Size / / /

Is a small beast with a body of Celtic knots. Ears twitching
soft as a doe's.
Lively-eyed, narrow-eyed. His nose is long and
wide, wide open.

My prayer to him is simple at first. I want what I want
and want it back.
But vain hours later I'm inventing prayers of smoke
and mirrors,

knotted into silver lace. They rise into the tarnished sky
sparking and weaving
all ears, all eyes, all long, long nose. Please be seeking, be
finding, be bringing

it back to my hand, oh beast, how my hands then will stroke
those ears, bless
those bright eyes, how I will delight that nose with delicious
tidbits, offerings

of thanks. How I will make a pet of you place you in my silken
cage lined with your new
velvet bed. How when you curl there I will say I want what I want
and I want it. You.




Neile Graham's life is full of writing and writers. She is a graduate of Clarion West Writers Workshop and currently serves as their workshop director. Her poetry collections are Seven Robins, Spells for Clear Vision, and Blood Memory, and a spoken word CD, She Says: Poems Selected and New.
Current Issue
5 Oct 2026

In time, the entire shift’s 138 Express inbound transfers are processed, and I’m free to service passengers from other lines. These transfers are unremarkable. These passengers aren’t refugees.
Forgive me, someone.
Turn on the stove. See it startle.
In this episode of Critical Friends , the Strange Horizons criticism podcast, Dan Hartland is joined by Ryan Elliot and Rosanna Pendlebury, to ask questions about literary SFF. What is it? How do we know it when we see it? And what’s it good for?
Issue 28 Sep 2026
Issue 21 Sep 2026
Wednesday: Khauf 
,
Issue 14 Sep 2026
Strange Horizons
Issue 7 Sep 2026
Strange Horizons
Issue 31 Aug 2026
Issue 24 Aug 2026
Issue 17 Aug 2026
Issue 10 Aug 2026
Issue 3 Aug 2026
Issue 27 Jul 2026
Load More