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I have to admit,

this poem is not about swans

or visiting the plot

where my father is buried.

In fact, he's still alive.

I said that so you

would read this:

there are no

such things as swans

or graves or fathers.

Only flight. Put down this poem,

see it now: the black hole

stretching like a mouth,

taking in houses, oceans,

planets. Open your eyes,

quicken past moons,

novas, nebulae, dying

suns. Let the vacuum

swallow you until

the surrounding light curves

so far into itself you see

the back of your body.




Scott Hughes received an MFA from Georgia College & State University in 2004. He is currently seeking an agent for the first book in his young adult fantasy series. His work has appeared in Crazyhorse and Redivider and is forthcoming in Crab Creek Review and Seasons in the Night. You can send Scott mail at richardscotthughes@hotmail.com.
Current Issue
16 Dec 2024

Across the train tracks from BWI station, a portal shimmered in the shade of a patch of tall trees. From her seat on a northbound train taking on passengers, Dottie watched a woman slip a note out of her pocket, place it under a rock, strip off her work uniform, then walk naked, smiling, into the portal.
exposing to the bone just how different we are
a body protesting thinks itself as a door out of a darkroom, a bullet, too.
In this episode of SH@25, Editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with Vivian (Xiao Wen) Li to discuss her foray into poetry, screenwriting, music composition and more, and also presents a reading of her two poems published in 2022, 'Ave Maria' and 'The Mezzanine'.
Issue 9 Dec 2024
Issue 2 Dec 2024
By: E.M. Linden
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 25 Nov 2024
Issue 18 Nov 2024
By: Susannah Rand
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
Issue 11 Nov 2024
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
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