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Witch in a torn lace smock
Goblin with spider-cobbed hair
Dryad hiding among fallen graves
      I saw her once
where the long grasses flow
      tending bouquets
      sweeping the weeds
The wind gathered about her
      a skirt of brittle leaves
as she floated through the yard
turning down the dirt beds
for every long-term guest

 

Copyright © 2002 Wendy Rathbone

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Wendy Rathbone has had over 500 poems published in small and pro press. Her latest work can be found in Dark Regions, Penny Dreadful, Flesh and Blood, Dreams of Decadence, Weird Tales and many others. Her collection of vampire poems and fiction will be available in Spring 2002 from DNA Publications.



Bio to come.
Current Issue
15 Dec 2025

Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons will open to general fiction submissions on January 19th, 2026, at 3 p.m. UTC! This window will remain open for 48 hours, closing at 3 p.m. UTC on January 21st 2026.
My obsidian shadows knifed the moon, drank moonblood until my wandering mouth filled to bursting
In this endless dark winter / he comes as furious as / a lion’s claw
Now that I am back in our homelands, I am haunted. I dream of faces hovering over me, taking my blood. They suck at my veins like infants at a bottle.
Wednesday: The Deep Forest by Sofía Rhei, translated by Kendal Simmons 
Friday: Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto 
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By: B. Pladek
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