Size / / /

Demolish first the false dichotomy
of clotted darkness threatening moonlight.
That one is sane & holy in our sight,
the other neither, merely seems to be
(on close analysis) a privileged view
of questionable worth. This shadowed text
might shelter its fair share of terrors, true;
but who are you to say so? Might the next
dark angel's radically alternative
perspective not apply as well? Efface
hierarchical assumptions, & embrace
that arbitrary madness which still lives
between these penciled lines of dusk & dawn --
the last postmodern haunt of chaos-spawn.

 

Copyright © 2001 Ann K. Schwader

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Ann K. Schwader lives and writes in Westminster, CO. She is an active member of SFWA, HWA, and SFPA. Several of her poems have received Honorable Mentions in Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, and she is a multiple Rhysling Award nominee. Her first full-length collection has recently been published by Hive Press. Heidi previously reviewed L. Warren Douglas' The Sacred Pool for Strange Horizons.



Ann K. Schwader lives, writes, and volunteers at her local branch library in Westminster, CO. Her most recent poetry collection is Twisted in Dream (Hippocampus Press 2011). Her dark SF poetry collection Wild Hunt of the Stars (Sam's Dot Publishing, 2010) was a Bram Stoker Award nominee. She is a member of SFWA, HWA, and SFPA. Her LiveJournal is Yaddith Times.
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17 Feb 2025

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In this episode of Strange Horizons at 25, Kat Kourbeti sits down with longtime friend and Seattle Worldcon Poet Laureate Brandon O'Brien, chatting all things speculative poetry, and the impact of markets that have many readers and editors—hey wait, that's us!
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