Je T’aime, With All My Heart!
Self-ish February Updates
Hello loves,
It’s the month of love, so I figured we might as well express ours for you. Yes, YOU. We’re grateful that you’re always here, reading us, clapping, leaving your thoughts and sharing our stories!
Thank you, we love you right back!
Now on a less mushy note (*clears throat), we have a new writer!
Biemfor Bisi A. is a Cameroonian writer living in Canada and we’re excited to have her as part of the Self-ish gang! Watch this space for her hilarious and profound stories.
January Prompt Responses
Our January prompt was:
Something Beautiful, Something Cold
We asked for stories about those things or those people that are sweet but deadly, and the team delivered!
- The Pangs of Love by Beltus, is a heartfelt story about unrequited love still holding him captive three years later.
- In Beautiful, Cold Love, Joan tells us in verse about her deepest fears, especially the fact that “Love can be beautiful but it also can be cold”.
- Afire, a poem by Mafor, is about staying in an intoxicating affair with someone even when she knew they would “burn regret into the fabric of her soul”.
Editor’s pick:
- Kuna’s Woman Next Door is a dark, fictional account of a lovely woman who lures unsuspecting men into her home and murders them at night. Talk about sweet but deadly!
More good stories from January:
- Beltusbebongchu recently became an uncle and he tells us about his sweet little niece and his family, in this piece.
- Lilian Kimuya talks about expanding her circle of influence (the things in her life that she can control) and spills the tea on her first few months of being married!
- Fọlábòmí Àmọ̀ó’s Eye Contact is as good a love poem as it gets,
- M Sahr does a beautiful reflection on self and being truly free,
- Luke .L almost brings us to tears in this poetic account of child depression, and
- Ngang God'swill N. tells us about his greatest win of the past year in 2020 Accolades.
With Love, Self-ish February Prompt
More than four years ago, a friend and I began to sign our texts, messages and end our phone calls to each other like this:
“I love you, de tout mon coeur!”
or
“Je t’aime, with all my heart!”
These are phrases expressing endearment, one part of each in English and the other in French.
We started this when my friend made a joke that our love is too profound to be expressed in just one language at a time, and being both bilingual Cameroonians we chose to use French as our ‘second language of love’.
What would be your own second language of love if you had to pick?
February’s prompt is simple:
Write a letter to a loved one, and sign it with a term of endearment in any language other than English.
A few rules:
- The title of your story should be the term of endearment in the language you have chosen.
- At the end of your letter, please leave a footnote about the language you used and the English translation of your term of endearment, plus why you chose it.
Let’s go ahead and spread some love!
Join Us
New members are always welcome. We are not only telling our stories but building a community. Our dream is to tell personal, authentic, and black stories. If that dream is yours, hit us up!
Check out our submissions tab for guidelines.
A bientôt, until next time!
