Size / / /

These ink stainsdark as old blood—
well in each curve, fill groove and whorl,
carve stark patterns against my skin.

Words flood from these fresh wounds:
I’ve made them myself, kept scores
in sensitive flesh. Let me ask you,

what choice did I have?

Later, syntax clogged and clotted,
wrecked my clean lines, pulsed
on the page distinct as inkblots.
My Rorschach. Let me ask you,

what choice do you see?

(Bat or butterfly?
Chalice or staff?
The woman in
the wallpaper?)

Sin and salvation.

(In words and in blood
there is both.)




Stacie lives in Mobile, Alabama with her dog. She has a BA in English and will begin a master's in library sciences this fall. This is her first publication.
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