Rekha Valliappan

Snow, a haiku by Rekha Valliappan at Spillwords.com Spillwords.com presents: Snow, a haiku by Rekha Valliappan, who writes poems and prose, as well as short stories.

#FridayFavorite - Out today! My #haiku SNOW ❄️ Thrilled! Thanks, Dagmara, thanks Spillwords 📚 #silicasun ❄️📙💛 spillwords.com/snow/

4. Bird at Dawn, February In the deep ogive of the dawn freshness, to hold still and so be given this first voice so far, so early in the dark that will be spring, that will again and still be all tendril, freshet, frond unfolding, song again and still again and still.

“Bird at Dawn, February” appears in Sixty Odd (Shambhala, 1999)

Cover art by Pascal Blanché features a blue skinned person wearing red-orange partial armor and helmet. They are sitting on a raised red piece of machinary in front of a large yellow sun on a bright yellow background. Smoke trails in from the lower right. Their helmeted head looks forward while they hold a large round device in both hands. Cables lead from the device to the helmet. Art is titled "Long Distance Call." Also in this issue: interviews with J.M. Sidorova and Rebecca Roanhorse, article by Benjamin C. Kinney, and the final results our annual readers' poll.

Our March 2026 issue features stories by David D. Levine, R.L. Meza, Carolyn Zhao, Thomas Ha, Wanxiang Fengnian, Thoraiya Dyer, and Marissa Lingen.
clarkesworldmagazine.com/issue_234

Subscribe at:
clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/

Hildegarde Haas (1926–2002)
Trees and Water, woodcut, 1949

Kameron Hurley | Patreon creating Short Stories

Today is Patreon story day! And my weird little escapist sf adventures probably aren't for everyone.

But 1,300+ people seem pretty happy they joined.

www.patreon.com/kameronhurley

A photo of the Cloudwatcher book cover with text reading Forthcoming April 7

Cover Art: SeamlessOo Cover Design: Gopa and Ted2, Inc.

Forthcoming April 7: CLOUDWATCHER by MICHAEL BAZZETT, winner of the 2025 Stern Prize from The American Poetry Review!

In today's #coverfeature, BAZZETT tells us about the uncanny resemblance—and rightness—between his speaker, self, and cover figure:

"The sun didn’t set. Tomorrow hovered on the cusp of Midnight."

Poetry by Richard Gessner. Winter '25 DADA issue.

Subscribe for full access.

https://www.exactingclam.com/issues/no-19-winter-2025/travels-of-a-shrew-on-the-summer-solstice/

The early days of the new year seems a good time to share this delightful news from Stained Glass Qtly Vol 120 No 2 'summer' reading series just out for the #HolidaySeason 🎄 Features 4 of my #poems THE SKY ITSELF, MOON JAR, WHO AM I, THE LARK'S SONG stainedglass.org/stained-glas... 📚 #silicasun 🐦📗❤️

Bird migration fascinated early observers. Their seasonal returns became symbols of hope and renewal. #FairyTaleTuesday

Art: Lewis Lumen Cross

Marie de France, from an illuminated manuscript now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France: BnF, Arsenal Library, Ms. 3142 fol. 256. A woman is depicted standing and leaning slightly forward over an open book resting on an elegant white lectern with a decorative pedestal base. She wears a flowing pale cream or white robe that pools softly at her feet, with blue sleeves visible beneath, and a white veil or wimple covering her hair. Her face small, calm features with a downward gaze directed at the page. One hand reaches toward the open book as if reading or writing. The lectern stands on a terracotta-red bench or platform. Behind her, a trefoil arch frames the scene. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_de_France#/media/File:Marie_de_France_1.tif

How Medieval Women Expressed Their ‘Forbidden’ Emotions

Upper-class women used letters and embroidery to reflect on their inner lives

by Pragya Agarwal (from the archives)

www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-...

Medieval women @ PG
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc...

#books #literature #womeninart

from THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS – Beatriz Hausner & Rik Lina THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS MOVING IN The house had remained empty for what seemed like several eternities, despite its prominent location in the centre of Paris. It was as if the walls had signed a …

This week Ice Floe Process series begins w/ extraordinary feature from 2 leading contemporary surrealists in collaboration: Chilean/Canadian #poet Beatriz Hausner & influential Dutch surrealist #painter Rik Lina.
Enjoy these evocations of interior alternative worlds
icefloepress.net/2026/02/23/f...

The Infinitely Stranger Cases of Sherlock Holmes - Paperback Your Other Options: Amazon USA   Bookshop.org   Barnes and Noble  Kindle    Audio “My dear fellow,” said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat at either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, “life is...

"clever and richly detailed and there's real treasure in the notes at the end of each tale which share fascinating bits of #historical and cultural research adding depth without ever overshadowing the narratives." From Cornish devils, to #Welsh witches, six tales with a twist #cozy
shorturl.at/ToS1R

The nursery rhyme "One for Sorrow" was originally about magpies, but there are now countless variations about crows, jackdaws, and other birds. According to superstition, the number of birds you see determines what kind of luck you'll have, or what major life event will happen. #FairyTaleTuesday

Remembering Jane Austen born #OTD 250 years ago 1775 #novelist 📚 Mansfield Park, Persuasion, Emma...
“The contents of his letter threw her into a flutter of spirits, in which it was difficult to determine whether pleasure or pain bore the greatest share.” Pride & Prejudice #JaneAusten 📗 #silicasun 📖

Introducing the Famous Five: Cat, Mouse, Weasel, Mole and Hedgehog

BL Harley 3244; Bestiary;13th century; England; f.49v

A small grebe with red eye, golden ear tufts swims in a reedy water margin.

