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Witch in a torn lace smock
Goblin with spider-cobbed hair
Dryad hiding among fallen graves
      I saw her once
where the long grasses flow
      tending bouquets
      sweeping the weeds
The wind gathered about her
      a skirt of brittle leaves
as she floated through the yard
turning down the dirt beds
for every long-term guest

 

Copyright © 2002 Wendy Rathbone

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Wendy Rathbone has had over 500 poems published in small and pro press. Her latest work can be found in Dark Regions, Penny Dreadful, Flesh and Blood, Dreams of Decadence, Weird Tales and many others. Her collection of vampire poems and fiction will be available in Spring 2002 from DNA Publications.



Bio to come.
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
In this episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, Amritesh Mukherjee and Abigail Nussbaum join Dan Hartland to talk about literary awards.
Issue 27 Jul 2026
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By: Aimee Ogden
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 6 Jul 2026
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Issue 22 Jun 2026
Issue 15 Jun 2026
Issue 14 Jun 2026
Issue 8 Jun 2026
Issue 1 Jun 2026
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