“He finds out about the Battle of Adwa 1896, led by Emperor Menelik II. Inspired by Ethiopia’s triumph over Italian invaders, he phones his pregnant wife in India. She says, ‘Our child will be named Menelik, boy or girl.’”

“The star had a love interest, and there was a scene with what our grandmother called ‘naked kissing’. Mama Teliqwa took her rifle from her shoulder and aimed it at the television screen. She fired once. The screen shattered in tiny pieces.”

“At a monastery, a barefoot monk played with angels. Birds came to the roof and windows, gureza monkeys descended from trees, lions lay down quietly. That was a pianist.”

“The soil spoke to me, ‘I love you. Here, I give my smell.’”

© Mesfin Tadesse 2020, 2021