In the summer of 1986 I joined the United States Army Reserve. I was 19 years old and had no inkling of the nature of my upcoming journey. I was young and…
Category: memories
in the small places
I’ve always felt that I, human, am frighteningly small and whatever this is that we exist within is big, bigger than anything I could describe with human words. Not even numbers, math,…
the potential for a memoir
One of my advisors a year ago encouraged me to write a memoir based on a writing prompt during one of our residency workshops. He was so enthralled by what I had…
a return to locs
My DNA has warned me that if I keep on with this nonsense about growing out my natural hair without locs, there will be hell to pay. I get death threat-like whispers from my cells that I need to restart my locs, or else. This is a trying time, when the body actively participates in…
a return to locs was originally published on zaji
i am wanting
I no longer remember who I am, nor why I am. Inside this foreign skin I breathe. I inhale the world I’ve wished for in far away dreams and exhale the world…
the clouds in prayer
The clouds interlace fingers seeking prayer, an impassioned supplication to the un-gods. They spread across skies gathering stories of un-time, spaces inside cycles that collect memories we will never touch, nor taste….
the potential for loneliness
Someone called me today, a loved one. She said she was lonely. But I am too far away to just show up on her doorstep and take her out so we can run the streets like school girls. I could hear it in her voice, the loneliness she tried to conceal behind laughter as she…
the potential for loneliness was originally published on zaji
the story of leaves
I took this photo more than five years ago. Each time I revisit it I see something I never noticed before. It is not only majestic, but the leaves tell a story…
very superstitious
Writing Prompt: Superstition Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDZFf0pm0SE?rel=0] This song takes me way back. I was five years old when it came out, but a teenager when…
fearless in dusty blue
Writing Prompt: Fearless Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt. Sadly, what I’m about to write is not fiction. It is a very real conversation from a few days…
upon the shelf
Writing Prompt: Shelf Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt. Little eight year old girls make soccer balls in Pakistan; fingers roughened by sturdy leather, needles and thick thread….
autobiography in sounds
Between last night and this morning I’ve shared on my timeline a bit of my soul through the music I listen to. It is a huge part of my soul autobiography. Please,…
inside myself
Find me inside myself. Search there. Sometimes I’ll hide behind my cousin who died when I was about 14 years old. Or my sister who died 9 years ago. There you will…
stolen
i am curled inside beaten skin a kiss stolen at fourteen the thief was like a father but he didn’t wear a white collar his water was not holy yet he was…
papers
i tossed papers into the fire. the words that turned to ash rose higher than their importance, but i still feel free now, from those words that tell truncated stories of who…
trapped inside unsafe
Writing Prompt: Safety First Share the story of a time you felt unsafe. I am a brown woman on a planet that places me beneath all other humans. There has never been a…
jamaica…land of…
There was so much to see on my trip home. The last time I visited my family in Jamaica was around 15 years ago. The land, as expected, was lush in the…
in the land of scattered memories
I was pleased to learn that my memoir excerpt was posted to AfricanVoices.com. What a lovely literary magazine. http://africanvoices.com/avblog/in-the-land-of-scattered-memories
the conjure woman
i don’t want to be a writer. i don’t want to tell my stories that come only from memory. i want to be a conjure woman. my medicine bag filled with ink….
at the end of it all – my obituary
Writing Prompt: In Loving Memory Write your obituary. zaji didn’t want to be good or bad. she wanted to be wild and free. she wanted to run naked through an open field…