Size / / /

Content warning:


When the wolves come,
    don’t blink,
    don’t move,
    don’t fear—
they will howl at the door,
nightmares of bones
    and snarl,
but they are just men
in clever clothing, softly
    self-righteous,
fragile in the way
of water, always seeking
mouths for drowning—
    do not offer yours.

When the battle begins,
    breathe,
    do not set yourself
      aflame,
    do not fall upon your sword,
    do not let your courage
      fade—
square your shoulders,
remember, you are not alone,
    and you have fury
      as well as faith—
    do not cower.

When the singing of sirens starts,
    hold the note
      they offer,
    be the myth
      and the rock
    and the lighthouse
    without apology,
tell the story
      your way—
    do not hold back.

There is no villain
    no hero, no woman
holding a sword in a lake—
    but the magick holds,
The Magician, The High Priestess
    a reminder
to set the spell down
    word after word,
    to be a warning
to all those who might forget
    your power,
    to summon hope
even in the gathered dark,
even in the storm-sway—
    conjure the truth into being,
    set it in stone
      and let it blaze,
    you know who you are,
      darling,

do not look away.

 
 
 
[Editor’s Note: Publication of this poem was made possible by a gift on behalf of Carlos Hernandez during our annual Kickstarter.]



Ali Trotta is an award-nominated poet, a word-nerd, and an unapologetic coffee addict. Find her poetry in Uncanny, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s, Small Wonders, The Deadlands, Fireside, Cicada, Nightmare, Mermaids Monthly, and The Best of Uncanny Magazine. Her short fiction has appeared in Worlds of Possibilities. Website: alitrotta.com, Newsletter: buttondown.email/alwayscoffee, Bluesky: @alwayscoffee, and Instagram: @alwayscoffee7.
Current Issue
7 Apr 2025

It is no small thing to call forth life from the desert; do not imagine any but a witch could do it so well.
roaring engines now my battle hymn
To the timorous mouse / she is a mother’s nest
By: Lowry Poletti
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Lowry Poletti's BRIDE / BUTCHER / DOE read by Emmie Christie Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠
Friday: Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky 
Issue 31 Mar 2025
Issue 24 Mar 2025
Issue 17 Mar 2025
Issue 10 Mar 2025
By: Holli Mintzer
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Issue 3 Mar 2025
Issue 24 Feb 2025
Issue 17 Feb 2025
Issue 10 Feb 2025
By: Alexandra Munck
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
Issue 27 Jan 2025
By: River
Issue 20 Jan 2025
Strange Horizons
By: Michelle Kulwicki
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Load More