AFTER THE BATTLE, by Devan Barlow<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After the battle<\/p>\n
forgive, or don’t<\/p>\n
it’s really up to you<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stare at the scuttling scurrying<\/p>\n
life remaining on the sand<\/p>\n
watch hermit crabs replace shells<\/p>\n
that witnessed conflict<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Consider what<\/p>\n
if anything<\/p>\n
you might shed<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Step into the surf until it’s<\/p>\n
up to your knees<\/p>\n
Murmur or mumble<\/p>\n
your contemplations, conflicts<\/p>\n
Whales will feel the vibrations<\/p>\n
shake in time with your loss<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rest<\/p>\n
feel your hands not<\/p>\n
holding blades<\/p>\n
your senses not<\/p>\n
overwhelmed by the<\/p>\n
wonder, wickedness<\/p>\n
of warring magics<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Find a balance apart from<\/p>\n
the momentum forced by<\/p>\n
old wounds<\/p>\n
old feuds<\/p>\n
old vainglory<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Notice glinting moonglow<\/p>\n
on shells of silver snails<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Breathe<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Consult<\/p>\n
if you care to<\/p>\n
the opinions of iridescent<\/p>\n
indigo-scaled snakes<\/p>\n
who shush amid the boulders<\/p>\n
tasting hurt and healing in the air<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Serpents process the world very<\/p>\n
differently from you<\/p>\n
but if the night is kind<\/p>\n
you will all notice<\/p>\n
the tracing of exhausted wind<\/p>\n
against fragrant violet petals<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
________________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n Devan Barlow is the author of the Curses & Curtains<\/em> series of fairy tales-meet-musicals fantasy novels, and the collection Foolish Hopes and Spilled Entrails: Retellings<\/em>. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in various anthologies and magazine, and she is a 2025 Hugo Finalist for Poetry. She reads voraciously, and can often be found hanging out with her dog, drinking tea, and thinking about sea monsters<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AFTER THE BATTLE, by Devan Barlow After the battle forgive, or don’t it’s really up to you Stare at the scuttling scurrying life remaining on the sand watch hermit crabs replace shells that witnessed conflict Consider what if anything you might shed Step into the surf until it’s up to your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-65-archive","category-main","category-poetry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4482"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4484,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482\/revisions\/4484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}