Size / / /

The rocking horse dreams of riding the carousel; the carousel horse would

like to escape but has nightmares about being set free from music and dizzying

excitement, left to move back and forth, back and forth, in a merely mechanical

jog, as monotonous as the sea swaying back and forth, depositing on and licking

salt from the pilings separating earth from sea that support everything, balancing

change and constancy. You come to a crossroads on your horse of a different color,

look at the signs. This way lies madness; that way, sadness, some other way,

gladness; it's all very hypothetical. (And, possibly, even medical.) You could look

to the moon for advice, but its crystal ball, buoyed by all the vacuum it's swallowed

to get here, goes where the water tells it to, a Japanese glass float riding the

waves without comment.




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
17 Mar 2025

Strange Horizons will have three open fiction submissions throughout 2025.
In this whole ocean, not a single reply.
We are men making machines, making men.
The customer shakes me until his disc drops into the bin below. Please take your receipt, sir. He kicks me in the side and says, “Thanks for nothing, you piece of shit vending machine!”
Wednesday: Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan 
Friday: Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen 
Issue 10 Mar 2025
By: Holli Mintzer
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Issue 3 Mar 2025
Issue 24 Feb 2025
Issue 17 Feb 2025
Issue 10 Feb 2025
By: Alexandra Munck
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
Issue 27 Jan 2025
By: River
Issue 20 Jan 2025
Strange Horizons
By: Michelle Kulwicki
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Issue 13 Jan 2025
Issue 6 Jan 2025
By: Samantha Murray
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 23 Dec 2024
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