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Direct link: August poetry (MP3)

In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Anaea Lay presents poetry from the August issues.

  • “Note to the Caretaker" by Lisa Bellamy, read by Ciro Faienza. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Lisa here.
  • “Helmets of the Future" by Jessy Randall, read by Julia Rios. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Jessy here.
  • “A Universe Collided" by Charles Bane, Jr., read by Diane Severson Mori. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Charles here.
  • “A Pantheon of Madnesses" by Cory O'Brien, read by Cory O'Brien. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Cory here.



Charles Bane, Jr. is the American author of The Chapbook (Curbside Splendor, 2011) and Love Poems (Aldrich Press, 2014). The Huffington Post described his work as "not only standing on the shoulders of giants, but shrinking them." The creator of the Meaning Of Poetry Series for The Project Gutenberg Project, he is a current nominee as Poet Laureate of Florida. His website is www.charlesbanejr.com.
Ciro Faienza (pronounced CHEE-roh) is an American/Italian national. He has acted on stages and screens throughout Texas and Massachusetts, and his work as a filmmaker has shown at the Dallas Museum of Art, the Dallas Hub Theater, and the National Gallery, London. His fiction is featured in numerous publications, including Daily Science Fiction and Futuristica, Vol 1. His short story "J'ae's Solution" was a top finalist in PRI's 3-Minute Futures Contest. You can see his visual artwork at his web gallery, Postmedium.
Cory O'Brien is a writer, primarily of words, but also computer code and faces. He has an MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is the author of Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes: A No-Bullshit Guide to World Mythology. He retells mythology and his life story at bettermyths.com.
Jessy Randall's poems, comics, and other things have appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov's, and McSweeney's. Her most recent book is How to Tell If You Are Human: Diagram Poems (Pleiades Press, 2018). She is a librarian at Colorado College, and her website is http://bit.ly/JessyRandall.
Julia Rios is a queer, Latinx writer, editor, podcaster, and narrator whose writing has appeared in Latin American Literature Today, Lightspeed, and Goblin Fruit, among other places. Formerly a fiction editor for Strange Horizons, their editing work has won multiple awards, including the Hugo Award. Julia is a co-host of This is Why We're Like This, a podcast about how the movies we watch in childhood shape our lives, for better or for worse. They've narrated stories for Escape Pod, Podcastle, Pseudopod, and Cast of Wonders. Find them on Twitter as @omgjulia.
Lisa Bellamy teaches at The Writers Studio. Her chapbook, Nectar, won the Encircle Publications Chapbook Contest. Her work has appeared in Tri-QuarterlyThe Sun, New Ohio Review, Calyx, and PANK, among other publications. She won the Fugue Poetry Prize and received honorable mention in Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2007.
Current Issue
25 Sep 2023

People who live in glass houses are surrounded by dirt birds
After a century, the first colony / of bluebirds flew out of my mouth.
Over and over the virulent water / beat my flame down to ash
In this episode of  Critical Friends , the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, Aisha and Dan talk to critic and poet Catherine Rockwood about how reviewing and criticism feed into creative practice. Also, pirates.
Writing authentic stories may require you to make the same sacrifice. This is not a question of whether or not you are ready to write indigenous literature, but whether you are willing to do so. Whatever your decision, continue to be kind to indigenous writers. Do not ask us why we are not famous or complain about why we are not getting support for our work. There can only be one answer to that: people are too busy to care. At least you care, and that should be enough to keep my culture alive.
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