Size / / /

The microcomputers producing my tints

are here to provide you, the viewer,

with a whole new interactive experience.

My voice recognition units

enable me to eavesdrop on your critique

and make whatever changes are called for.

Even if you don't know about art

but know what you like,

you can become an equal participant, or more,

in the process.

Think of me as your humble servant,

think of shoemaker's elves,

scurrying about to do his bidding even in the dark,

always true to the Platonic ideal

he dreams of while they work.

Perhaps you thought of microcomputers

as only making their contributions

in places such as the wings of aircraft,

reshaping them in the sky

to adjust to conditions.

Now, however, we can help

the imagination to also take flight.

What's more, we have been able to combine

the functions of creator and critic

into one, much richer, experience.

Even as you move on to the next work,

notice how the changes begin to fill

the corners of you eyes.

Is that your signature starting to form?

As with all the works in this gallery,

the original artist is unknown,

though we like to think of him

not as lost but as part of the foundation:

think of that painter

as simply painted over.




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
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'.
Wednesday: The Theme Park of Women’s Bodies by Maggie Cooper 
Friday: Your Own Dark Shadow: A Selection of Lost Irish Horror Stories edited by Jack Fennell 
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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