{"id":57957,"date":"2026-03-09T07:54:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T11:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/?p=57957"},"modified":"2026-03-09T15:45:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:45:41","slug":"an-inheritance-of-air-or-you-are-cordially-invited-to-attend-my-presentation-on-genealogy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/poetry\/an-inheritance-of-air-or-you-are-cordially-invited-to-attend-my-presentation-on-genealogy\/","title":{"rendered":"An Inheritance of Air; or, You Are Cordially Invited to Attend My Presentation on Genealogy"},"content":{"rendered":"<script>\nfunction showWarning_enUS() {\n    var content_warning_list = document.getElementById(\"content-warning-enUS\");\n\n    if (content_warning_list.style.display === \"none\") {\n        content_warning_list.style.display = \"block\";\n    } else {\n        content_warning_list.style.display = \"none\";\n    }\n}\n<\/script><div lang=\"en-US\" dir=\"ltr\" class=\"content-warning-container-ltr\"><p><strong class=\"content-warning-title\">Content warning:<\/strong><br\/><button onclick=\"showWarning_enUS()\">Show warnings<\/button><\/p><div class=\"content-warning\" id=\"content-warning-enUS\" style=\"display: none;\" ><p>This page contains: <\/p><ul><li>Disregard for personal autonomy<\/li><\/ul><\/div><br\/><\/div>\n<p><i>After Hua Long Dian Jing<\/i><\/p>\n<p>I\u2003 Then<br \/>\nIf you must know: the key to dragon-making lies<br \/>\nin the paint you use. You see: it must be heavy<br \/>\nenough to withstand the typhoons of the South,<br \/>\nyet light enough to ride the East\u2019s measured breaths.<\/p>\n<p>II\u2003 Now<br \/>\nFrom my mother, I\u2019ve inherited<br \/>\ndark eyes, nimble knuckles, and from my father\u2014<br \/>\nsometimes,<br \/>\nI think,<br \/>\na thirst<br \/>\nfor air.<\/p>\n<p>III\u2003 Then<br \/>\nRecall: a dragon has no use for wings,<br \/>\nand in that sense, it is like the opposite<br \/>\nof a flightless bird.<br \/>\nRecall: when he tells you this joke<br \/>\nthat I was the one who taught it to him.<\/p>\n<p>IV\u2003 Now<br \/>\nWhen I was too young to understand,<br \/>\nI was still old enough to dream\u2014<br \/>\nwhile the other children gorged<br \/>\non tales of wild storks\u2014<br \/>\nthat I might have been conceived<br \/>\nwith a drop<br \/>\nof paint.<\/p>\n<p>V\u2003 Then<br \/>\nWhen you get there, ask him if he remembers: that night years ago, when the power went out,<br \/>\nand we let loose our dragon by the sun of a thousand fireflies. Ask him if he remembers:<br \/>\nhow I turned, and the breath left his lungs, and we held each other\u2014he, trembling<br \/>\nin my arms, pale as a ghost. And when you return, ask me if I remember: how I<br \/>\nturned and gleaned terror where there was only desire, how we held<br \/>\neach other, that night years ago, but he was already gone\u2014<br \/>\nfor it was not the key to dragon-making that held him<br \/>\nin thrall, but what it might finally mean<br \/>\nto fly.<\/p>\n<p>VI\u2003 Now<br \/>\nYou see: it was only a matter<br \/>\nof dotting the eyes\u2014<\/p>\n<p>VII\u2003 After<br \/>\nAnd yes, oh, yes\u2014<br \/>\nof time, too.<\/p>\n<br class=\"clear_both\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>and we let loose our dragon by the sun of a thousand fireflies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[730],"class_list":["post-57957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-no-content-warning"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p82q22-f4N","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57957"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57961,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57957\/revisions\/57961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}