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Direct link: July poetry (MP3)

In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Ciro Faienza presents poetry from the issues.

  • “Odessa" by Marina Berlin, read by Marina Berlin. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Marina here.
  • “Interview with a 22nd-Century Sex Worker" by Darren Lipman, read by Ciro Faienza. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Darren here.
  • “A Mergirl Speaks of Travels" by Michelle Vider, read by Michelle Vider. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Michelle here.
  • “Duck Dance, Two-Step" by Halee Kirkwood, read by Halee Kirkwood. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Halee here.
  • “The Sparrows in Her Hair" by Hester J. Rook, read by Rebecca Brooks-Steele. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Hester J. here.
  • “Sawa" by Karolina Fedyk, read by Karolina Fedyk. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Karolina here.
  • “Stone Heart" by Omar Sakr, read by Ciro Faienza. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Omar here.
  • “eve (and adam)" by Safiya Njemile, read by Romie Stott. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Safiya here.



Njemile is a Trinidadian-American residing near Washington, D.C. When not writing poetry, she can be found on long hikes, architecting her next adventure.
Marina Berlin grew up speaking three languages in a coastal city far, far away. She’s an author of short stories who’s currently working on her first novel. You can follow her exploits on Twitter @berlin_marina or read more about her work at marinaberlin.org.
Darren Lipman graduated from NC State University with his master's in mathematics and a minor in poetry. He's currently moving from his hometown of Asheboro, NC, to Milwaukee, where he'll teach high school mathematics as a Teach for America 2016 corps member. Find him at thewritingwolf.wordpress.com, with fiction and poetry at silentsol.wordpress.com.
Michelle Vider is based in Philadelphia. Her work has appeared in The Toast, The Rumpus, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Open Letters Monthly, Atlas and Alice, and elsewhere. Find her at michellevider.com and @meanchelled.
Halee Kirkwood is a recent graduate of Northland College and will be soon attending Hamline University’s MFA program. Kirkwood also served as an editor for Aqueous Magazine, a Lake Superior region Literary & Performing Arts magazine. You can often find Kirkwood haunting the Twin Cities Metro Transit, staring out of windows and daydreaming about what secrets the roadside plants keep.
Hester J. Rook is a Rhysling Award and Australian Shadows Award shortlisted poet and co-editor of Twisted Moon Magazine.  They are often found salt-scrunched on beaches, reading arcane tales and losing the moon in mugs of tea. Find Hester on Twitter @hesterjrook and read more poems and fiction at hesterjrook.com.
Karolina Fedyk is a Polish writer of speculative poetry and fiction. Likes learning new languages, coffee, owls, and living in extreme latitudes. Tweets as @karigrafia.
Omar Sakr is a bisexual Arab Australian poet from Sydney. His poetry has been published by Meanjin, Overland, Tincture, Carve and Mascara Literary Review, among others. He recently placed runner-up in the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, and his debut collection, These Wild Houses , is forthcoming from Cordite Books (2017).
Current Issue
16 Mar 2026

The garden is the resting place of your vulnerabilities; there’s a reason you’ve left them here instead of carrying them with you. Typically you enter hardened and hurried, beelining straight for the correct plot and quickly releasing whatever is clutched in your hand without a second thought—today, an attempted weaving of leather and lace, strength and suppleness that your body cannot figure out how to wear, nor your words to narrate.
If you say there are rats, I will believe you, though I don’t hear or see them.
A ruffling of branches as they resettle for the night. We dare not ask why they are here.
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As part of a collective of African writers who have created an Afrocentric Sauútiverse of five planets, two suns and a spirit moon, a world of science and fantasy, where there is no written language, we play with technology and sound magic to scrutinise the world as we know it, and use speculative fiction as a response to our world. 
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