Size / / /

If dream people were the world

we would inhabit a singular

consciousness that would

be pulled through one

inexplicable scenario

after another

like a goat upon a rope.

If dream people were the world

our lives and landscapes

would change beyond reason,

streets and buildings

in constant flux.

All those around us

would change in kind,

trading names and faces.

Directions to our shifting

destinations would be

tedious and ludicrous.

We would remain

lost between

event horizons: our

own altered histories

and future visions

that would never transpire.

If dream people were the world

there would be no time

for reflection.

We would never decipher

the language of our lives

despite the metaphoric clues

all around us.

We would never wake up

to realize

we were dreaming.




Bruce Boston is the author of forty-seven books and chapbooks, including the novels The Guardener's Tale and Stained Glass Rain. His writing has received the Bram Stoker Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Asimov's Readers Award, and the Grand Master Award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. You can read more about him at www.bruceboston.com and see some of his previous work in our archives.
Current Issue
6 Jan 2025

I am a dog in the shape of a person and I live in a lighthouse and fetch.
It looks like a tooth. It smells like a frog.
Imagine carrying around a snack that was your skin. Imagine the energy needed to molt from that skin and how tasty those leftovers would be.
By: Samantha Murray
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Samantha Murray's 'Coming Through in Waves' read by Jenna Hanchey.
Issue 23 Dec 2024
Issue 16 Dec 2024
Issue 9 Dec 2024
Issue 2 Dec 2024
By: E.M. Linden
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 25 Nov 2024
Issue 18 Nov 2024
By: Susannah Rand
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
Issue 11 Nov 2024
Issue 4 Nov 2024
Issue 28 Oct 2024
Issue 21 Oct 2024
By: KT Bryski
Podcast read by: Devin Martin
Load More