Size / / /

I dream of women who have lost
their treasure and look at mannequins
through a brass cage. Madame Tellers who can't tell
them how to cope but turn their own, wax faces
(under the tilt of black brim with veil) toward a clock
and scale balancing nothing. Outside a few blocks down
sun wavers between leaves wilted by frost. And wind
cloaked in the wings of birds, keeps silent
knowing they will come, tend the flames.

I dream of women who vow
to keep their fire baskets full
as Winter settles in the park. Kindling gathered
from fallen leaves, feathers, scattered trash
and tresses plucked from brush or scalp.
They come under the stone roof of the underpass,
Valkyrie sorting through issues that cause
the movement to thrive or perish. The river sheds
its wild geese and cattail ash, migration
instinctive with the chill. But these women
pledge to stay and rise, rationing their strength
each day while time limits their length of light.
A cache of stars is kept on hand
to mix with the black pour of sky, the acid taste
of their early coffee.




Wendy Howe is an English teacher who lives in California with her partner. She's fascinated by ghosts, myths, and ancient landscapes. Her work has been published in a variety of journals, including Goblin Fruit, Mythic Delirium, Jabberwocky, and Scheherezade's Bequest, along with several anthologies, including The Midnight Garden and Forgetting Home: Poems About Alzheimer's.
Current Issue
25 Mar 2024

Looking back, I see that my initial hope for this episode was that the mud would have a heartbeat and a heart that has teeth and crippling anxiety. Some of that hope has become a reality, but at what cost?
to work under the / moon is to build a formidable tomorrow
Significantly, neither the humans nor the tigers are shown to possess an original or authoritative version of the narrative, and it is only in such collaborative and dialogic encounters that human-animal relations and entanglements can be dis-entangled.
By: Sammy Lê
Art by: Kim Hu
the train ascends a bridge over endless rows of houses made of beams from decommissioned factories, stripped hulls, salvaged engines—
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
Issue 29 Jan 2024
Issue 15 Jan 2024
Issue 8 Jan 2024
Load More
%d bloggers like this: