“This poem is a variation on the story of True Thomas or Thomas the Rhymer, a Scottish poet who was said to have been given the gift of prophecy after a tryst with the Queen of Elphame. In this updated version of the story, Thomas is not a medieval Scottish poet but a modern man, lying in bed unable to sleep as he broods about the past.”

“I just stared at him for a minute, noting that he was insisting on reciprocity — a thing for a thing. It’s an ancient principle, the sort of thing an Otherworldly visitor would ask of you.”