his wildfire eyes saw the world burning and he could do nothing but tell you

I could liquefy and slide into a maelstrom of empty thoughts and words my mouth has never known.

William Shaw

William Shaw

I had a daughter and then I didn’t. I woke in the cradle of midnight, shivering from a supernatural cold. I thought at first that she was crying, that she had woken me, like so many midnights befor…

We'd only lived in Arizona four years—it was our retirement place. But I'd died there, and she'd dumped my ashes out in the desert without fanfare, without any poem or prayer, unless you considered…

By: William Shaw. People I met on dates always said they loved my button nose. They said it was cute; they said it was my best feature. They were less enthusiastic when I reached up to my face and und...

By: William Shaw. People I met on dates always said they loved my button nose. They said it was cute; they said it was my best feature. They were less enthusiastic when I reached up to my face and und...

Join us in our mission to create a multicultural vision of speculative poetry.

William Shaw A poem composed of one sentence from every individual winner of the Hugo Award for Best Short Story, 1955-2025. Let us not rely on the dubious assistance of Biblical characters.It is t…

William Shaw A poem composed of one sentence from every individual winner of the Hugo Award for Best Short Story, 1955-2025. Let us not rely on the dubious assistance of Biblical characters.It is t…

William Shaw A poem composed of one sentence from every individual winner of the Hugo Award for Best Short Story, 1955-2025. Let us not rely on the dubious assistance of Biblical characters.It is t…

William Shaw A poem composed of one sentence from every individual winner of the Hugo Award for Best Short Story, 1955-2025. Let us not rely on the dubious assistance of Biblical characters.It is t…

On the unfortunate fragility of love.

Review of Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar

By: William Shaw. I stumbled over to the bathroom mirror. Messy brown hair, blue eyes, pointed nose, crooked teeth. Yep, that was me alright. What the fuck? To be clear, I did not see a face with this...

On the unfortunate fragility of love.

On the unfortunate fragility of love.

William Shaw

William Shaw

In this episode of Critical Friends, Dean Leetal and William Shaw join Dan Hartland to talk about reading queerly:

In this episode of Critical Friends, Dean Leetal and William Shaw join Dan Hartland to talk about reading queerly:

When 2008 hit and I got laid off from Circuit City, a friend of mine managed to get me work at the local supermarket deli. It was a shit job, but I was beyond grateful at the time.

the world is mine to touch. the world is mine to open. much to the annoyance of homeowners.

By: William Shaw. Write an email to every worker in Facility 11 explaining that they will be replaced by AI. Write an email expressing sympathy and linking ex-employees to the local foodbank. Write an...

By: William Shaw. Write an email to every worker in Facility 11 explaining that they will be replaced by AI. Write an email expressing sympathy and linking ex-employees to the local foodbank. Write an...

Despite the two hundred and fifty-two million years that separate us, I feel close to you tonight, dear trilobites.

As is often the way with grief, this processing is complicated.

As is often the way with grief, this processing is complicated.

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Maybe we overestimated ourselves, I thought, watching the ferries hum against the wine-dark sea. Even if we floated above it, we were still bound to the ocean, engulfed in all its weight and inesca…