Size / / /

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
15 Apr 2024

By: Ana Hurtado
Art by: delila
I want to sink my faces into the hot spring and see which one comes out breathing. I’m hoping it’s mine.
Mnemonic skills test positive: inaccurately positive.
pallid growths like toadstools, / and scuttling many-legged things,
Issue 8 Apr 2024
Issue 1 Apr 2024
Issue 25 Mar 2024
By: Sammy Lê
Art by: Kim Hu
Issue 18 Mar 2024
Strange Horizons
Issue 11 Mar 2024
Issue 4 Mar 2024
Issue 26 Feb 2024
Issue 19 Feb 2024
Issue 12 Feb 2024
Issue 5 Feb 2024
Load More
%d bloggers like this: