Sheree Renée Thomas

Full Blown Magnolia

The sky was the rusted lid at the end of a tunneled night. The moon seemed lit by the light of bones. In her dream the trees drew in their branches, shrank into seeds. The child emerged from the darkness, wrapped her arms around the tallest in the clearing. The tree was the color of smoke, frayed rope, dead boll weevils. The child's favorite. She pressed her ears to its trunk, her face turned away from the wind, cheek against the peeling bark, listening for sounds dragged off like heavy sacks, bales of cotton.

Sheree Renée Thomas is the author of Sleeping Under the Tree of Life (Aqueduct Press, August 2016) and Shotgun Lullabies. She is also the first African American to win the World Fantasy Award (2001, 2005) for editing the acclaimed Dark Matter anthologies. Born in Memphis, her stories and poems appear in journals and anthologies, including The Moment of Change, An Alphabet of Embers, Callaloo, Jalada, Memphis Noir, Mythic Delirium, Mojo: Conjure Stories, So Long Been Dreaming, Stories for Chip, Strange Horizons, and Transition. Look for new work in Revise the Psalm.