Stories from all categories

supermerch
4
In the supermarket I queued for the African check out dude who's always calm in the midst of all the Germanness. A blonde woman behind me set down, emphatically, a bagful of fresh pak choy ...read more
to the friend who couldn’t quit
I still spend an hour every morning coughing earnestly and can't laugh without coughing. I thought I was trapped for life. So I hear you and I just want to say: nicotine cravings last four ...read more
Make Africa Great Again
We went out to the white people's restaurant, as he calls it, which is a street stall on a dirt laneway behind the supermarket. There's no street lighting, no cutlery. Collapsible plastic tables are set ...read more
mud road
4
We are walking down the road in the middle of the night. The road is made of mud. Our new home is in a village and it has no address. An urban village, lapped on ...read more
hanging weekend
Ahhh, weekend in a hammock, swinging softly from side to side and hearing the waves crashing, the moon imperceptibly rising with its bald and honest glare, yes, you can hear it, you know it, we ...read more
waking up in Africa
4
It is my birthday tomorrow and I've woken up in Africa! Beautiful Ghana of the glorious peoples. At the spanking new immaculate airport a man was bobbing at his keyboard and singing, in the arrivals ...read more
subway sounds
In New York I came into 34th St subway station to hear a bunch of dudes playing a kind of washboard bluegrass. They weren't excellent but they had vigour. Called themselves the Ebony Hillbillies: cute. ...read more
damn straight
2
I went on a ten-day meditation retreat & on the last day, made an appointment to see the Teacher. The capital letter was visible in the way he held himself. "I need to leave." He ...read more
a trans man
8
Yesterday when he asked I told a trans-identified friend over coffee, No: you're not a woman. I told him how male-privileged he sounded, to me, when he dreamily explained playing around with his prescribed hormones ...read more