by Bolaji Olatunde November 22, 1997. I stared at the ceiling of my very dimly lit room – the outside lighting of the building provided the little illumination – with, I am sure, the usual blank, post coital expression which I discovered long before that cool Saturday morning that I always seemed to have on my face after indulging in [...]

 by Ikhide Ikheloa   Brother – teeth flashing in the cant of compliments Brother – gold-rimmed glasses Across eyes that go blue at a word from the Master Poor brother in your silk-lined tuxedo Chatter and whisper and swagger through condescending drawing roomes We pity you The sun of your land is no more than a shadow Across the calm [...]

by Abimbola Adelakun A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike…. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. - John Steinbeck _____ I have set before you an open door which no man can short. I read the sticker pasted on one of the cracked windows of [...]

The Family Meeting The meeting during which Moremi’s fate was to be decided was held in the parlour of Alhaja’s house. The parlour was the biggest room in the house with several old fashioned couches spread around it. Some of the couches were two sitters while some can seat three. The cushions were covered with faded indigo dyed cloths. The [...]

 by Ikhide Ikheloa I am hungry. Very hungry. And hunger drives my brain cells to a certain point of brilliance, that hell-nirvana that my adversaries, and quite a few friends, call stark raving, certified lunacy. And as always happens when hunger places my growling stomach under house arrest, I commence esoteric ruminations, thinking deeply profound thoughts, or as my detractors [...]

By A. Igoni Barrett The morning he slapped his mother, Dimié Abrakasa was preparing to leave for school when she rose from bed, drank the last of the gin he had bought her the previous night, threw the bottle in the corner, then bent close and said, ‘I hate your eyes, my son.’ 1 Daoju Anabraba turned to alcohol after [...]

by Adaeze Ibechukwu   ‘How and where do I begin?’ I ask my younger brother as he opens to the middle page of his long note exercise book and rips off two sheets of paper from the book. ‘Are you sure these will be enough?’ I ask again. He replies, ‘If it isn’t, I will get more sheets of paper’. Nodding [...]

by Ikhide Ikheloa -       Ring! Ring!! Ring!!! -       Hello! Who is that? -       Papa! It is me! Your son! -       I say who is that? -       It is me! Your son! Calling from America! -       Ah! Is that my son? Wonderful! Thank God! You will live long, my son! I was flashing you and you were not picking up your [...]

by Olumide Abimbola Fola stood before her father’s sickbed, staring at him with what seemed like rapt attention but she wasn’t seeing anything. As she stood staring, her feelings traversed the fields of sympathy, pity, disgust, and anger. These feelings were so deep that the images they called-up in her mind were so overwhelming she felt they would choke her [...]

by Ayodele Olofintuade Kudirat was not in the mood for a party, but it was Chioma’s thirtieth birthday (was that the sixth or seventh time she was celebrating her 30th? Kudirat was not so sure but who cares anyway, her latest boyfriend is the Speaker at the House of Representatives so he can afford to throw her as many 30th [...]