Glances, Coffees, Numbers, Roses, Vows Beaches, Scans, Pacifiers, Keys, Payments Overtime, Caffeine, Missed Calls Glares, Muttering, Withering Notices, Silence Custody.

Why is it the norm to get your daughters married? I was watching the recent Bridgerton series, and the effort and turmoil that Mama had to go through to get her kids married is praiseworthy. But is it really needed? Why can't one stay in their own house on a shelf, love Eloise, on taking this stand? But yet again, having seen Benedict pursue everything in life, be it arts, men or women, he still finds his life's purpose i...

My country used to be a placewhere one would not be tossed from gracebecause they didn’t hold some point of view. Where free speech was the cherished thingbecause it does make freedom ring!A fact that young and old both praised and knew. But now we monitor each thoughtbecause our products won’t be boughtif we say something deemed to be “unclean.” We examine every wordfor even if just wrongly heardan “impure” phrase can ma...

Aikasa’s eyes had gone wide as she processed the information Kenji just blurted out at her. She just remained there standing while staring at him. “Aren’t you happy? We are finally getting married…” Kenji asked her softly. He stepped closer and reached for Aikasa, but she immediately stepped back and glared at him. “You can’t do this to me…” she whispered, her voice shaking. Aikasa’s eyes started to well up as she tried t...

Lonely:With his good hand, Tom raised his glass and drank deeply. Blergh! He thought, making a face. Raspberry Vodka. It was all they had. All he could find in the house, all the other drinks and alcohol being wasted on the mourners at Cheryl's wake. He'd found the raspberry vodka in Sue's room, stashed under her bed. He didn't know what had possessed him to check there, but a thought at the back of his head struck him wh...

I lie face-up to feel the coolness of the room touch my skin; much as a lover’s hand might do. There’s a whisper of an air current that walks its fingertips of a breeze down my chest and across my nipple until it teases hairs on my manhood. The fingertips reach the tops of my thighs before the feeling dissipates. There is a presence on my skin and then there isn’t; a sense memory that comes and goes. The ghosts of our lov...

How beautiful you look today! Your hair just so and tucked away. Your face is beaming, your smile is bright, Is it because of something we shared last night?   How beautiful you look today! You glide just so and you sway. Your touch is loving, Your kiss is light, Is it because of something we shared last night?   How beautiful you look today! You look just so… Wait! Please look my way! Why… your eyes are misting, your lip...

Breakfast is a cookin’ and the bacon sure smells good, Mama’s hummin to the radio and a tappin’ her foot, Daddy’s smilin’ this morning and tickling little brother, Why is this day different than all the others?   A little giggle sits upon the tip of my tongue As I watch my Daddy play and have a little fun, But my giggle isn’t for my Daddy at play, Mama’s got her nightgown inside out today.   I see my Mama dressin’ nearly...

Standing in front of Principal Ozawa’s office door made her feel shivers all over her body. She does not know the reason why she was being called, but Tachibana-sensei told her it was something important. Thus, here she was. She knocked several times and waited until she heard Principal Ozawa’s voice beckoning her to enter. She reached for the doorknob and quietly entered the room. He was seated on his large but seemed to...

Mam and I have lived alone ever since Da died. I remember that day almost twenty five years ago as it were yesterday; there was a terrible storm and Da was outside fixing the tarpaulins covering the hay bales when a freak gust of wind uprooted the ancient oak tree beside the barn. Da was crushed under timbers from the barn and died a few hours later in hospital from his internal injuries. No one knew how old the oak tree...

In hindsight, there was an inevitabilityTo the tragedy that unfolded that day,And no doubt that responsibility lay,With the magnate’s conceited pride,In proposing a match of such unsuitabilityJust to restore the company’s image,Regardless of the feelings of the bride.Despite his own family’s humble lineageAs a child, she had been strictly forbiddenTo associate with the grubby childrenOf the common people he so despised.Th...

Barely visible in the inky gloom,The cold bodies of the young lovers lay,Just a glimmer of pale flesh in the dark,The watery fastness their woeful tomb.Unmoved by the sun’s warming ray,Never again would they rise with the larkAnd in the meadows laugh and playLike innocent children out of school,Or lie on shady banks beside the brookOn hazy afternoons where the air was coolHappily lost in the pages of a book,Dreaming of da...

1 “Oh Carl, you can’t expect me to believe that someone stole your pants at the gym, can you?” Carol asked. There was no heat in her voice, yet, which surprised and momentarily pleased her.“My left sock, too,” he lifted his bare foot and waved it toward her somewhat lamely. “My pants and my left sock.”“Carl.”“I know,” he said with a tone of concurrence. “It’s inexplicable.”“Nothing is inexplicable,” Carol said somewhat te...

I sat leaning against the stone pillar of the decades-old bridge, watching as the sun began to rise over the horizon, my legs dangling over the edge, my hand resting on the recently installed railing.No traffic would cross the bridge coming into the quiet backwater town that had been our home all our lives, and I concealed myself well enough not to be seen by any motorists leaving for their big city job. When the school y...

Nsansa was right when he said I would be blamed for Uliya’s death. The young blossoming and fertile second wife of my husband had succumbed to a mysterious fatality, and I was the only witness.  A hundred villagers surrounded us as we sat on the ground. Uliya’s mother wept violently on my far right, and four elders sat in front of us.  As I expected, my husband passionately vouched for me. His sister-in-law Tashani spoke...