Size / / /

When myths were young, steam still rose

from caves and deep earth where God

kept them safe for prophets and troubadours.

Dragons were not quite so fearsome then,

their fire-breath keeping stories soft

like an ironworker's blast furnace.

Saints didn't know how to become saints

yet, so it was simpler to perform miracles:

one followed the path with the most heat.

Dragons posed threat only as water grew

silent and surfaced for want of songs

with solid endings to cool their throats.

So, they pierced sweet-voiced maids to their ears,

waiting where familiar streams emerged

cleanest for the soldering touch of holy men.

When George appeared to her in last wavelength

of color serpent eyes can see, ash-covered as she,

neither of them yet knew the true nature of heat:

the dragon's skin was never lacerated

on a wheel of swords to keep from burning;

George never knew what it was to have flame

in the throat so hot words hurl forth

like embers, branding ears with curses

even when they mean hello or help me.

They fell inside each other, nonetheless.

George cupped water in his hands and the dragon

drank until her scales froze into George's flesh.

Beyond stories, dragons still seek deeper endings

and swords get sharper by the day, but truly

a saint has never slain a dragon. He became her.




Crystal Hoffman's poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in The Arsenic Lobster Anthology, WomenArts Quarterly, Redactions, and Whiskey Island. She is co-editor of Rusted Radishes: The Beirut Literary and Arts Review and an aspiring psychologist. Her chapbook Sulphur Water is forthcoming from Hyacinth Girl Press.
Current Issue
4 Nov 2024

Djinndroid 
Outsiders, Off-worlders {how quickly one carves out a corner of the cosmos, / claims a singular celestial body as [o u r s] in the scope of infinity}
Departure: New Selene Station 21:56 
Lunar enby folks across here
The 2024 Ignyte Award for Best Novel Shortlist, Part One 
The 2024 Ignyte finalists for Best Novel collectively exemplify the “vibrancy and diversity” that the awards seek to celebrate.
The 2024 Ignyte Award for Best Novel Shortlist, Part Two 
The books shortlisted for the 2024 Ignyte Best Novel Award emphasise the role of co-operative action in addressing the problems faced by their characters—and their readers.
The Butcher’s Heart 
“Did you know,” the witch says, “that a witch has no heart of her own?”
Friday: A Place Between Waking and Forgetting by Eugen Bacon 
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
Issue 2 Sep 2024
Issue 26 Aug 2024
Load More