Size / / /

Gagarin told the women, "Do not be afraid,"

for they were astonished,

seeing his dragging parachute and his strange carapace.

"I am a Soviet like you,

who has descended from space,

and must find a telephone to call Moscow."

Fischer said, "Let none attend my funeral

except my Icelandic hosts

and my chessmaster wife."

Both came to earth.

Fischer lived long and made enemies.

Perhaps he was mad.

Gagarin, a short man,

told how beautiful

was the blue of earth, the purple horizon,

from the high vantage he had reached.

He died young.

Each championed

a nation tightroped above Ragnarok.

Gagarin said do not destroy this planet, so beautiful.

Fischer refused to play further,

called his homeland his enemy.

It probably was.

The chess man explored pathways of action,

the deepest of deep players.

Gargarin saw farther

than any had seen before.

Both circled the earth:

Fischer prowled its surface with his void passport;

Gagarin soared above on metal and fire.

Fischer competed and brawled. Even his will was contested.

Gagarin, in less than two hours,

saw the earth,

everything,

all at once.




Mary A. Turzillo's "Mars Is no Place for Children" won the 1999 Nebula. Her first novel An Old-Fashioned Martian Girl appeared in Analog. Both are recreational reading on the International Space Station. Published in Asimov's, F & SF, Interzone, SF Age, Weird Tales, Oceans of the Mind, and Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, she has over fifty poems in print, plus several collections, including Pushcart nominee Your Cat & Other Space Aliens. You can read more about her at her website www.maryturzillo.com.
Current Issue
18 Nov 2024

Your distress signals are understood
Somehow we’re now Harold Lloyd/Jackie Chan, letting go of the minute hand
It was always a beautiful day on April 22, 1952.
By: Susannah Rand
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Little Lila by Susannah Rand, read by Claire McNerney. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: Spotify
Friday: The 23rd Hero by Rebecca Anne Nguyen 
Issue 11 Nov 2024
Issue 4 Nov 2024
Issue 28 Oct 2024
Issue 21 Oct 2024
By: KT Bryski
Podcast read by: Devin Martin
Issue 14 Oct 2024
Issue 7 Oct 2024
By: Christopher Blake
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Issue 30 Sep 2024
Issue 23 Sep 2024
By: LeeAnn Perry
Art by: nino
Issue 16 Sep 2024
Issue 9 Sep 2024
Load More