behind the self-help section
behind the
false wall
lies all the
burned books—
banned and
abandoned
they shimmer,
glittering in their
illicitness
ghost words
that send shivers
down unknowing shoppers’
spines
when these patrons
traverse too close
to the self-help
section
covered in goosebumps
hairs standing straight on their arms
these readers don’t realize that
they’ve brushed up
against the living dead
their souls still hung
shifting, uneasy
behind the false wall
where the phantom outlaws
condemned words
aching to have eyes pass over them
shiver
(Editors’ Note: “behind the self-help section” is read by Joy Piedmont on the Uncanny Magazine Podcast Episode 33B.)
© 2020 D.A. Xiaolin Spires
D.A. Xiaolin Spires steps into portals and reappears in sites such as Hawai’i, NY, various parts of Asia, and elsewhere, with her keyboard appendage attached. Besides Uncanny Magazine, her work appears or is forthcoming in publications such as Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Analog, Nature, Terraform, Galaxy’s Edge, Fireside, Andromeda Spaceways (Year’s Best), LONTAR, Argot, Star*Line, and anthologies of the strange and beautiful: Deep Signal, Ride the Star Wind, Sharp and Sugar Tooth, Broad Knowledge, Future Visions, and Battling in All Her Finery. Select stories can be read in German, Vietnamese, Spanish, or Estonian translation. She can be found on Twitter: @spireswriter and on her website: daxiaolinspires.wordpress.com.
