This is a book of failure and mistakes; it begins with what is stolen from us and proposes only an invitation to imagine.

In these playful written experiments, Lola Olufemi navigates the space between what is and what could be. Weaving together fragmentary reflections in prose and poetry, this is an exploration of the possibility of living differently, grounded in black feminist scholarship and political organising.

Olufemi shows that the horizon is not an immaterial state we gesture toward. Instead, propelled by the motion of thinking against and beyond, we must invent the future now and never let go of the otherwise.

‘I felt my brain spark and spin with possibility and confrontation … in all its bright, rich generosity, it reminds me that our reality is all a fiction.’ — gal-dem

‘Reading this book wrought magic in my spirit. I am floored! I am flying! … Here is some breath-giving medicine for this gasping historic moment. Here are some weapons for lovers, for feminists.’ — Sophie Lewis, author of Full Surrogacy Now

‘A manifestation, not a manifesto, not a work of theory, not a collection of short stories, not a book of poetry. Genreless, genreful … alive and alive differently through each of its moments … a living gift with which to make gifts of life.’ — periodicities : a journal of poetry and poetics