The Dwarf Stars anthology is a selection of the best speculative poems of ten lines or fewer from the previous year, nominated by the Science Fiction Poetry Association membership and chosen for publication by the editors.

From this anthology, SFPA members vote for the best poem. The winner receives the Dwarf Stars Award, which is analogous to the SFPA Rhysling Awards, given annually for poems of any length.

Congratulations to last year’s Dwarf Stars Award winners!

1st Place: And Deeper than Did Ever Plummet Sound • Matt Joiner • Strange Horizons, 9/2/2013 2nd Place: The Loss • Mari Ness • Strange Horizons, 9/23/2013 3rd Place: Hourglass • David Livingstone Clink • Prism International 51:3

Cover: Two Crows, a Ghost, and the Moon (detail) 8" x 10" oil on panel © 2011 Kelli Hoppmann https://www.facebook.com/KelliHoppmannPaints

The text was set in WG Gilded Hand, WG Halloh, WG Wild Spaces, and Latienne, using Adobe InDesign.

© 2015 Science Fiction Poetry Association sfpoetry.com All rights to poems retained by individual poets. Dwarf Stars 2015

The Best Very Short Speculative Poems Published in 2015

edited by John Amen Science Fiction Poetry Association

Introduction

The short form, whether prose or verse, and regardless of genre, stresses economy and immediacy. In this case, I was glad to encounter so many speculative pieces that in 10 lines or fewer both established a memorable voice and conjured a complete and viable world. From the beginning, I hoped to include as many poets as possible and to represent a wide variety of publications; quality of work, of course, taking precedence. I was able to accomplish this: there is indeed an impressive range of voices and content here, poets exploring various themes, some perennial, some uniquely personal, some humorous, some hauntingly grim. In each case, the language used is the poet’s own. I appreciated reading the many pieces nominated and am convinced that the selections contained in this year’s Dwarf Stars Anthology are representative and in some cases exemplars of the speculative short-form poem. I hope that this content leaves you inspired, tickled, and curious.

—John Amen June 2015

Only current SFPA members may vote for the 2015 Dwarf Stars Award. Choose first, second, and third choice poems and select them in the online voting form: (link posted at sfpoetry.com/ds/15dwarfstars.html)

or send by postal mail to: John Amen 6815 Honors Ct Voting deadline: Charlotte, NC 28210 August 31, 2015!

iv Dwarf Stars 2015

Table of Contents

Nonfiction Jonel Abellanosa 1 Their Nature Francis W. Alexander 1 Witch’s Primer, Lesson 4 Erik Amundsen 1 “jupiter a pixel …” Joseph Salvatore Aversano 2 the explorer Ross Balcom 2 The Square Root of Doppelgängers Robert Borski 2 Pink Unicorns Robert Borski 3 Surreal Shopping List Bruce Boston 3 Not Only Thoats Bruce Boston 4 “her perfume” David Boyer 4 “thunderhead losing …” Mark E. Brager 4 Song for Otter Alicia Cole 5 Shellac P.S. Cottier 5 “through icicles” Septimiu M. Cristian 6 The Fate of Worlds William Cullen, Jr. 6 “moment of peak oil” William Cullen, Jr. 6 “it’s recycling day” William Cullen, Jr. 6 “Valentine’s Day” Rebecca Drouilhet 6 “building my first clone” Angel Favazza 7 “a long look” Angel Favazza 7 “new galaxy” Lorin Ford 7 The Lonely Future of Philip K. Dick Adele Gardner 7 “fangs in a glass” LeRoy Gorman 7 “a new bridge” LeRoy Gorman 7 “garbage in—garbage out” C. William Hinderliter 7 “martian greenhouse” Carolyn M. Hinderliter 8 Pro-Life K.L. Hasell 8 Dragon Girl C.E. Hyun 8 Roadkill Michael Kriesel 8 Restoration Herb Kauderer 9 private source Herb Kauderer 9 “Fermat’s last theorem” Deborah P Kolodji 10 “drones …” Deborah P Kolodji 10

v Science Fiction Poetry Association

The Holly King Sandi Leibowitz 10 “cyborg surgery” Sandra J. Lindow 10 First Encounter Lauren McBride 10 Cosmic Choice Alan Meyrowitz 11 Zatanna’s Haiku P. Andrew Miller 11 Bone Song Mari Ness 11 Queen of Cups A.J. Odasso 12 “before the great upload” Eric Otto 12 “beside the forlorn robot” Eric Otto 12 “her fingerprints” Eric Otto 12 dream John Reinhart 13 scent of a corpuscle Terrie Leigh Relf 13 “abandoned nursing home” Greg Schwartz 13 Everyone was stealing … Claudia Serea 14 Trinket Earth Anna Sykora 14 In Conclusion Sonya Taaffe 14 Downstairs Up Neal Wilgus 15 “by chance” James Won 15 “Cthulhu partners” Greer Woodward 15 Princess: A Life Jane Yolen 15

vi Dwarf Stars 2015

Nonfiction

If before midnight you catch a sight of the golden leaf gliding into the well, return by the moon’s lent light knowing all is well, your prayer water stilled. What the wind picks from the weary bough and tosses in your way, consume. Love might keep the candles burning. The nightingale might sing.

—Jonel Abellanosa Their Nature

They continue to fight obliterating sandcastles even as their star, bursting from obesity, starts to roll the planet Witch’s Primer, Lesson 4 on its hived tongue —Francis W. Alexander On a chilly night with no moon, a hare can catch an owl with its belly as bait with its guts as a snare binding silence in, stretch it over in skin as it eats you from the inside. Then sew yourself up no one ever need know why your feet make no sound at all.

—Erik Amundsen

1 Science Fiction Poetry Association

jupiter a pixel from here

—Joseph Salvatore Aversano

the explorer

heart

tell me why

i call lost cities home

—Ross Balcom

The Square Root of Doppelgangers¨

We're as intimately linked as proton and electron, mirror and reflection—me, the Zoroastrian shadow to his bright particle of hydrogen. Together,

the two of us playing Hyde-and-seek, dodging just in and out of each other's field of vision like Felis cheshirae, until ultimately,

tired of twinship, each of us attempts to usurp the other, only to both win and lose, becoming non-primes, zeroed out, banished into oneness.

—Robert Borski

2 Dwarf Stars 2015

Pink Unicorns

Turns out they're surprisingly easy to assemble, incorporating genes from horses, narwhales, and roses.

Unfortunately, as with most chimeras, there are difficulties with epigenetic dysregulation, but eventually, if we're patient and demand remains high, we'll solve the lethal vomiting rainbows problem

—Robert Borski

Surreal Shopping List

the autobiography of a trellis

a brisance of laughter so loud trilobites pause to listen

noctilucent bridge mix (2 sacks)

a guerrilla theatre staged in ragged flesh

hallucinogenic cutlet with flies

ravishing inversion of sunflowers stretching the skin of the eye

the burning bush

3 lbs Stonehenge

—Bruce Boston

3 Science Fiction Poetry Association

Not Only Thoats Ancient Song of Barsoom

Not only thoats weep in the canyons of high deserts.

Not only thoats in harness follow the beaten track to extinction.

Not only thoats know the sky before a storm.

Not only thoats fear the violence of war.

Not only thoats leave the future behind.

Not only thoats stumble from the ruins of devastation.

Not only thoats see their breath condensing on the winter air.

Not only thoats need the warm dark.

—Bruce Boston

her perfume through the canals of Mars

—David Boyer

thunderhead losing myself in big data

—Mark E. Brager

4 Dwarf Stars 2015

Song for Otter

Let me draw the brine of the water to my throat, sink in a dipper until it’s laden. My lips will drink and crack, wracked with salt. If the ocean is where I must go delving, hear me clam-cracker, soft diving magician: I will take you for my own, row with you in long strokes until fur graces my limbs and I float on the breast of the icy sea.

—Alicia Cole

Shellac Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. (Wikipedia)

Shellac nails wake every night as their woman sleeps. They click and grow legs, which they rub together. They attempt to lift themselves from the second carapace of nail to which they are fused. Frustrated, they secrete eggs which fall, and bury themselves in the woman's skin. Look down lady; see those tiny bumps you thought were ingrown hairs, mere gummy follicles? There are insects growing under your skin, insects that will shine as bright as those ladybird nails that bloom on the thin white stems of your fingers. Lackadaisical dreams now follow.

