Like learning a foreign language,
I want to learn
a new sand – hardscrabble and brown.
I want a new heat in my blood.
blinded and shorn,
I desire new fruit
grown under an unforgiving sun.
Prickly pear,
open yourself to me. Agave nectar.
Quail, jackrabbit,
grackle and green hummingbird,
let your shadows fall.
Let a fierce light try to turn me to dust.

Jeannine Hall Gailey currently lives in San Diego, and is … Read entire article »

We are always in motion. It’s how we breathe. We are always in song. It is life.

The wind on our strings vibrates us from crown to pedestal. It reverberates out beyond our pedestals. It propels us forward on the cloudsoil, and our paths renew the shape of our world. The cloud has never before taken the form it is now. A beat later, its new form replaces the old. Our … Read entire article »

“History favors the victor, Monsieur Grimm. So you will forgive me if I do not seem terribly excited to see you?” The woman turned from the small window in the tower room, mocking me with her expression.

I nodded stiffly and sat down at the table. It and the chairs were the only pieces of furniture in the room. The wood was old and scratched, warped in … Read entire article »

I speak to you with the voice of the waves,
From the drowned city with no name
That is at once all drowned cities:
Lyonesse and Ys and Atlantis,
Sunk far below frothing whitecaps and creamy foam.
I wonder at the stories of my home,
the ones that didn’t get it quite right,
Seeing as there are none left but me to tell the tale.
No noble kings, no virtuous saints,
No … Read entire article »

Scientists say the human heart beats 42,075,904 times in a year. They also say the gastric muscles secrete two gallons of juice in a week, and hair grows at a consistent average rate of 0.017336 inches per day. Since Rapunzel married the Prince, her blood has circulated 420,759,040 times and she could have flooded a moat from her belly, the acids eroding stone palace walls to crumbs. Her hair has always grown … Read entire article »

Sometimes it’s good to be the wolf. No one tells you what to do; you eat what you want, sleep when you want. Sure, there’s fleas, and sometimes your dinner makes you run to catch it, because if you don’t catch it there’s hunger, and besides man, hunger’s your worst enemy, but for the most part, it’s good. The shepherds sure hate you, though.

I think I’m a better wolf … Read entire article »

A circus tent sat in the middle of a field. Red and green streamers danced from the tent’s top as the sun shone down, smiling at the circus. Wagons surrounded the tent and if a person wandered by, the things he’d see! An enormous lion that could whistle. A lady with a beard of moss that bloomed tiny blue flowers. A snake that played the flute and charmed itself to … Read entire article »

I am cast in jagged leaf and thorn.
Blessed is the heavy breeze of autumn.

The commas have pulled themselves free
from their cocoons and my empty fingers.

I am the bridge between these lands
Lonely, lonely in the bitter … Read entire article »

How did Connla mac Lia gain the kingship at Tara? It is soon told.

A girl named Eithne from Bruig na Bóinde was at play with her maidens on the bank of the river Bóand near Tara. Each girl would take her turn hiding, while the others would search for her. When Eithne’s turn came to hide, she ran towards a ring of stones. There she saw a man waiting for … Read entire article »

This story began with Yvaine of the white hands and her heart’s desire, which was to have her lover return to her from the west. When he had been gone for many years, and it seemed likely he would be gone for many more, she went to the court of her cousin, and soon after her cousin’s court became involved in the War of the Five Princes.

In the war-days, ravens became … Read entire article »