Maendo spread a raincoat on the sponge-soft sand and yelled, “I’ll sleep under the twinkling stars.” Soon, his dog licked his onion-smelling feet. By now, the moon flashed a bright, confusing light into his eyes. The boozer listened to the beats of drumming frogs, while the clicking lizards played the guitars in the background. “Sweet...
Kaningandu was chopping firewood when a chip shot into his left eye. Soon, he covered his left eye with a loop of leaves to soothe the burning pain. His misfortune did not, however, stop the moon-size-eyed Kasukona from falling in love with him. The girl’s nephews blamed Kaningandu for confusing her with the use of...
Long ago, when freshwater was soupy thick, two sky-high mountains stood between the teeth-grinding hills. They were separated by clouds of bubbling water. The two red stones on Mama Mountain’s chest hang loosely like emptied breasts. Now and then, the she-mountain smeared her lips with sunbow lipsticks. Soon, the midnight sun mirrored a chain of white...
Tjimariva tiptoed into his ex-girlfriend’s garden, and pressed his strawberry-like eyes at the sweet-smelling roses that had flowered overnight. Inside the plant pot, sky-blue flowers of smiling ten dollars saluted him, and he picked them. Soon he knelt before the indigo rose buds. Later, he lifted his chin and spotted crimson roses of twenty dollars...
Murise and a crowd of churned-milk tummy teens strolled to pick the wild berries and sugary treegums. The drifting rainclouds protected them from the skin-baking sun by spreading a cooling blanket over the children’s naked backs. Soon, Murise spotted a girl with bushy eyebrows, and adored her pencil-sharp nose. She, upon seeing Murise, flashed her...
Long ago when hairy roots used to grow atop the bushes, there lived Kangombo. Every reddish-yellow sunset, he hid in a moon-blocking cave, and swallowed white spider mites. One day, he looked at the stones and wished they could turn into goats. That morning, he hiked on a finger-like stone and shouted swear words. “I...
Chief Karuru cried against the fabricating of a hotel near the skeletal dock at Shark Island. However, the exotic tycoons had started with the construction of the hotel at the sand-buried concentration camp. Strangely, the red bricks and glass-wall rooms looked a lot like gravestones. A pack of moguls booked online to enjoy their fantasy...
Chief Tjiruru was 107 years old when the Odendaal Plan brought oil-soaked poles to Omusarakuumba. However, he refused the electrification of the oil-sand village. The magician feared that the streetlights would stop him from practising his charms in an eclipsing darkness. Last year, a flashlight between the clouds revealed his charm bracelet. Soon, the blue...
Have you ever jumped head-first onto the milk-white dunes of the Kalahari? Let’s unpack the riddles behind the sun-whitened sand and the white water. Firstly, the bitter watermelons called the tsama grew here because a god was mad at the hoodooed poachers. The white-bearded god poured foamy rain over the Kalahari. Secondly, the salty hailstones...
Heinrich missed playing mud castles under the spiny-thorn trees and trapping the green-tail birds. He missed throwing rocks at the cup-shaped birds’ nests. Now, the naked branches of trees stirred up his childhood memories. Under the unclothed branches, he rode humpback horses. Between these wind-torn branches, he planted his mint-scented tongue into the mouth of...