—P.S. Cottier

5 Science Fiction Poetry Association

through icicles he sees the entire universe exploding harmony of black holes

—Septimiu M. Cristian

The Fate of Worlds

A bat's swoop blinks out some stars ever so briefly like an oracle revealing where black holes will be.

—William Cullen, Jr.

moment of peak oil the big bang of humankind reverses itself

—William Cullen, Jr.

it's recycling day a wail from our old robot in the compactor

—William Cullen, Jr. Valentine’s Day his robot writes her a poem

—Rebecca Drouilhet

6 Dwarf Stars 2015 building my first clone putting so much of myself in it a long look —Angel Favazza over a microscope— the face of the galaxy

new galaxy —Angel Favazza a pomegranate splits its skin

—Lorin Ford

The Lonely Future of Philip K. Dick

we don't read Dick fragselves trapped in separate plots blank checks cancelled out

—Adele Gardner fangs in a glass the politician a new bridge calls it a day between nations trolls on both sides —LeRoy Gorman take up their positions

—LeRoy Gorman garbage in—garbage out a transhumanist's soul found in my spam folder

—C. William Hinderliter

7 Science Fiction Poetry Association

martian greenhouse the buzz of the robot bees

—Carolyn M. Hinderliter

Pro-Life

They told me abortion is murder. So I waited until the baby was born. Then I killed it. Less paperwork.

—K.L. Hasell

Dragon Girl

The dragon girl soared over the city. From below, a little boy pointed and waved. She was his favorite hero. She waved back. oadkill —C.E. Hyun R A crow eats my eyes so I can see death.

At sunset I rise from warm asphalt.

—Michael Kriesel

8 Dwarf Stars 2015

Restoration

Wandering the foothills of Western Pennsylvania, Joe the Poet finds a battered library table like his grandmother’s. With no car or truck, he buys table & handcart and rolls into the woods. In a clearing he disassembles the table th with a 7⁄16 wrench left in his pocket from fixing a poem wound too tight. He caresses contours dreaming of restoration. Instead, he waits for darkness & burns the pieces, greeting smoke ghosts that travel up the gibbous moon. By August Joe is in South Dakota abandoned handcart gone from memory th 7⁄16 wrench back in his pocket, just in case.

—Herb Kauderer

private source a cinquain for Jennifer Crow

the muse has feathers and nine limbs, juggling ancient vases inscribed with mythical creatures

—Herb Kauderer

9 Science Fiction Poetry Association

Fermat’s last theorem a jar of buttons in a hoarder’s garage

—Deborah P Kolodji

drones the year of the horse nebula

—Deborah P Kolodji The Holly King

I am the despised brother. You fur my twig-gaunt body in red robes, laud only the evergreen of my leaves, my berries’ brightness, pretend away their poison, the points sharp as thorns. But if you’d truly love me you must also love the poke of wind’s ice-fingers, brown grass shriveled over grave-scented earth, the long, long night.

—Sandi Leibowitz

cyborg surgery birdcage breasts beneath skin First Encounter heart a little cuckoo

Tentacles stroke —Sandra J. Lindow my crawling skin. If it breathes out— do NOT breathe in.

—Lauren McBride

10 Dwarf Stars 2015

Cosmic Choice

Deny the sun its due or see resumed the stars dismissed— verdict always for the dawn.

This morning, a moment of indecision.

—Alan Meyrowitz Zatanna’s Haiku

stenhsif dna egavaelc eht terces ot cigam seil ni noitceridsim

—P. Andrew Miller Bone Song

The ghost long passed beneath the hills, the blood long soaked into the ground, the knife long rusted down to dust, yet still the bone sings on and on.

Too late, the song sings, too late: it remembers nothing more than that, that and a single name, and endless notes of treachery.

—Mari Ness

11 Science Fiction Poetry Association

Queen of Cups

The cards say I’ll be leaving, tell me I’ll travel south, likely settle. Four long months of a single message mustn’t prove false, or my compass is shot. How cruel has time proved that I must run; what love have I become while sitting so still? Queen of Cups, they whisper, Page of Vessels Yet Unfilled. I’ll hail my favorite constellation with these dazzling, inventive suits I’ve played for keeps if this chance would but have me. Question your heart, little sister, and the cards will find you; do speak truly if the Page should pass her cup down your quiet row.

