What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky

by Lesley Nneka Arimah

so unused to hearing no it hits him like a wave of acid, dissolving the superficial decency of a person who always gets his way.

What I hadn’t expected were the boys who ran behind her during recess and lifted up her skirt, as though my actions had given them permission, as though because they had seen her bare breast they were entitled to the rest. It was a boyish expectation most would not outgrow even after they became men.

this thing that distance does where it subtracts warmth and context and history and each finds that they’re arguing with a stranger.

This is the first time the girl becomes aware that the world requires something other than what she is.

Some people find it easy to be good when the going is good but lack the fortitude for hardship.

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.

The problem with those who don’t know real power is that they do not know real power.

Girls with fire in their bellies will be forced to drink from a well of correction till the flames die out.