Leena Hallonen, Nora Nadjardian, Christina Chin, Uchechukwu Onyedikam

WHAT THE FRUIT BAT DREAMS OF

Nora Nadjarian

in the electric night is the smell of fig blood. Remembers

flying into the thin thread of white noise, away from humans

stoning her witchy heart. The bat tries on moonlight, like a silky

robe, while the darkness stretches, hangs in déjà-vu caves. Good sex is

an ancient act and now with magic-music in her belly she folds herself, roosts

in pitch-black goodness.

TALES IN THE MOONLIGHT

Christina Chin/Uchechukwu Onyedikam

the tradition

burning herbs

its scents

Ilé-Orí

of getting high on spirits

long queue

in the tattered hut

palm wine tapper

the sap flows

three times

daily

in the treetop

collecting last night's

toddy

Ógógóró

libation

life’s devotion

concerns

stick graphics

ancestral shaman

locked in a trance

on the cave walls

the dig —

learning history

artifacts of our forebear

running errands

a ritual

traps his soul

an avenger

goes about

comes back about

the rebound

Èṣù

ART EYES FULL OF WONDER by LEENA HALONEN

Leena Halonen is a self-taught multi-artist (painter, photographer, actor, singer-songwriter) from North Karelia, eastern Finland. The name Leena uses on Instagram, Metsakulkiainen, means "The one who wanders in the forest". Leena paints with self-made acrylic paints and soft pastels, usually painted on recycled materials, preferably wood or plywood. Leena’s method of painting is intuitive – she often doesn't know beforehand what she is going to paint; the painting shows its form during the process.

Nora Nadjarian is a poet and writer from Cyprus. She has won prizes or been commended in numerous international competitions including the Live Canon International Poetry Competition and Mslexia. Her work has been published in The Interpreter’s House and Magma. Her poetry collection, Iktsuarpok, was recently published by Broken Sleep Books. brokensleepbooks.com/product-page/nora-nadjarian-iktsuarpok

Christina Chin is a painter and haiku poet from Malaysia. She is a four-time recipient of top 100 in the mDAC Summit Contests, exhibited at the Palo Alto Art Center, California.

Uchechukwu Onyedikam is a 'mad' creative artist based in Lagos. He's a well-published Poet. His poems have appeared in Amsterdam Quarterly, Brittle Paper, Poetic Africa, Hood Communists, The Hooghly Review, etc.