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Content warning:


The vegetarian ones
are no safer than the others.
In fact beware of those that
are expected to take root
and keep growing.

Colours can be misleading—
if you're served grey kebabs,
do not be afraid to ask for
those special glasses. Remember,
the things you fail to see
properly, at first, are often
the prettiest.

And though your guide books
and petty officials will tell you
otherwise,
do not go empty handed.
Carry a few sugar-dusted biscuits
to spread out as an expected dessert,
or unabashedly produce a jar
of your mother's green chutney
from a sleeve.

You see the point in venturing
into the unknown is not adventure
or fame or fortune or even escape.
The point is to understand that
arriving at the loneliest of places,
among the strangest of people,
with the most bizarre of customs,
there is still always room at the table.



Rohinton Daruwala lives and works in Pune, India. He tweets as @wordbandar and blogs at https://wordbandar.wordpress.com/. His first collection of poems is The Sand Libraries of Timbuktu (Speaking Tiger 2016). His work has previously appeared in Strange Horizons, New Myths, Star*Line, Liminality, Through the Gate, and Silver Blade.
Current Issue
2 Dec 2024

For nine straight miles, the hot-rolled steel rails cut a path through the woods, a metal chain thrown into soft mud. Discarded, rotting railroad ties littered the tracksides, the stench of creosote saturating the forest air until birds no longer frequented the trees.
I didn’t complain about him / being a werewolf / He thought I didn’t know
Dark against the sky of steel / And men gather to get to its top
By: E.M. Linden
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents A Cure for Solastalgia by E.M. Linden, read by Jenna Hanchley. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: Spotify
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