Size / / /

Content warning:


diagrammatic symbol of a motor outlet from a 1924 instruction manual

At the head of the cellar stairs
there is indicated an electric switch,
and a dotted line points down the stairs˰

In the cellar plan a 50-watt lamp is shown˰
this instrument is used˰
for transferring distances˰

An imaginary cut is
made through materials˰
outside of the border lines˰

Run the line straight through
regardless˰
erasures can be made

diagrammatic symbol of a power outlet from a 1924 instruction manual


Collaged text and image fragments from Architectural Details, by Louis Rouillon and Charles G. Ramsey (1924). Caret footnote marks˰ indicate the seams between glued-together quotations.



M.C. Childs is the author of multiple poems, academic and general audience articles, a newspaper column, and award-winning urban design books including Foresight and DesignThe Zeon Files, Squares, and Urban Composition.
Current Issue
13 Jan 2025

She doesn’t realize that she’s made of ticks until she gets her nipples pierced.
The Verona National Laboratory in Italy, specializing in tragic and unresolved love, was selected for all experimental work.
In this episode of Strange Horizons @ 25, producer Michael Ireland sits down with acclaimed SF author John Scalzi to discuss his 2001 story Alien Animal Encounters, which just so happens to be the only story he ever submitted anywhere.
remember, you are not alone, / and you have fury / as well as faith
Issue 6 Jan 2025
By: Samantha Murray
Podcast 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
Load More