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baby, I birthed you
despite my best efforts;
your wings clog my gullet,
you flap when I eat.

I munch and I mash down,
but still you stay brittle;
your little bones rattle
between my loose teeth.

when winter is over,
you start to fly somewhere.
you drag my bruised body
behind you like smoke.

my tongue is your beak now.
my body sprouts feathers.

you sing for the first time,

and I start to choke.



C. C. Rayne is an author who writes all things weird, wonderful, and queer. You can find more of C. C.’s poetry in places such as Heartlines Spec, Eye To The Telescope, The Dread Machine, and Stone Circle Review. You can find C. C.’s stories in places such as The Deeps, The Razor, Demons and Death Drops, HAD, and JAKE.
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
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