“The Dream of Jeannie”

It’s rare that I owe thanks to two different magazines for a particular work, but in this case, it’s appropriate!

This poem — which is of the type inelegantly called “concrete;” I think the lesser-used term “shaped poetry” should come into fashion — was originally written for the ongoing Ekphrastic Challenge run by Rattle. An ekphrastic poem is one written in response to some piece of visual art; one month Rattle featured the painting “Grief Seance” by Pleasure Faith. (If later on that link fails to work correctly, the artwork shows a pottery workshop with a tall vessel bursting apart, revealing a blue-skinned, nude woman inside.)

Alas, my entry for that month was not chosen for publication — but that’s fine, because it sold on its second outing, to Strange Horizons! I will update here when it comes out.