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Because the world was full of holes,
she made a man of cardboard and children's salt clay,
pressed in two green pennies for his eyes
and gave him half her life.
He woke as if from a dream of drowning,
gasping for the sweet air of the Earth.

The way of things came, so he went away
to trace sidewalks and cluttered beaches.
When he saw that the world was full of holes,
he made a woman of wrapping paper,
brown-bottle glass and masking tape
and gave her half his life.

She stood, turned away from him
and said: "The world is full of holes
that sing when the air rushes through."
Walking down to the ragged water,
she made a school of tinfoil fish
and gave them half her life.




Originally from Mississippi, Stella Nickerson studied engineering at Brigham Young University. She is now pursuing an advanced engineering degree at Arizona State University. Her poetry has previously appeared in Cicada and in Strong Verse.
Current Issue
13 Apr 2026

...fury tongued, we lash the breeze with our foxing song
From my broken streets and crumbling towers; Sterilized my self-haunted hospitals
Every single time, the Skiin™ gave me a rash. I scratched. I scratched so deeply that I clawed through the aug and into my own skin and then I tore out chunks of that too.
Friday: Climate Imagination: Dispatches from Hopeful Futures edited by Joey Eschrich and Ed Finn 
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By: Lio Abendan
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Strange Horizons
2 Mar 2026
Strange Horizons invites non-fiction submissions for our March 30 special issue on “Fungi in SFF.”
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