Maisha's Mindscape

  Bound to the Dark by Alexa Michaels Book Dedication: This humble little tale is for all those who wish the monsters under their beds would come out and play. Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 Everything I have to say about this book is my true feelings about it. This was quite an interesting read for me. It's not what I normally choose to read but I was bored and the premise presented interested me. I'm not a picky person by nature so this is a pretty tame general review. I liked this book. The characters were interesting and sure, they annoyed me sometimes, but I still liked them. I still rooted for them. I still screwed up my nose at relationships but that is just my nature. I like how the story progressed and I will definitely be checking out more by this author. I will admit that the main character had me hooked from the beginning simply because I wanted to know what stupid thing she was going to do that would make me roll my eyes. But then she's so relatable to me because I do jump t...

Breath, Eyes, Memory  by Edwidge Danticat Book Dedication: To the brave women of Haiti,  grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters, cousins, daughters, and friends, on this shore and other shores. We have stumbled but we will not fall.   Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 Everything I say about this book is my true feelings about it. This is the only book I am willing to read multiple times. Please enjoy my review. I hate this book with a passion that is unmatched. I first read this book when I was 14. It was our assigned prose textbook for my English lit class. I remember not wanting to read it at all. The only reason I came around to reading it was because, after Hurricane Maria, there was nothing to do. I had read every other book in my house twice and this was the last man standing. I finally decided to bite the bullet and give this a read knowing I would have to sooner or later. I hate that I read this book at 14 but it is the only book that has stuck with me in such a way. Breath, Eyes, Me...

My best friend and I always talk about how we're going to change the world. We joke about taking over and making it in our own image. But we know we can't do that no matter how many plans we make. It would just never be possible. So instead we talk about backpacking across Europe and Asia to learn new cultures and adopt new languages. We talk about going to Africa to reconnect with those ancestors who were stolen away so long ago. To connect with their blood spilled across the land into the seas. So we could listen to the songs the land would sing so we could feel some connection to those roots. We were uprooted and forced to adapt to a world that was unnecessarily cruel. Where we get called names and our cultures get torn from us and are ridiculed until we want nothing to do with it. And people may pretend like it is not cruel anymore and that we are accepted but that is false. Because there are always those who feel like we have no right to be among them. I tell my best frien...

When you are seven and running through the lanes in your neighbourhood, You are grown. You are your own boss and no one can tell you what to do. Well, except your parents but other than them no one has the right. You'll feel stifled when they tell you that you're not allowed, They will have the audacity to tell you that you're not allowed to visit your friends And you'll want to scream and cry that it is unfair. But you don't. Because you are grown and the world is yours And nothing can make you unhappy. When you are eleven and going out with your friends, You are grown. You are in charge of your own destiny and you allow no one to get in your way. Well, except your parents because you just can't seem to get rid of them. You will choke down words of anger and hate when they tell you no. You will curse their entire bloodline out of hatred… Which honestly makes no sense considering the fact that you are a part of that bloodline... but still, You do it because you...

There was the willow tree out by the lake Where I learned to kiss. The lake was at the edge of town So when my sister almost drowned me And the birds sang my funeral hymn, No one could hear the shouts. I had my first date in the gas station on Emry Street And he bought me a bunch of junk food. He made it tradition for "our thing" And the 5 a.m staff still know us by name.  The convenience store on Parke Street Is where I learned to love for the first time. It was after a day of running over orange cones, And low self-esteem. It was a beat-up blue car That barely ran through the town. In the convenience store when the ac was blasting And old pop songs played on the intercom, We raced through aisles Trying to find the things our parents wanted, And maybe the little pieces of us We had dropped years prior. The community pool was at the edge of town. It was right near the high school with its yellow doors. The community pool was for the kids Because the lakes were meant for us. Y...

 My mother had a habit of making homes out of places she was never welcomed. She had lived on this island for all 46 years of her life, yet she had never found a home for herself. She lived on top of the hills in Campbell where she could hear the children scream from the streets below. When she went to Salisbury and she walked the dirt paths up the hills that made her hands seem cracked and brittle like dried up clay, she decided to call it home. She lived in Bath Estate for many years before leaving and then living there for many more. She taught me about pretty yellow and orange flowers that her grandmother grew. Her grandmother is dead now and she apparently took those flowers with her. Before my mother lived in quiet Pointe Michel, she visited loud Pointe Michel to see her sister. Then the loud became the quiet and it was unsettling. But not to her. She decided to call it home. Another house on a hill. I don't think I ever understood my mother's fascination with living on h...