Author: Lion and Lilac
Four Poems|Grace Alioke
A Plea For Gratitude’s Face how would my lips roll out all the gratitude growing wings in her garden, or how would she sprinkle all the affection as lilies on your mild face, fair one? for you… you, Buttercup, are the breeze that warms my face whenever fear’s fierce breath […]
Flicker |Tiffany Lindfield |Fiction
Soiled blankets, so trodden with grime that the stench makes them weigh a ton. I pull one to my nose to smell it, like the dog used to sniff our britches—before he was shot by one of Stalin’s men. Mama used to hang the blankets and the rugs over the sawhorse in the yard and […]
Adaolisa’s Fate|Amifeoluwa Sabatina |Fiction
ADAOLISA “What are you thinking?” Miss Gini says, so loudly she jerks me away from my daydream. “Huh?” I whisper. Miss Gini gets up, and assertively plants herself in front of me. I already know she’s about to give me a major pep talk. “Do what you know your heart wants,” she states. “It won’t […]
Till The End |Joshua Pregbaha |Fiction
The day was going as normally as it could.The sun was out, the weather was warm, and Simeon, Efe’s best friend -and groomsman-, was getting his regularly scheduled beatdown on NBA 2k. Simeon had assumed that since it was Efe’s wedding day, he would go easy on him but the reverse was the case. “You […]
Makeshift| Michael Verderber|Poetry
Have you ever wanted something / so much you could just kill it? Strip away your conscience / take the fake just to refill it Suffer silence of your empty dreams / throw yourself into the river Isolated sitting “beside yourself” / neither of you are the giver [ Makeshift ] I […]
Four Poems| Maed Rill Monte
Hate is Catching Spiders (and Fleeing Flies) I can think of myself as Kurapika (My world’s not as fancy as anime) with a cross planted in the heart, (it’s more complicated than that) the cross ready to crush it to a pulp (like spiderwebs holding the dead) the moment I turned my hate away […]
A Storm for Jazz |Candace Meredith |Fiction
It has been a week since the rain has started. The wind surfers don’t care; they ride the waves inland. My bedroom is the vessel that protects us from the storm. My husband and I sit and gaze at the tundra that is falling from the sky; there is enough water to make a river […]
She Wears the Rainbow on her Waist|Adeola Juwon |One Act Play
CHARACTERS Dewunmi: A village maiden. Funmilade: A village maiden – Dewunmi’s friend. Dare: A young man – Dewunmi’s admirer. SCENE The early hours of a Saturday morning, two young women are on their way to the only borehole in the village of Alara. They have only their wrappers on. […]
Three Poems|Ivan Peledov
What a Waste A fox would never ask a rabbit where the trees are going at sunset, but clouds kiss empty freight cars and slowly implode. Awkward steps of the priests can’t repeat the pattern of the stars. Darkness curses them all, along with cows, traffic lights, flying saucers, divine flesh and fake music. […]
Four Poems| Sharif Shakhshir
Paradise for Coyotes For Katie I want to go broke with you. I want to face disaster and chase other foolish stars with silly names among the monosaurs and pegasi Let’s cross unwise hemispheres like coyotes disrespectful of borders. When the bad men build their sad conspiracies and chase us into the darkness the […]