Size / / /

It means the headwaters of mass,

the treacly origins of inertia,
have been discovered. It explains

why rocks stubbornly refute
the argument of my toes; why galaxies
clump like moths around a dark flame;

how a whale floats in the sea dreamy
as a balloon, yet a small oyster
of a child clings heavy as a millstone.
Maybe it even explains why tragedy,

a metal and plastic bolide, hurtles
unstoppable through red lights;
how grief presses down on lungs
to squeeze out the last sweet breath;
why a black hole of absence hangs so heavy.

It has cost billions to build
god-sized synchrotrons aswim
with sticky-fingered particles,
and thousands of papers covered in black
specks of data like locusts
swarming on error-bar wings

to confirm what every family knows.




C. W. Johnson's poems have appeared in Asimov's, Stone Telling, Goblin Fruit, Star*Line, and non-genre magazines. His 2012 poem "Vigor Mortis" was nominated for a Rhysling Award. Johnson's fiction has been published in Analog, Asimov's, Interzone, The Other Half of the Sky, and elsewhere. He is a professor of physics specializing in theoretical nuclear physics, and his research articles appear in Physical Review C and elsewhere.
Current Issue
18 Nov 2024

Your distress signals are understood
Somehow we’re now Harold Lloyd/Jackie Chan, letting go of the minute hand
It was always a beautiful day on April 22, 1952.
By: Susannah Rand
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Little Lila by Susannah Rand, read by Claire McNerney. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: Spotify
Friday: The 23rd Hero by Rebecca Anne Nguyen 
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
Issue 30 Sep 2024
Issue 23 Sep 2024
By: LeeAnn Perry
Art by: nino
Issue 16 Sep 2024
Issue 9 Sep 2024
Load More