“One Autumn morning on the Drive when gentianviolet clouds scurried along glossy grey pavements, the spattering of cold rain following, we sat in the car, inhaling beauty, exhaling lukewarm words. The car moved slower than trekking people. We watched the heavy motion of shoulders tucked in against rain and grey darkness, laboriously ascending one hill then another, and then another. I am drawn to the bodies of walking women, the smooth-talking gyration that fatigues the eye because of the effort suggested in every step. Because of all the parts moving at the same time – bodies that would have done well to adapt to climbing and descending innumerable elevations. Why carry so many laboriously revolving spheres. What does it do to the heart. The lady driving me cuts through my thoughts; through the thick cold air in the car with a notion that she assures me is scientific. She is Afrikaner, I am Nigerian – She tells me people like me, melanated people, amasi-drinkers, Xhosa speakers in Western Cape, don’t have peripheral vision. She must be able to read on my face the questioning.

About Yemisi Aribisala

Yemisi Aribisala is a Nigerian writer and critic. Her essay collection on Nigerian food and culinary culture was published by Cassava Republic Press Abuja/London in October 2016. Longthroat Memoirs: Soups, Sex & Nigerian Tastebuds tells the story of culture through the belly and digs into the core of the Nigerian psyche. The collection was shortlisted for the Andre Simon Food & Drink Awards 2016. A regular contributor to the Chimurenga Chronic, Yemisi has also written on Nigerian feminism, pentecostal christianity and identity.