tri-lingual. Name how many: one. two. three. Stripes are there on the U.S. flag? And you learn the Preamble, Bill of Rights, First Ten Amendments. […]
Justino
By Pedro Rosa-Mendes The news spread through the camp: Justino knew then that they would continue to hold him. The president was dead. His plane had crashed. Justino is a free man. All his years as a prisoner – half his life – no power has been able to hold him up. No one can. […]
Remembering Biafra
By Olu Oguibe And where Is that accent from? He asked politely. Biafra, I replied That’s where I’m from. Biafra, he repeated And pondered awhile I’m sure I’ve heard Of that nation before. It’s not a nation Sir, I corrected Only a notion In the imagination. Well, he replied After much thought There are […]
The Amazing Career of Passport Number B957848
By Akin Adesokan (For Larry Siems & Aimee Liu) I The wait would have begun on the line at the British Consulate in Lagos, where dreams collapsed from standing too long in the sun. But the story of standing in line at the AmEmbassy on Eleke Crescent (renamed Louis Farrakhan Street, and re-renamed Walter Carrington […]
Valladolid is not Spain, but it is
By Peter James Hudson They say that Valladolid was the only town in Spain where people wept openly when Francisco Franco died. That young women only fuck their boyfriends once a week. On Tuesdays. And then only for short stints after five in the evening. While I’m not sure if it happened on a Tuesday, […]