Size / / /

Content warning:


Question: after conducting the statistics, a country was found in the teeth of the topmost trend on twitter. if in 2021, the country’s skin is occupied by the blood of its people and in 2022, its belly is occupied by their flesh:

a.  will the country complement their bodies with bones in 2023, if country intersects with (2021 ∪ 2022)? i.e., [country ∩ (2021 ∪ 2022)]'

b.  test [peace (p) = {} ∪ (2021 ∪ 2022)]

c.  [p ∪ (2021 ∪ 2022)] ∪ [inverse of (p) = {}]

 

Solution:

let country represent the anatomy of its people that are always chased out of their bodies.

country = {blood, flesh, bones}

set 2021 = {blood}

set 2022 = {flesh}

a.  will the country complement their bodies with bones in 2023, if country intersects with (2021 ∪ 2022)? i.e., [country ∩ (2021 ∪ 2022)]'

 

to sing our bones from running out of its body,
we marrow more music than wa(te)r & learn the language of survival.

if set (2021 ∪ 2022) equal the amount of blood pulsing
underneath the flesh of bodies that were poured
out of their dreams. out of their country’s veins.

then, complement of country intersection (2021 ∪ 2022) = [{blood, flesh, bones} ∩ {blood, flesh}]' = bones

yes, our bones have learnt the alchemy of dancing with the moon.

 

b.  test [peace (p) = {} ∪ (2021 ∪ 2022)]

note: this morning, the faces of voices, of lost bodies
wept as headlines, searching for their families
& i understood that wa(te)r
does not wash the red tint off the scalp of a bleeding ocean.

p = {} i.e., there is no peace

therefore, [(p) = {} ∪ (2021 ∪ 2022)] = blood & flesh.

note: i seared light into my tongue before entering this poem—stop grief
from pleating out of my taste bud—but it drowned in the first line.
can you see how wa(te)r dims the stars from blooming?
last night, under the mango tree, my father told us to avoid some roads.
some roots. some rooms. & every time his mouth winds out a(void),
it folds into air like the strand of my lost uncle’s hair.
to breathe again, i relearn how to sharpen my lungs in the {}
the war has tossed peace into.

 

c.  [p ∪ (2021 ∪ 2022)] ∪ [inverse of (p) = {}]

let the inverse of empty be filled with the roses of our mother’s prayers.

let the inverse of void be the emancipation of our bodies from bullets flood.

let the inverse of p = {} birth a country where dreams aren’t conveyed on paper boats.



Zaynab Bobi, Frontier I, is a Nigerian poet and digital artist. She is a member of HCAF. Her poems have appeared and are forthcoming in FIYAH, Anomaly, West Trade Review, and elsewhere. She tweets @ZainabBobi.
Current Issue
16 Jun 2025

When I met the young Mr Turing, I had not yet ascended as Autumn’s King. Nowadays it has become fashionable for the sons and daughters of the lesser fey gentry to improve their position in the shifting hierarchy of the Courts by virtue of intrigue, scandal, and the naked blade; but in those times, it was the custom to advance one’s position through the collection of human bagatelles.
When women cross the border, / coyotes get rooms at motels.
With their noses shaped like rockets and ancient vacuum cleaners
By: Ariel Marken Jack
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Ariel Marken Jack's 'Sister, Silkie, Siren, Shark' read by Emmie Christie. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠
Issue 9 Jun 2025
Issue 8 Jun 2025
The Ache of Hollow Places 
In the Year of the Wedding 
Do Ghosts Have Department Stores? 
Wednesday: The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar 
Issue 2 Jun 2025
By: R.B. Lemberg
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 26 May 2025
Issue 19 May 2025
By: Elle Engel
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Issue 12 May 2025
Issue 5 May 2025
Issue 21 Apr 2025
By: Premee Mohamed
Podcast read by: Kat Kourbeti
Issue 14 Apr 2025
Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons
Issue 7 Apr 2025
By: Lowry Poletti
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Load More