Size / / /

Our ship
Is fueled
By a deuterium
Iceball --

While the
Passengers
Sleep
In cryogenic
Tanks,

Those of us
In the
Crew

Make sure
Nothing
Goes
Awry.

Today I saw
The Ice Fairy
Again:

She looked
Every bit
As real
As the deuterium
Ball itself.

As she skated
Over the
Surface
Of the ice

I could see her
Quite clearly
On the
Monitors --

Her long, silver
Hair
Sparkles
And glistens,

Her eyes gleam . . .

My wife,
Also a crew
Member,

She says I've
Lost
Interest
In sex.

How can
I tell her

I'm in love
With an
Ice fairy?

It would be
So easy
To suit up

And go
Out there
Where she
Is . . .

And now,
Even as
I think
Of it,

I'm doing
It --

The air lock
Cycles open,
And I
Step out,

Bending over
To claw
At the surface
Of the ice

With the pitons
On my gloves
And my boots

. . . And there
She is,
My beautiful

Ice fairy queen
Coming toward me.

I reach out
To touch her,
To hold her.

I take
A step toward
Her

And my
Hands and
Feet
Are free
From
The ice --

I begin
To drift
Away.

As I drift
Away
I see
In her
Eyes

An
Infinite

Sadness.

 

Copyright © 2002 Robert Randolph Medcalf, Jr.

Reader Comments


Robert Randolph Medcalf, Jr., has been a published writer since 1976, when his story "Catapilla" appeared in The Diversifier; His first poetry publication was in Robert Frazier's T.A.S.P. #3 (1978). Since then his poems and short stories have appeared in such magazines as Eldritch Tales, Space & Time, Weirdbook, Eerie Country, Beyond, Star*Line, Doppelganger, and Amazing.


Current Issue
25 Mar 2024

Looking back, I see that my initial hope for this episode was that the mud would have a heartbeat and a heart that has teeth and crippling anxiety. Some of that hope has become a reality, but at what cost?
to work under the / moon is to build a formidable tomorrow
Significantly, neither the humans nor the tigers are shown to possess an original or authoritative version of the narrative, and it is only in such collaborative and dialogic encounters that human-animal relations and entanglements can be dis-entangled.
By: Sammy Lê
Art by: Kim Hu
the train ascends a bridge over endless rows of houses made of beams from decommissioned factories, stripped hulls, salvaged engines—
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
Issue 29 Jan 2024
Issue 15 Jan 2024
Issue 8 Jan 2024
Load More
%d bloggers like this: