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Do not take a stone from my shores;
don’t you think
I can feel my own bones
no matter where they go?

I’ll send my invisible sinews
after you,
threaded on the wind,
rise up out of the stone
you took as a mere souvenir
and teach you
the meaning of regret.

Bring my stones, my bones,
back to me;
leave them in the ritual lines
of the mazes your ancestors wrought,
the tattoo, the silent runes
that bind me here—

it’s your best chance
as you sail back away over the waves
to whatever useless, silent land
you came from—
you’d best know
that I’m alive,
that I’m the witch herself,
not some feeble, fleeting human,
but the land, the earth.

You’re adorable in your confusion,
your fear.
Come back.
I could just eat you up.



Deborah L. Davitt was raised in Nevada, but currently lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and son. Her award-winning poetry and prose have appeared in over seventy journals, including F&SF, Analog, and Lightspeed. For more about her work, please see www.deborahldavitt.com.
Current Issue
3 Aug 2026

I had a daughter and then I didn’t. I woke in the cradle of midnight, shivering from a supernatural cold. I thought at first that she was crying, that she had woken me, like so many midnights before. But there was silence all around me. I sat up on one arm and peered into her crib. She was gone. In her place was wrapped a sallow, horned little boy. His eyes blinked open. I look at him. He looked at me. Changeling, I thought. Then he started to scream. “Why weren’t the windows
The deads are punctual. They arrive exactly when there is nothing left to distract us.
survival is a fungus
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