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The face in the cow pasture,
visible as the sun rose,
shadows outlining cheek and lash,
chin and misshapen ear;
in full day you’re hillock and divot,
camouflaged in plain sight;
we never spoke,
and I kept your secret,
but that late night,
on the way home from a party,
when Joseph Stein
tried to yank my pants off,
his hot breath on my belly,
I ran,
leaped your fence and ran,
behind me he came,
grim of purpose, and I, frightened.

Across you, I ran, the jut of your chin,
the great furrow between your lips,
whispering my apology as I went,
and when the sun peeked above the Earth,
I saw your eyes open,
heard him give a sharp cry behind me,
heard the snap.

I still keep your secret.



David C. Kopaska-Merkel won the 2006 Rhysling Award for a collaboration with Kendall Evans, edits Dreams & Nightmares magazine, and has edited Star*Line and several Rhysling anthologies. His poems have appeared in Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, and elsewhere. A collection, Some Disassembly Required, winner of the 2023 Elgin Award, is available from him at jopnquog@gmail.com.
Current Issue
16 Jun 2025

When I met the young Mr Turing, I had not yet ascended as Autumn’s King. Nowadays it has become fashionable for the sons and daughters of the lesser fey gentry to improve their position in the shifting hierarchy of the Courts by virtue of intrigue, scandal, and the naked blade; but in those times, it was the custom to advance one’s position through the collection of human bagatelles.
When women cross the border, / coyotes get rooms at motels.
With their noses shaped like rockets and ancient vacuum cleaners
By: Ariel Marken Jack
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Ariel Marken Jack's 'Sister, Silkie, Siren, Shark' read by Emmie Christie. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠
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