—A.J. Odasso

before the great upload one last pruning of my bonsai

—Eric Otto beside the forlorn robot a bucket of mangos

—Eric Otto

her fingerprints on the window of my containment chamber

—Eric Otto

12 Dwarf Stars 2015

dream

of sunbeams making love to crystals and dancing with a million of their shimmering children, where tree roots tell legends to daffodils and the sun itself breaks into a belly laugh that extends eternity another day

—John Reinhart scent of a corpuscle you are not an infection but you make me sick after kisskisswritherub and so lovely your integument so pretty all over but I feel sick now you rub me raw all my moisture gone you grow fatfat with me

—Terrie Leigh Relf

abandoned nursing home the mahjong tiles still move

—Greg Schwartz

13 Science Fiction Poetry Association

Everyone was stealing …

Everyone was stealing everyone else’s hat, and everything else we could: a bag of meat, a can of gas, a truckload of bricks. Just redistributing, we laughed. What is mine is mine. What is yours is still mine. Besides, who would count the beans, the small potatoes, or the pig’s legs?

But we knew we’d be shot on the stadium if caught red- handed. What about magenta-handed, or maroon-handed? We passed by the guards, shook hands with them. Mine were pink; yours were orange; theirs were purple.

—Claudia Serea

Trinket Earth

we broke it it is ours

In Conclusion —Anna Sykora

In conclusion, Death is waiting with her skin the color of a dotted line and your signature faded on her palm unfolding, like a magician’s with a trick, to show your choice of nothings left. With her other hand, she takes a pen and signs you, a long wave ebbing crimson as an emptied heart. She is the last word; there is no arguing with the hole she let you write yourself into.

—Sonya Taaffe

14 Dwarf Stars 2015

Downstairs Up

My uncle Phil called from his room in the basement to tell me it was snowing down there. To which I replied that it’s so hot up here you could cook elephant steaks on the sidewalk. If there were any elephants left.

—Neal Wilgus by chance the universe spring blossoms

Cthulhu partners —James Won at the HallowEon Ball tangled in tangos

—Greer Woodward Princess: A Life

First she is a dreaming dot, a spot of life in the warm prison of the womb.

She wakes to a cool world, a cold curse, a colder kiss, her own scream.

It is easier to dream.

—Jane Yolen

15 Science Fiction Poetry Association

Acknowledgments

Abellanosa, Jonel. “Nonfiction.” inkscrawl, March 2014. Alexander, Francis W. “Their Nature.” Space & Time 122. Amundsen, Erik. “Witch’s Primer, Lesson 4.” inkscrawl, March 2014 Aversano, Joseph Salvatore. “jupiter a pixel …” Modern Haiku 45.1. Balcom, Ross. “the explorer.” inkscrawl, March 2014. Borski, Robert. “The Square Root of Doppelgängers.” Star*Line 37:2. Borski, Robert. “Pink Unicorns.” Star*Line 37:4. Boston, Bruce. “Surreal Shopping List.” 2014 SFPA Poetry Contest winner in the Dwarf category: sfpoetry.com/contests/14contest.html. Boston, Bruce. “Not Only Thoats.” Outposts of Beyond, June 2014. Boyer, David. “her perfume.” Frogpond 37:1. Brager, Mark E. “thunderhead losing …” moongarlic 2. Cole, Alicia. “Song for Otter.” Eternal Haunted Summer, Summer Solstice 2014. Cottier, P.S. “Shellac.” Prowlings 3. Cristian, Septimiu M. “through icicles.” Scifaikuest, August 2014. Cullen, William Jr. “The Fate of Worlds.” Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2014. Cullen, William Jr. “moment of peak oil.” Scifaikuest, May 2014. Cullen, William Jr. “it's recycling day.” Star*Line, Spring 2014. Drouilhet, Rebecca. “Valentine’s Day.” Modern Haiku 45:2. Favazza, Angel. “building my first clone.” Star*Line 37:3. Favazza, Angel. “a long look .” Scifaikuest, Nov. 2014. Ford, Lorin. “new galaxy.” tinywords, July 2014. Gardner, Adele. “The Lonely Future of Philip K. Dick.” Child of Words: Science Fiction & Fantasy 1. Gorman, LeRoy. “fangs in a glass.” Star*Line 37:4. Gorman, LeRoy. “a new bridge.” Atlas Poetica 18. Hinderliter, C. William. “garbage in—garbage out.” Space & Time 122. Hinderliter, Carolyn M. “martian greenhouse.” Star*Line 37:4. Hasell, K.L. “Pro-Life.” Space & Time 120. Hyun, C.E. “Dragon Girl.” Ideomancer 13:4. Kriesel, Michael. “Roadkill.” Star*Line 37:4.