Slavonian or horned grebe
#BirdOfTheDay
#WaterDroplets

Matterist Picks Because Books Matter.

Another great week for books, and we love to pick 'em.

bookshop.org/lists/matter...

image of book cover in red and pink with linocuts of bat, bath, scissors and other objects. Title says Queen of Bats and other stories, Rachel Reeher, Coming soon, with the text of blurb from the linked page.

Congratulations to contributor Rachel Reeher—whose SmokeLong story, "Lobster", is beloved of many—on her upcoming short story collection, Queen of Bats, available for pre-order now in this gorgeous limited edition, hand-crafted linocut version: www.susqupress.com

‘something–… ephemeral—blue – balloon,’ – Mark BOLSOVER ‘something–… ephemeral—blue – balloon,’ – Mark Bolsover Blue BalloonDownload AUTHOR STATEMENT: My work represents High-Modernist (Woolf, Joyce, Proust,)-inspired experiments in psychological …

The 2nd piece this week was remarkable deconstruction of modernist/art viewing while partaking of modernist tropes & ruminative inquiry from experimental #Scottish poet & artist @mdbolsover.bsky.social
curated @rfredekenter.bsky.social & @vikkicwrites.bsky.social

icefloepress.net/2026/02/20/s...

Quarterly West

www.quarterlywest.com

#MondayMagic - For #MythologyMonday 🐎 celebrating #LunarNewYear 🏮 the tale of the Legendary Flying Fire Horse 🐎 time to pet one, ride one, or get one anytime this year while the auspicious season lasts 🎆 may good luck, prosperity, good fortune be yours 🎈 silicasun.wordpress.com 🐴 #silicasun 🧨📙❤️

According to an 1876 edition of the 'Illustrated Police News', a South Londoner choked to death when a startled mouse leapt into his mouth and got stuck in his throat. Whether the mouse survived is not recorded.
#WyrdWednesday #Victorian

Nothing Is Wrong and That's Terrifying - Electric Literature Two poems by Evan Wang

“I mean, I father. I man. I husband. I carry the weight…”

Read “When I Grow Up I Aspire to Be Nothing Like My Father” and “Highland,” two poems by National Youth Poet Laureate Evan Wang:

buff.ly/Ul0liGC

Family Album by William Trowbridge - Rattle: Poetry It’s from the 40s, the black and white photos, held fast at the corners with little black tabs: me in my diapers, me on my wooden pony, me in my father’s arms, dwarfed under his service cap, me in my ...

It’s from the ’40s, the black and white photos,
held fast at the corners with little black tabs …

—William Trowbridge

Sand Hills Literary Magazine Call for Submissions! (50th Anniversary Issue) Submit prose, poetry, and art to Sand Hills Literary Magazine’s 50th anniversary issue. Open to US writers only.

March 8 is the deadline to submit prose, poetry, & art to the 50th anniversary issue of Sand Hills Literary Magazine. Open to emerging & established writers across the US. $3 reading fee.

#writers #litmag #callforsubmissions

You change the world by being yourself. ~
Yoko Ono

#WyrdWednesday Gentlemen, ignore at your peril!

#MondayMagic - For #MythologyMonday 🐎 celebrating #LunarNewYear 🏮 the tale of the Legendary Flying Fire Horse 🐎 time to pet one, ride one, or get one anytime this year while the auspicious season lasts 🎆 may good luck, prosperity, good fortune be yours 🎈 silicasun.wordpress.com 🐴 #silicasun 🧨📙❤️

Six Poems by Dana Delibovi Lothlorien Poetry Journal Edited by Strider Marcus Jones Poet - Publishes poetry and fiction online and in print periodically. https://lothlorienp

I have six new poems published thanks to @lothlorienpoetryj.bsky.social and editor @stridermarcusjones.bsky.social 💙—including a poem about the polymath René Descartes for all of us lapsed philosophers👇👇👇

2 contributor copies of Jarnal 4, published by Mason Jar Press.

The Blessing Hour In this city, we stop hunting for language, instead redeem the plainest spaces. Wade in water that makes absence personal. I don’t want to write my way through a flood. Don’t want us to split over distance, or small aberrations, unnoticed at sundown. What we miss, chimes as colours on oil slick roads, and hills that steepen by us simply climbing. It hurts to labour for love. A mother lifts her child above a ruined wall — shows him the future. Morning smooths out a street of debris. The child believes it is dusty Lego, waiting. The war hasn’t happened for 300 days, meaning our beauty has been humbly salvaged, the clarity of a single moment bargaining with broken bread on a bistro table. Grace slipping a note between the hands of a man and woman drinking coffee. They never go further than talking. Or walking, where nothing falls — except fractured light on an evening like this. A girl from a dim alley adjusts her blouse, straightens her crumpled skirt. Vanishes in fog. I tell myself she must have been loved, hard. That there was no crime. Things appear as a heart is held. As a land askew, its weapons and dresses laid to rest. This translucent city — edged with fire.

I tell myself she must have been loved, hard. That there was no crime. Things appear as a heart is held. As a land askew, its weapons and dresses laid to rest. This translucent city — edged with fire.

Delighted to see my poem 'The Blessing Hour' in Jarnal 4 from @masonjarpress.bsky.social ❤️

My thanks again to EIC Steph Sundermann-Zinger and team. The issue is a stunner with many writers I admire from the US and around the world. Available now: masonjarpress.com/jarnal

#poetrycommunity #poetry