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And sometimes it is you, the door.
Standing ajar,
a slice of light spilling around your edges.
Seeping beneath your sill.
The force of it scours you from the inside,
great heaving gasps that rattle your hinges.
Sing against your ribs.
A way out,
yes,
but a way in too.

 

 

[Editor’s Note: Publication of this poem was made possible by a gift from Moira Moran during our annual Kickstarter.]



J. M. Bédard (she/her) spends long runs getting lost in other worlds and writes to find her way out. Human, Too, her collection of dark, surreal short stories and poetry, was published by Dim Shores in April 2021.
Current Issue
12 May 2025

You saw her for the first time at your front door, like she wanted to sell you something or convert you. She had light hair and dark eyes, and she was wearing fatigues, which was the only way you knew that your panicked prayers of the last few minutes had not come true. “Don’t freak out,” she said. “I’m you. From—uh, let’s just say from the future. Can I come inside?”
Time will not return to you as it was.
The verdant hills they whispered of this man so apt to sin / chimney smoke was pure as mountain snow compared to him.
In this episode of Strange Horizons at 25, editor Kat Kourbeti talks to Naomi Kritzer about her non-linear writing journey, imagining positive futures, and how to deal with the world catching up to your near-future specfic.
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By: Holli Mintzer
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