16 Dwarf Stars 2015

Kauderer, Herb. “Restoration.” The Mo'Joe Anthology (Beatlick Press, 2014) Kauderer, Herb. “private source.” The Book of Answers (Written Image, 2014) Kolodji, Deborah P. “Fermat’s last theorem.” The Heron’s Nest 16:4. Kolodji, Deborah P. “drones the year of the horse nebula .” Commended, 2014 HaikuNow Contest, appears on the Haiku Foundation website. Leibowitz, Sandi. “The Holly King.” Eternal Haunted Summer, Winter Solstice 2014. Lindow, Sandra J. “cyborg surgery.” Star*Line 37:4. McBride, Lauren. “First Encounter.” Star*Line 37:4. Meyrowitz, Alan. “Cosmic Choice.” The Tower Journal, January 2014. Miller, P. Andrew. “Zatanna’s Haiku.” Drawn to Marvel (Minor Arcana Press, 2014) Ness, Mari. “Bone Song.” inkscrawl, March 2014. Odasso, A.J. “Queen of Cups.” inkscrawl, March 2014. Otto, Eric. “before the great upload.” Scifaikuest, February 2014. Otto, Eric. “beside the forlorn robot.” Scifaikuest, May 2014. Otto, Eric. “her fingerprints.” Scifaikuest, May 2014. Reinhart, John. “dream.” Silver Blade 24. Relf, Terrie Leigh. “scent of a corpuscle.” Star*Line 37:3. Schwartz, Greg. “abandoned nursing home.” Tales of the Talisman 9:3. Serea, Claudia. “Everyone was stealing ...” Ideomancer 13:3. Sykora, Anna. “Trinket Earth.” Star*Line 37:2. Taaffe, Sonya. “In Conclusion.” Ideomancer 13:1. Wilgus, Neal. “Downstairs Up.” Pablo Lennis 325. Won, James. “by chance.” Take-Out Window: Haiku Society of America Anthology, 2014. Woodward, Greer. “Cthulhu partners.” Halloween Haiku II (Popcorn Press, 2014) Yolen, Jane. “Princess: A Life.” Mythic Delirium, 2014)

17 Dwarf Stars 2015 The best very short speculative poetry of the prior year edited by John Amen

Each year, the Science Fiction Poetry Association selects the Dwarf Stars Award for the best short speculative poetry of the year before. The 2015 Dwarf Stars anthology contains a diverse mix of excellent, very short science fiction, fantasy, horror, and surrealist poetry (ten lines or fewer) and prose poems (100 words or fewer) from many venues, expected and unexpected.

Poetry by

Jonel Abellanosa C.E. Hyun Francis W. Alexander Michael Kriesel Erik Amundsen Herb Kauderer Joseph Salvatore Aversano Deborah P Kolodji Ross Balcom Sandi Leibowitz Robert Borski Sandra J. Lindow Bruce Boston Lauren McBride David Boyer Alan Meyrowitz Mark E. Brager P. Andrew Miller Alicia Cole Mari Ness P.S. Cottier A.J. Odasso Septimiu M. Cristian Eric Otto William Cullen, Jr. John Reinhart Rebecca Drouilhet Terrie Leigh Relf Angel Favazza Greg Schwartz Lorin Ford Claudia Serea Adele Gardner Anna Sykora LeRoy Gorman Sonya Taaffe C. William Hinderliter Neal Wilgus Carolyn M. Hinderliter James Won K.L. Hasell Greer Woodward Jane Yolen

Information about the Dwarf Stars awards and the Science Fiction Poetry Association can be found on sfpoetry.com.