Size / / /

 

 

Direct link: December poetry (MP3)

In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Anaea Lay presents poetry from the December issues.

  • “Upgrade" by Rohinton Daruwala, read by Susan Ramirez. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Rohinton here.
  • “To the High School Sweetheart, in Snatches" by Roshani Chokshi, read by Roshani Chokshi. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Roshani here.
  • “Future Husband: A Letter" by Charles Payseur, read by Charles Payseur. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Charles here.
  • “Adarna" by M Sereno, read by M Sereno. You can read the full text of the poem and more about M here.



Anaea Lay lives in Chicago, Illinois where she writes, cooks, plays board games, reads too much, and questions the benevolence of the universe. Her work has appeared in many places including Apex, Penumbra, Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, and Nightmare. She lives online at anaealay.com.
Charles (Cy) Payseur is an avid reader, writer, editor, and reviewer of speculative fiction. His works have appeared in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Lightspeed Magazine, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, among others. He is the series editor of the Locus and Ignyte Awards winning We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction (Neon Hemlock Press) and a multiple-time Hugo and Ignyte Award finalist for his critical work. He can be found on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/quicksipreviews.
M Sereno is a queer Filipina artist and writer who works in ink, watercolor, poetry, and sometimes prose. Her poems have appeared in Strange Horizons, Stone Telling, Goblin Fruit, Uncanny, and Interfictions. She lives in regional Australia with her partner and two ridiculous Pomeranians. Find her on Twitter at @likhain and online at her website. You can contact her by email.
Rohinton Daruwala lives and works in Pune, India. He tweets as @wordbandar and blogs at https://wordbandar.wordpress.com/. His first collection of poems is The Sand Libraries of Timbuktu (Speaking Tiger 2016). His work has previously appeared in Strange Horizons, New Myths, Star*Line, Liminality, Through the Gate, and Silver Blade.
Roshani Chokshi is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning children’s book author of the Pandava, Gilded Wolves, and Star-Touched series. Her adult debut, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, is forthcoming from William Morrow in 2023.
Susan Ramirez is a podcast reader for Strange Horizons.
Current Issue
16 Feb 2026

Water is life here, and it's evident in that if you stray too far off the beaten path and away from water, you will get lost and you’ll be lucky if anyone sees you again before sundown. My village is settled neatly between two gentle rolling mesas and along a thin river in a sparsely populated community lovingly called ‘the valley’.
In the beginning, the ocean was lonely / and so she created a fifteen-year-old girl / (or was it the other way around?)
It’s me not you, and the / Hole in the sky still weeps sticky tears.
Wednesday: Lies Weeping by Glen Cook 
Friday: Slow Gods by Claire North 
Issue 9 Feb 2026
Issue 2 Feb 2026
By: Natasha King
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 26 Jan 2026
Issue 19 Jan 2026
Issue 12 Jan 2026
Issue 5 Jan 2026
Strange Horizons
Issue 22 Dec 2025
Issue 15 Dec 2025
Strange Horizons
Issue 8 Dec 2025
Issue 1 Dec 2025
Load More