In the beginning
there was nothing
Then in hot plasma bursts
came the Angel of time

Mother of us all
birthing planets to seed with souls
Some of those planets —
her testing grounds for serious thought
others, the whimsy of idle dreams

She nurtures them until maturity
where all deeds come to fruit
Some have the flesh of beauty
but the taste is bitter truth
Many that are bitten
turn sour in the gut of testing

Some of those souls
bloom hot and fragrant
Then she blows them into falling stars
cupped in her gentle, iced hands
waiting, waiting to plant her garden anew

Dormant planets, expectant souls
in her pockets rubbing edges
She wanders through the infinite realm
testing, touching

Through the halls of blue-white marble
past the pillars of history
her hollow footsteps
echo on the bones of those who sleep

[Colleen Anderson has over 100 published stories and poems appearing in magazines and anthologies, including Evolve, Chizine, and ON Spec. She has a BFA in creative writing and edits for Chizine Publications. In 2010 she received an honorable mention in the Year’s Best for her story in Horror Library Volume 4, as well as being a 2011 Aurora nominee in poetry for her poem “Of the Corn: Kore’s Innocence” in witches&pagans #21. She is an ordained minister in the ATC tradition and a member of the Order of Scathach. New work will appear in the Chilling Tales 2 anthology and Bull Spec.]