Size / / /

1. Dreams R Us Division

Too busy to sleep?

No problem!

You begin a dream,

and the dream sensor

starts the dream deactivator,

which wakes you with a mild electric shock

equivalent in effect

to two cups of coffee.

Meanwhile, the incipient dream

is transferred and stored

in the company mainframe.

There, the dream completer software

massages the story line

and develops alternate dreamlines.

When it's convenient,

you can select whichever variant suits you,

and, when the market slows

or you are longing for a respite,

the dream of your choice

will be returned to you, fully realized,

to enjoy at your leisure.

For the busy man or woman,

it's almost a dream come true.

2. Nightmare Outlet

In this branch of the greater dream factory,

the wages are lower,

the workers disgruntled,

and an inspector from the dream division

constantly intrudes to insure

that the output is defective.

Here, on a creeping assembly line,

the factory seconds pass for hours.

It's not really good news,

or a relief,

that this division's products

are almost always recalled.




Duane Ackerson's poetry has appeared in Rolling Stone, Yankee, Prairie Schooner, The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Cloudbank, alba, Starline, Dreams & Nightmares, and several hundred other places. He has won two Rhysling awards and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in Salem, Oregon. You can find more of his work in our archives.
Current Issue
11 Nov 2024

Their hair permed, nails scarlet, knees slim, lashes darkly tinted.
green spores carried on green light, sleeping gentle over steel bones
The rest of the issue is on its way. We think.
In the 4th episode of SH@25, Editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with tabletop game designer and SFF critic Kyle Tam, whose young career has taken off in the last few years. Read on for an insightful interview about narrative storytelling from non-Western perspectives, the importance of schlock and trash in the development of taste, and the windows into creativity we find in moments of hardship.
After the disaster—after the litigation, the endless testimony, the needling comments of the defendant’s counsel—there is at last a settlement, with no party admitting error, and the state recognizing no victim, least of all yourself. Although the money cannot mend any of the overturned things left behind, it can pay for college, so that’s where you go next.
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By: KT Bryski
Podcast read by: Devin Martin
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By: Christopher Blake
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
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Art by: nino
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