diff --git a/python/kvikio/kvikio/_lib/arr.pyx b/python/kvikio/kvikio/_lib/arr.pyx
index d26b139e92..1a9dea5136 100644
--- a/python/kvikio/kvikio/_lib/arr.pyx
+++ b/python/kvikio/kvikio/_lib/arr.pyx
@@ -4,13 +4,14 @@
 # cython: language_level=3
 
 
-from cpython.array cimport array, newarrayobject
 from cpython.buffer cimport PyBuffer_IsContiguous
+from cpython.mem cimport PyMem_Free, PyMem_Malloc
 from cpython.memoryview cimport PyMemoryView_FromObject, PyMemoryView_GET_BUFFER
 from cpython.object cimport PyObject
 from cpython.ref cimport Py_INCREF
 from cpython.tuple cimport PyTuple_New, PyTuple_SET_ITEM
 from cython cimport auto_pickle, boundscheck, initializedcheck, nonecheck, wraparound
+from cython.view cimport array
 from libc.stdint cimport uintptr_t
 from libc.string cimport memcpy
 
@@ -53,13 +54,14 @@ cdef dict itemsize_mapping = {
 }
 
 
-cdef array array_Py_ssize_t = array("q")
+cdef sizeof_Py_ssize_t = sizeof(Py_ssize_t)
 
 
-cdef inline Py_ssize_t[::1] new_Py_ssize_t_array(Py_ssize_t n):
-    return newarrayobject(
-        (<PyObject*>array_Py_ssize_t).ob_type, n, array_Py_ssize_t.ob_descr
-    )
+cdef Py_ssize_t[::1] new_Py_ssize_t_array(Py_ssize_t n):
+    cdef array a = array((n,), sizeof_Py_ssize_t, b"q", "c", False)
+    a.data = <char*>PyMem_Malloc(n * sizeof(Py_ssize_t))
+    a.callback_free_data = PyMem_Free
+    return a
 
 
 @auto_pickle(False)