![]() ![]() ![]() Through these stories, we better understand liberation: preserving who you are and finding ways to defy, challenge, or resist. These women don’t always do what society expects of them, and that’s the point. Simms and Arimah cast spells with imperfect women battling society’s many trolls and demons, including its hierarchical authorities and structures. But these stories are magical not because of fantastical elements but because of their investigation of how and why people try to escape. In these stories magic burns at the center, or at least, warms and singes the edges. Renee Simms’ Meet Behind Mars (Wayne State UP, 2018) and Lesley Nneka Arimah’s What It Means When A Man Falls From the Sky (Riverhead Books, 2017) contemplate escape. ![]() This idea is infused in two recent short story collections that address the question, in situations where you’re tied to a job or to a partner by economic or familial ties, how do you escape? Browne, Idrissa Simmonds, and Jamila Woodsįreedom. Idrissa Simmonds, from The BreakBeat Poets Vol. But our ability to defy, persist, and excel in the face of systematic oppression is a magical beast. We hurt and bleed and are vulnerable and tired. I should be clear: Black women are not superheroes. What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky ![]()
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