Category: The Future

Poetry from The Future: “Flood Warning” by Constance Clark

It is incredibly sad Rainwater sits on top of concave dirtdressed in a ripples of amusement Steel raindrops crushed cattails at pondsideand made them learn to swim last night Nowhere Sunna, or Khepri,Amaterasu, or Ra to blot the earth The glistening fern bow, soaked,spilling stardust guts We stare with no replystanding in purple rubber boots…
The Future Has Poetry: “The Year of the Buzzard” by Bray McDonald

It was the Year of the Buzzard, and everything was dying not to die.The last of the clinging leaves had fallen,and the trees were stark with despair.The sky could only croak at dawn.Its throat was clogged, and its eyes itchedwith the dusty and rusty particlesthat rained across the horizon, and bloated the suninto a stunted…
The Future Has Fiction: “The Park Bench That Appeared on the Beach, and All That Followed” by Luke McCarthy

A History in Seven Parts “Is this a sign?” someone asked. “Obviously” replied another. I. Gray and stone-like in appearance, the bench sat on the beach directly in front of the shoreline. When it was first discovered, onlookers attempted to move it, but no matter how hard they tried, the bench simply would not budge. It…
Two Poems from The Future: William Ross

Memo to Agency: CLEAR THE DECKS _ Run desire metrics on thisnew thanato-tourism and ping me back asap _ Scramble the screen scrapers & launch theweb crawlers now _ Get me intel on any brand lift on social _ If this has legs, we’ll pry open themouths of every dead one ferrying the Styx, reach …
The Future Has Poetry: “Begging to Be Marooned” by David Dodd Lee

The geese cross the highway—five silent film comedians—while snowfalls on their slate-gray backs. I’m in seclusion. My parents are ata remove, like dolls placed in doll-shaped holes, but when you openthe box there are only cardboard edges giving shape to nothing but air.The narrator signs a lease. He lives in a haze of monofilamentand insurance…
The Future Has Fiction: “Inside of a Dog, It’s Too Dark to Read” by David Ebenbach

1. Vulcan whimpered a little and then she let out a tentative yap. It was starting to get pretty warm in the lander. 2. There had been no good reason to send a dog to Venus, but that’s one of the interesting things about humans: we invented reasons in the first place, but, upon doing…
Original Short Fiction from The Future: “Hard Boiled Ovaries” by Marty B. Rivers

Xiang Lee arrived home from work greeted by his Siamese cat, perched on the kitchen counter. “I’m hungry. Feed me.” Xiang blinked, looked at the cat, “Did you just speak, Toshiko?” “I’m hungry,” repeated Toshiko, pacing. “Feed me. I want sardines.” Toshiko then screamed a baby-cry of dissatisfaction. Wide-eyed and trembling from what Xiang considered…
Poetry from The Future: “The Night the Moon Left Us” by Sam Bovard

The night the moon left us all the spiders lost their webs.Gossamer lay empty in the corners as they crawled outThe windows and cracks, haphazard,Drunk in the dull wind. We climbed onto the roofUnder a light drizzle, the darkening terracottaSliding like scree underfoot.She was the head of a nail at that point,Barely visible through the…
Visual Poetry from The Future: “The Curse of the House of Atreus / the Cult of Personal Justice” by John-Michael Peter Bloomquist

Ed.’s Note: click on images to view larger sizes. John-Michael Peter Bloomquist is a poet, artist, and gift economist living in DC with his wife and baby son in a house run by their needy black cat, Sir Zbigniew Herbert the IX. He is a former Peace Corps volunteer and a Solar System Ambassador volunteer…