What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky

by Lesley Nneka Arimah

When Enebeli Okwara sent his girl out in the world, he did not know what the world did to daughters. He did not know how quickly it would wick the dew off her, how she would be returned to him hollowed out, relieved of her better parts.

Women like her had to form their children out of sturdier, more practical material if they were to withstand the dents and scrapes that came with a life like hers.

How, they wondered, can a body feel full to bursting with grief but also hollow?