Size / / /

Content warning:


“Authorities in Penang face a delicate situation as at least 17 bodies of Covid-19 victims have not been claimed and are languishing in Penang Hospital’s mortuary.”
—news article in
The Vibes, 20 Oct 2021.

Would the rightful owners of these 17 bodies
please turn up to claim them?

For verification purposes, state your name—
the one that’s missing from the papers,
the one stitched to your soul.
So that we know which one’s yours,
describe your body as it was when you lost it:
how many years in the face,
hair length, birthmarks. Skip the lungs—
they’re all the same.

You’ve forgotten? You’ve left your memories
back in the skull? That’s a shame.
You could’ve told us what it was
you never could say in life.
It’s too late now. They were wiped clean
the instant you exited—standard procedure
for privacy reasons.

Go on then, just pick any one.
There are as many vessels
as there are lost souls, anyway.
When you’re done, tell us which rituals are required
for you to get the salvation you need.
They say that funerals are held for the living
but we’ll work with what we have.
We’ll hold the ceremonies together
so each of you can have an audience
of 16 empty seats. After all, you
may have known each other
once, when you were still someone.

The next question is how you wish
to dispose of your body. Cremation
is most cost-effective, but you’d have to wait
your turn. 4 hours between each body—
our incinerators are old. Perhaps the ashes
can be stored in a hole in a wall
until the economy improves?
We won’t cast you out to sea
unless that’s what you want.
The waters won’t be sentimental, unlike
those who might yet show up for you.

Finally, for documentation:
a police report. Date of death
with accompanying photo.
Next of kin? Write: None
that we know of.



Yee Heng Yeh is a Malaysian writer and Mandarin-to-English translator. His poetry has been featured in The KITA! Podcast, adda, Strange Horizons, and a few local anthologies, and was shortlisted in the Malaysian Poetry Writing Competition 2021. His translations of poetry are forthcoming in Mantis. You can find him on Twitter @HengYeh42.
Current Issue
11 Nov 2024

Their hair permed, nails scarlet, knees slim, lashes darkly tinted.
green spores carried on green light, sleeping gentle over steel bones
The rest of the issue is on its way. We think.
In the 4th episode of SH@25, Editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with tabletop game designer and SFF critic Kyle Tam, whose young career has taken off in the last few years. Read on for an insightful interview about narrative storytelling from non-Western perspectives, the importance of schlock and trash in the development of taste, and the windows into creativity we find in moments of hardship.
The Lord of Mice’s Arrows 
After the disaster—after the litigation, the endless testimony, the needling comments of the defendant’s counsel—there is at last a settlement, with no party admitting error, and the state recognizing no victim, least of all yourself. Although the money cannot mend any of the overturned things left behind, it can pay for college, so that’s where you go next.
Friday: One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun, translated by Jung Yewon 
Issue 4 Nov 2024
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
Load More