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Direct link: March Poetry (mp3)

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

  • A Glance Across the Ballroom, by Ada Hoffmann. You can read the full text of the poem, and more about Ada, here.
  • Bang, by Stefon Mears. You can read the full text of the poem, and more about Stefon, here.
  • Schrödinger's Tree, by Madeline Sebastian Burtenshaw. You can read the full text of the poem, and more about Madeline, here.
  • Origin, by Heather Sommer. You can read the full text of the poem, and more about Heather, here.



Ada Hoffmann is the author of The Outside and Monsters in My Mind. Her writing has appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov's, and Uncanny. She is a computer scientist, a classically trained soprano, and an autistic self-advocate. You can find her online at http://ada-hoffmann.com/ or on Twitter at @xasymptote.
Anaea Lay lives in Chicago, Illinois where she writes, cooks, plays board games, reads too much, and questions the benevolence of the universe. Her work has appeared in many places including Apex, Penumbra, Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, and Nightmare. She lives online at anaealay.com.
Heather Sommer is an MFA candidate at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her words have appeared in Cider Press Review, decomP magazinE, Paperdarts, and Bank-Heavy Press' anthology Avoid Ninja Stars. She is not worried about the impending zombie apocalypse because she grew up in the Midwest.
Madeline Sebastian Burtenshaw is relatively new to poetry. Her first public performance was her poem "Dare to Reach," commissioned for the Greenbelt 2012 Goth Eucharist. Her writing interests encompass speculative fiction, relationships and gender, faith and doubt, gothic subculture, and her six mad cats. Her website is madelineseb.wordpress.com.
Look for the Conjure Man’s first novel The Patron Saint of Necromancers. Stefon Mears also has eight more novels to his credit, along with an MFA in Creative Writing and a BA in Religious Studies. Look for him online at www.stefonmears.com, @stefonmears on Twitter and Google+. Monthly newsletter at stefonmears.com/join.
Current Issue
29 May 2023

We are touched and encouraged to see an overwhelming response from writers from the Sino diaspora as well as BIPOC creators in various parts of the world. And such diverse and daring takes of wuxia and xianxia, from contemporary to the far reaches of space!
By: L Chan
The air was redolent with machine oil; rich and unctuous, and synthesised alcohol, sharper than a knife on the tongue.
“Leaping Crane don’t want me to tell you this,” Poppy continued, “but I’m the most dangerous thing in the West. We’ll get you to your brother safe before you know it.”
Many eons ago, when the first dawn broke over the newborn mortal world, the children of the Heavenly Realm assembled at the Golden Sky Palace.
Winter storm: lightning flashes old ghosts on my blade.
transplanted from your temple and missing the persimmons in bloom
immigrant daughters dodge sharp barbs thrown in ambush 十面埋伏 from all directions
Many trans and marginalised people in our world can do the exact same things that everyone else has done to overcome challenges and find happiness, only for others to come in and do what they want as Ren Woxing did, and probably, when asked why, they would simply say Xiang Wentian: to ask the heavens. And perhaps we the readers, who are told this story from Linghu Chong’s point of view, should do more to question the actions of people before blindly following along to cause harm.
Before the Occupation, righteousness might have meant taking overt stands against the distant invaders of their ancestral homelands through donating money, labour, or expertise to Chinese wartime efforts. Yet during the Occupation, such behaviour would get one killed or suspected of treason; one might find it better to remain discreet and fade into the background, or leave for safer shores. Could one uphold justice and righteousness quietly, subtly, and effectively within such a world of harshness and deprivation?
Issue 22 May 2023
Issue 15 May 2023
Issue 8 May 2023
Issue 1 May 2023
Issue 24 Apr 2023
Issue 17 Apr 2023
Issue 10 Apr 2023
Issue 3 Apr 2023
Issue 27 Mar 2023
Issue 20 Mar 2023
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