Size / / /

So Rock created stone in his own image

in the image of Rock created he stone

one gender created he stone

and Rock spit on stone

and Rock said unto stone

Split yourself into many

and cover the earth

and stone did so and

some were fiery, eruptive and flowing

some were grainy, coarse and wind-strewn

some captured animals and

desiccated their spirits

entombing their skeletons in outline forever

and some buried animals by their force

but most were hard and enduring

so while animals lived and died upon them

they persisted

through the ages

calcite, seared the blazing orb of the sun,

sodalite, painted the sea-reflected-into-sky,

selenite, tinted the colorless echo of stars,

gaspeite, dyed the skin of rain-bringing frogs,

rhodochrosite, tinged the burn of cherry buds,

hematite, glazed the grittiness of soil,

malachite, hued the verdant of pasture lands,

and dolomite, banded the blood of human flesh,

until one day Rock called them home,

all his creation

strip-stippled into the stains of the rainbow

and shining over a barren earth.




Holly Cooley lives on an island called Paradise in a Florida lake. She has a PhD in Medieval and Victorian Literature. Her poems have been published by or will soon appear in Mythic Delirium, Goblin Fruit and Dragons, Knights & Angels.
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20 Jan 2025

Strange Horizons
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By: Michelle Kulwicki
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
  In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Michelle Kulwicki's 'Bee Season' read by Emmie Christie Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify.
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Friday: Revising Reality: How Sequels, Remakes, Retcons, and Rejects Explain The World by Chris Gavaler and Nat Goldberg 
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