2020

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Liminality: A Magazine of Speculative Poetry (Issue #24 - Summer 2020): Acacia

I am crafting my worry like it is love,
but when you leave me I feel only hollow.
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Eye to the Telescope (Issue 36, April 2020, House & Home, edited by Emma J. Gibbon) 
 - Now the Patient Recounts the Houses in Her Mind

I am checking my safeguards
in the summer when there should be jam
and cakes on the lawn in the sun
but they are all wrong.

Liminality: A Magazine of Speculative Poetry (Issue #23 – Spring 2020): Daughters Saving Mothers

I keep her in the hope chest
and when I come home she presses
her lips to the keyhole and asks
are you holy? are you harmless?

2019

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The 2019 Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association Contest

Winner: Short Form Category: The Fox and the Forest (Erasure of Ray Bradbury) 

Winner: Long Form Category: The Mining Town

Judges comments: Hybridity brings in endless possibilities when it comes to crafting and interpreting creative work, and these short pieces showcase the complexity of hybrid, speculative poetry. ​When the container for our work is expanded, there’s room to explore braided narratives. These longer poems convey multiple specific stories while still opening themselves up for the audience to imprint their own experiences onto the work.
Apparition Lit #8 (October 2019) - Belly of the Beast

Let’s live in the belly of the beast.
You can bring a strong IPA
so smooth it’s like milk frothed.
I’ll bring Atwood and Ishiguro and Dickens.
We’ll watch Netflix in the blood vessels 
and make love in the open mouth
with the krill and saltwater
pooling at our knees . . . 
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Mirror Dance Issue 44 (Spring 2019) - Farewell Dead Men

I am crossing to the other side of the grave, having laid back the light in my bones like a letter unfolded. Its envelope is made of thick, musty parchment scrabbled with poetry. 
Not One of Us #61 (April 2019) - ​A Book Is a Tomb and Words Are Souls 

Space & Time Magazine #133 (April 2019) - The Space Between Us
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The Avenue: Issue V: Music (April 2019) - Chopin Falls in Love with the Night (1827-1846)

Originally appeared in the Art & Words Show in Fort Worth TX, a collaborative art exhibit hosted by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam.

Dreams & Nightmares Magazine (Issue #111, January 2019)  - An Unknowing Breach of the Law 
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The Knicknackery Issue 6 (February 2019) - Bayou Dream
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my husband slid a coin
under my swollen tongue
and stole gator eggs
from the fridge
they smelled like milk

I skimmed the foam and weed
only my eyes breaking the surface
and at night I sang loud trumpet calls
to the cranes on their skinny legs
they tasted like chicken...



Kaleidotrope (Winter 2019) - "All the Glory of Her Earthly Shell" 

I’m not supposed to say this
but her body was only ever a trophy
excavated bit by bit from memory
her tail tightening around my ankles
monitoring my heartbeat, my breathing
locking me in place, not too tight...

2018


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​2017


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2016

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2015
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  • Vine Leaves #16 (October 2015) - "A Red Sky." 
  • Our Space: Shorts & Poetry from the Houston Community (2015) "Morning Song." Edited by Writespace staff and volunteers. 

forthcoming
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About the Author

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Holly Lyn Walrath’s poetry and short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Fireside Fiction, Daily Science Fiction, Luna Station Quarterly, Liminality, and elsewhere. She is the author of the chapbooks Glimmerglass Girl (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and Numinose Lapidi (in Italian, Kipple Press, 2020). She holds a B.A. in English from The University of Texas and a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Denver. She is a freelance editor and host of The Weird Circular, an e-newsletter for writers containing submission calls and writing prompts.