Size / / /

Content warning:



[                   ] called me the other day, said he would
send me the money i needed / (                   ) said i should

be relieved: unafraid of the manipulation of it all. my dog
sleeps in the sun every day & i dream of lemon trees

from a different continent, haha, diaspora poetry, am i right,
                   anyway, I thought of _______ at the picket today, reading

Olufemi in the rain as another Indian girl held the mic up for me
& asked me to be careful of her book (her favourite): another

diaspora poem, haha, am i right, anyway I texted my psychiatrist
today — he has a job under capitalism just like me 🙂 he gives

me medicine & advice i ignore & misplaced hope in the system.
bell hooks says she came to theory because she was hurting &

i would like to know where i can go: please
hold this umbrella for me while i read this poem in the rain,

& we can go everywhere after. the academy is coopting the term
decolonisation — the university has a stake in empire — neoliberal

feminism is incomplete and insidious — reform can be positive, I want
to scream that [                   ] called me the other day & said

he would send me the money i need!!!!!!!! they are quoting Darwish
at the picket & i am finally breathing again, i wish you were here

to hold my hand & teach me abolition💖we are gifted this planet
with all of its lemon trees & we are wasting it, not holding

each other’s hands while we’re here, look, sorry for
diaspora poem-ing but have you seen the news? have you

seen the hashtags? do you still watch TV? [                   ] called me
the other day, made a joke about the news, said

how awful, isn’t it all, what do we do, where do we go, i am holding
your hand through the static again, at the picket i thought of

[                   ] calling me, evil as always, nestled into the structures of
manipulation in the abusive [redacted] industrial complex, [                   ]

makes jokes sometimes, makes me sick, makes me tired, makes me
tell the stories i hate. i like the one of how my newborn

body went unheld by [                   ] until i was 6 months: the same time
that [                   ] spent not smoking. picked me up with the nicotine

addiction, haha, diaspora poetry, am i right. [                   ] will never
read this, i am thinking about the term “collective fullness” & how

everything i do is half-empty, all chemically-incoherent in my brain, i’ll say it,
                   fuck the world that makes us live like this, i will see you

at the picket
& the next one
& the next world.
                   & at all the parties we throw in this one



Umang Kalra is an Indian writer and artist living in Belfast, Ireland. She is a two-time Best of the Net Anthology finalist and a Pushcart nominee. She is the founding Editor in Chief of Violet Indigo Blue, Etc., and the author of fig (2022) and MINIMALIST SWEETHEART (-algia, 2021). Her website is umkalra.persona.co, she tweets at @umkalra, and you can buy fig and other stuff from her at etsy.com/uk/shop/umkalra.
Current Issue
28 Apr 2025

By: Sofia Rhei
Translated by: Marian Womack
When the flint salamander stopped talking, its lava eyes dimmed and it sank back into the sand. Some of the scales on its upper body still poked out, here and there, as though they were part of no living creature, but simply stones scattered across the surface. 
Cuando la salamandra de sílex terminó de hablar, sus ojos de lava se apagaron y volvió a hundirse en la arena. Algunas de las escamas de su parte superior asomaban aún, aquí y allá, como si no formaran parte de un mismo cuerpo vivo, como si no fueran más que unas cuantas piedras dispuestas al azar.
By: Bella Han
Translated by: Bella Han
I am waiting for Helen on her fiftieth birthday. On the table, there’s a crystal drinking glass and a vase with rare orchids; I can’t tell if the flowers are genuine or not. Faint piano notes and a cold scent drift in the air.
我在等待海伦,为她庆祝五十岁生日。面前是一杯水,一瓶花。杯子是水晶杯,花是垂着头的兰花,不知道是真是假。
When the branches veer towards the ground you can/ climb the trees—up and up, just as you’d ditch/ ladder rungs you’re standing on.
Wenn die Zweige zum Boden geneigt sind kannst du/ auf den Baum klettern immer weiter so wie man/ die Leiter wegwirft auf der man steht
Issue 21 Apr 2025
By: Premee Mohamed
Podcast read by: Kat Kourbeti
Issue 14 Apr 2025
Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons
Issue 7 Apr 2025
By: Lowry Poletti
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Issue 31 Mar 2025
Issue 24 Mar 2025
Issue 17 Mar 2025
Issue 10 Mar 2025
By: Holli Mintzer
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Issue 3 Mar 2025
Issue 24 Feb 2025
Issue 17 Feb 2025
Load More