Size / / /

Content warning:


Are you a good witch

or a bad witch?
   As if there’s an answer
   earned, inscribed
   in bubbles
   reflecting an inverse
   crown.

Whip-stitched into the lining
of that question I see good
and bad like rhinestones
dressing up inevitability.

Are you a   witch
or a   witch?

You are a witch.
   I am a witch.
You are my witch and I
   am yours.

We wave wands or
broomsticks, conjuring
stars or demons or cramps
waiting for diamonds to stop
houses from falling
on our heads.

No water for us, cup covered
on the bar
   iced coffee only,
   to be safe to be dry to be
un-toxicated
un-blamable
inflammable.

Perched on the lip of a bubbling cauldron
I’ve spent decades learning
how best to melt.

How to slide out of sight
into the creases between the red light
and the green--

Sopping streets,
salt spraying
witches on car tires
witches on sidewalks
witches in oil puddles
witches staining heels
hems faces cuffs—

following instead of being
followed, trailing in defiance
of being trailed.

Witches melt from clubs to
hearts to doorsteps, spreading dark
spots to remind the world

that magic really does
exist.



Marisca Pichette wonders at how quickly the moon can change. She is a Pushcart-nominated author of speculative fiction and poetry, with work appearing in Fireside Magazine, Flash Fiction Online, and PodCastle, among others. Her speculative poetry collection, Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair, is forthcoming from Android Press in April 2023.
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.
Issue 18 Sep 2023
Issue 11 Sep 2023
Issue 4 Sep 2023
Issue 28 Aug 2023
Issue 21 Aug 2023
Issue 14 Aug 2023
Issue 7 Aug 2023
Issue 31 Jul 2023
Issue 24 Jul 2023
Issue 17 Jul 2023
Load More
%d bloggers like this: