Size / / /

All men are created equal but we

can fix that now:

                    elixir genes

for our rewired /reloaded minds,

the pristine ping of clockwork hearts

with crystal chips & atom beats,

a nudge to certain balky glands.

All men are defeated equal yet we

fixate on more:

                   some fivescore years

at least before our dread of dark,

a labyrinth of diagrams

denying merely mutant change,

the weight of tech against Thoth's scale.

All men are repeated equal till we

stand fixed as this:

                     a tribe of one

beneath its polished mirror moon,

bereft of stars & flesh & all

unshaped unbidden miracles,

these aliens we made ourselves.




Ann K. Schwader lives, writes, and volunteers at her local branch library in Westminster, CO. Her most recent poetry collection is Twisted in Dream (Hippocampus Press 2011). Her dark SF poetry collection Wild Hunt of the Stars (Sam's Dot Publishing, 2010) was a Bram Stoker Award nominee. She is a member of SFWA, HWA, and SFPA. Her LiveJournal is Yaddith Times.
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: