Size / / /

Content warning:


Clark, if you’re reading this I am already
as a mosaic of bone,
as a green, flameless candle—dripping.
I knew the risks.

You told me once
when you were small and afraid of the dark,
you walked into the basement
and sat in the middle of the cement floor
until the fear was a thin broth
you could swallow.

I need you to do this now.

Imagine me as a copper, equine statue
with my hand outstretched, as if to say
Let’s go that way for awhile.

Tell people I was too good for this planet.

I was not. They
are not.
What is grief
but a love that is
too vast for us?

Imagine me lost with our home world. Imagine me
splattered. Imagine me taking flight, rolling sideways
under a plane’s sleek silver back
and disappearing up into its engines.

Imagine me, facing the hunger
between the stars,
dancing between
its teeth.

Imagine my end
as the dark. Drink it
as slowly as you must
so you won’t be afraid.



Leslie J. Anderson's writing has appeared in Asimov’s, Uncanny Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, and Apex. She currently lives in a small white house beside a cemetery with three good dogs and a Roomba.
Current Issue
18 Mar 2024

Strange Horizons
We are very happy to welcome Dante Luiz as a new fiction editor on the team! Dante is a Ignyte Award winning author, and has been with Strange Horizons working as an Art Director for the past several years. We’re stoked to bring him on to the fiction side and have him bring his wonderful insight and skill to the fiction team.
Day in and day out, the rough waters of the Pacific slam themselves against the protrusion of sandstone the locals refer to as Morro Rock. White streaks of bird shit bleed down the rock, a testament to the rare birds of prey that nest in its pocked face overlooking the bay.
in my defence, juggling biological and artificial, i tripped over my shoelace, and spilled my lungs empty of the innocence that was, before guilt.
the birds, / who carry with them / the many names of the dead
Wednesday: Overlap: The Lives of a Former Time Jumper by N. Joseph Glass 
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
Issue 1 Jan 2024
Load More
%d bloggers like this: