Deborah P Kolodji

Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

Edited by Deborah P Kolodji The Dwarf Stars anthology is a selection of the best speculative poems of ten lines or fewer (100 words or fewer for prose poems) from the previous year, nominated by the Science Fiction & Fantasy 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. 1

The text was set in Agenda, ITC Busorama BT, Caflisch Script, and Cantoria MT. using Adobe InDesign. *

edited by Deborah P Kolodji Introduction

The Short of It As the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association celebrates its 40th Anniversary, I feel honored to return to my original (2006) role as the Dwarf Stars editor. An unofficial “demonstration” Dwarf Stars chapbook in 2005 was used to try to convince the membership to create a short-short Rhysling Award category. My position then and now is that a very short poem is read differently than a longer poem, and it is difficult to compare a haiku to a 49-line narrative poem. A haiku’s beauty lies in what is not being said; the reader sits with the poem and allows it to resonate. A longer narrative poem is experienced more like a story, the poem leading the reader on an adventure through its detailed imagery. But Dwarf Stars is more than haiku—it is about all short speculative poetry, 10 lines or less, sparkling with minimalism, yet touching on fantastical themes in skillfully chosen words. I self-identify as a haiku poet, but appreciate very short poetry in all forms. In any volume or journal of poetry, I will read all of the short poems first, then go back and read the longer poems as time permits. It is those brief glimpses of fantastical themes that draw my interest. Back in 2005–2006, the Rhysling-category vote ended in a tie; then-SFPA-President Mike Allen’s solution was to create a Dwarf Stars award. This solution produces a highly readable chapbook, brimming over with very short speculative poetry gems. I look forward each year to receiving my copy and now can’t imagine it happening any other way. The landscape of short-short speculative poetry has changed slightly in the dozen years since the first Dwarf

iv Dwarf Stars 2018

Stars in that it seems there is a much larger quantity of it being published and the bar for quality has been raised even higher. In 2018, a larger number of published short- short spec poems in non-spec journals came to the Dwarf Stars submissions mailbox and I didn’t need to look as hard elsewhere as I have in past years. This is good, I think, because it means we are getting the word out to the larger poetry community. This installment of Dwarf Stars contains 62 poems from a wide variety of places and I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I did. Thank you so much to the current SFPA officers, who have continued the tradition of Dwarf Stars, for trusting me with the honor of being a return Dwarf Stars editor. —Deborah P Kolodji

Deborah P Kolodji is the California regional coordinator for the Haiku Society of America and the former president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Author of four chapbooks of poetry, her first full- length book of haiku and senryu is highway of sleeping towns from Shabda Press, which was awarded a 2017 Touchstone Distinguished Book Award from the Haiku Foundation. She has published more than 900 haiku.

Only current SFPA members may vote for the 2018 Dwarf Stars Award. Choose first, second, and third place poems and select them in the online voting form: http://bit.ly/DwarfStars2018 or send by postal mail to: Renee Ya SFPA Secretary PO Box 2074 Voting deadline: August 31, 2018! San Mateo CA 94401

v Past Dwarf Stars Winners

2017 “aster than the speed of lightf ” • LeRoy Gorman • Scifaikuest, November 2016. 2016 We Begin This Way • Stacey Balkun • Gingerbread House 16. 2015 “abandoned nursing home” • Greg Schwartz • Tales of the Talisman 9:3. 2014 And Deeper Than Did Ever Plummet Sound • Mat Joiner • Strange Horizons, 2 September 2013. 2013 Basho- After Cinderella (iii) • Deborah P Kolodji • Rattle 38. 2012 Blue Rose Buddha • Marge Simon • The Mad Hattery (Elektrik Milk Bath Press, 2011). 2011 “Comet“ • Julie Bloss Kelsey • microcosms. 2010 Bumbershoot • Howard V. Hendrix • Abyss & Apex, First Quarter 2009. 2009 Fireflies • Geoffrey A. Landis • Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2008. 2008 Place Mat by Moebius • Greg Beatty • Asimov's Science Fiction, January 2007. 2007 Last Unicorn • Jane Yolen • Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2006. 2006 Knowledge Of • Ruth Berman • Kerem 10, Autumn 2005. > Table of Contents

“abandoned colony roof,” Joshua Gage 1 “absolute zero,” Susan Burch 1 “after last year,” Ann K. Schwader 1 “alien,” Susan Burch 1 Alien Dowry, Robert Borski 2 Beauty, Sleeping, Marsheila Rockwell 2 Betsy Ross, F. J. Bergmann 3 “bloody spindle,” Christina Sng 3 Carbon Footprint, Ann K. Schwader 3 Chiasmus, Deborah L. Davitt 4 The Colors of Time, Deborah L. Davitt 4 “depleted plutonium,” Alan Summers 4 “doomsday clock," dl mattila 4 “down to earth,” C. R. Harper 5 “everything,” Joan Prefontaine 5 “first time away …,” Billy Antonio 5 “footprint in red dust,” Frank Coffman 5 For in that Sleep …, Lauren McBride 6 “fresh back from weeks in space,” Lisa Timpf 6 Full Moon Forecast, Bruce Boston 6 “ger-,” C. R. Harper 7 Ghoul Cloud, John C. Mannone 7 “graveyard,” Tiffany Shaw-Diaz 7 The Green, Kath Abela Wilson 8 “ICU,” Billy Antonio 8 If it will help you think …, Sonya Taaffe 9 If Only a Werewolf, Minadora Macheret 9 If She Knew …, David C. Kopaska-Merkel 10 “instead of a halo,” Julie Bloss Kelsey 10 keeping company, Herb Kauderer 11 Lace at the Throat, Holly Walrath 11 The Little Laser Girl, Lorraine Schein 12

vii Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

“loose ends …,” Deborah P Kolodji 12 Lo Shu’s Magic Square, Deborah L. Davitt 13 “lunar graveyard,” William Shaw 14 Marbles, John C. Mannone 14 “Monday morning,” Gregory Longenecker 14 “multiverse theory …,” Christina Sng 15 maybe there are, M. X. Kelly 15 “nightcap,” Joshua Gage 15 “old red barn—,” Mark E. Brager 15 “the odds,” LeRoy Gorman 15 “only hours out,” F. J. Bergmann 16 “orbiting Neptune,” Joshua Gage 16 “painting fences,” Alan Summers 16 “red planet—,” Sam Bateman 16 Rock, Paper, Scissors, Robert Borski 17 “ruby sky,” Christina Sng 17 “Saturn’s rings,” Marietta McGregor 17 “scent of blackened,” Greer Woodward 17 “seconds before,” Christina Sng 18 Separation Anxiety, Shannon Connor Winward 18 “silent jump,” Tom Sacramona 18 Space Efficient, Herb Kauderer 18 “time snake,” NE Taylor 19 “time travel dining,” LeRoy Gorman 19 Time Travel No. 7, Soren James 19 “to save space,” Lauren McBride 19 Vampire Fortuneteller, Bruce Boston 20 “what if the ferryman …,” Helen Buckingham 20 “year end,” paul m. 20 “zombie chic,” Helen Buckingham 20

viii Dwarf Stars 2018

abandoned colony roof more stars than solar panels —Joshua Gage absolute zero you couldn’t have been any colder —Susan Burch after last year we seal our helmets interspecies gift exchange —Ann K. Schwader

alien restructuring— our cubicles now hang from the glass ceiling —Susan Burch

1 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association Alien Dowry

Six canisters of argon, a pair of anti-gravity boots, and a nice tentacle trimmer, preferably gold-plated— this seemed a modest-enough asking price, but all the Earth- bride brought to our wedding was an open heart. —Robert Borski

Beauty, Sleeping

Behind a briar patch of asteroids A perfect princess sleeps in stasis Her prince arrives by hyperdrive A scavenger on a star-jumping steed He comes to plunder, but not her lips (His mouthless form, alas, unfit) Instead purloins her power supply And leaves her to her fairytale fate Beauty, sleeping Eternally —Marsheila Rockwell

2 Dwarf Stars 2018 Betsy Ross

She tired of it quickly: red stripe, white stripe, red stripe, white stripe.… And every star the same. She wanted to sew flamboyant oriflammes: green, azure, egg-yolk yellow, the pink of dawn clouds. Royal purple. Planets and suns, against the black of space. Her last, enormous flag was neatly folded, only the red, white, and blue showing, when they came to pick it up. —F. J. Bergmann

bloody spindle putting another princess under again —Christina Sng Carbon Footprint

Gone green, Godzilla stomps sustainably: ancient forests avoided, but never humans. —Ann K. Schwader

3 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association Chiasmus

Gases swirling unlit; a star yet to ignite and a dead star’s scattered ashes unite. —Deborah L. Davitt

The Colors of Time

The sepia past rushes towards the chrome future; the present’s a blur between red-shift memory, and violet dawn’s swift approach. —Deborah L. Davitt

depleted plutonium the creases in a photo doomsday clock run across a face the scent of rain —Alan Summers before the rain —dl mattila

4 Dwarf Stars 2018

down to earth the space elevator plays old tunes —C. R. Harper

everything in its own time starlight —Joan Prefontaine

first time away from home metallic snow —Billy Antonio

footprint in red dust mountain impossibly tall in the Martian distance —Frank Coffman

5 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association For in that Sleep, What Nightmares …

While comatose to travel space, Please someone check my pulse, my face and if you see a silent scream while I lie trapped within a dream, then wake me from this hell replayed. Don’t keep me stasis-held, afraid! —Lauren McBride

fresh back from weeks in space he tackles the “honey-do” list forgetting where he is he sets the hammer in the air expecting it to hover —Lisa Timpf Full Moon Forecast

A ginger sky at twilight, rich in effluence. At dusk a blood moon on the horizon. A bestial cry in the dark trembles the night. —Bruce Boston

6 Dwarf Stars 2018

ger- rymandering Gany- mede —C. R. Harper Ghoul Cloud

In the pareidolia twilight, the ghoul cloud transfigures from the towering smoke on Halloween night, laughing like a clown, taunts the constellation of stellar warriors, especially Perseus, who slew the serpentine woman; body still writhing in clouds. And in the purpling dark, high above the waning smiles of that disappearing cloud, Algol shines its eerie light pulsing like an eye twitch. That Star of Ghouls, Medusa’s eye—her head on his belt, shedding snakes fire-biting sky—keeps her stone- cold look up into the heavens, until the stroke of midnight when all hell breaks loose to haunt us until the dawn. —John C. Mannone

graveyard the secrets I keep —Tiffany Shaw-Diaz

7 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

The Green

It was a tree, becomes a song, a table, leaf after leaf, opening. We sit around its absence as it floats on memory. Shapeshifter becomes dreamcatcher, an escape hatch, small carved windmills turning very fast. We pull up small stumps polished clean. congress of earthlings considering the revival of green we fall asleep in different languages —Kath Abela Wilson

ICU the warm touch of a robot nurse —Billy Antonio

8 Dwarf Stars 2018

If it will help you think of me as Sappho let time eat my words, all but this one, beloved, you. —Sonya Taaffe

If Only a Werewolf

This shape-shifter needs no moon excess hair growth is daily moon’s magnetism heightens sensitivity as androgens attach to skin enzymes pulse the wolf through my veins and out hair follicles. The beast is constant— people believe my bite will turn them, too. —Minadora Macheret

9 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association If She Knew She Was a Ghost

She’d have walked through more walls, Spent more time at rock concerts so loud she fluttered in their breeze, Hesitated less, danced more, Cared less about her looks, Butted in where she wasn’t wanted, Haunted Big Tony within an inch. But she’d always have told him no, Especially that last, terrible time; When she wasn’t yet a ghost. —David C. Kopaska-Merkel

instead of a halo this one has horns I yell at the kids to shut the portal —Julie Bloss Kelsey

10 Dwarf Stars 2018 keeping company kokopelli figurine dances when you’re not looking rehearses flute songs while you’re vacuuming hides keys when you try to leave —Herb Kauderer

Lace at the Throat after Margaret Atwood

This ribbon holds our neck on. Or else it hides the scar he gave us. Or else it is our chain— see the tattooed numbers? Or else it is a brass coil warping our clavicle to make us dragons. —Holly Walrath

11 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association The Little Laser Girl

Light: The wands she sold were brighter than the snow, a colder light. Amplification: She flipped one on—it flared open, a humming white door. Stimulated by: Oscillation between energy levels and the subtle realms of matter. Emission of: Coherent light waves, so she could see the dead and the almost existing. Radiation: Electromagnetic—she saw her grandmother pulsing in the now-visible, ultraviolet- infrared regions of the spectrum as she froze. —Lorraine Schein

loose ends an astronaut’s umbilical cord —Deborah P Kolodji

12 Dwarf Stars 2018

Lo Shu’s Magic Square*

Go on, river roil! We give your chains you permission, unbind be still now, this tortoiseshell will ever keep spell our fields safe waters heart untouched and constrained unflooded. with chains of will,

*The following numbers supposedly were found on the back of a turtle, and gave people the power to control a river’s waters:

4 9 2

3 5 7

8 1 6

This poem attempts to replicate the sense of invocation and mathematical a-ha, by having each line across and down ’add up’ into a meaningful sentence.

—Deborah L. Davitt

13 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

lunar graveyard the muted colours of vacuum-grown flowers —William Shaw

Marbles

My solar system is a mobile of marbles circling the sun. But not any simple sun like all the others bending space and time. Here, space-time warps right back. Each time the red dwarf flares, light loops into another dimension, while taking a piece of the star with it, reshaping starfire into a hypercube, each face in a different dimension. And the planets and their moons are like a jar of marbles piling up in a honeycomb stack. From my outpost world of Theta-Ceti 5, I peer through the telescope into the past when all we did was simply orbit the sun in a flat plane. —John C. Mannone

Monday morning another day in the Oort cloud —Gregory Longenecker

14 Dwarf Stars 2018

multiverse theory this feeling of déjà vu —Christina Sng maybe there are maybe there are small worlds nightcap on the vermillion heads of matchsticks her smile widens and maybe there are to a ring of fangs sentient beings —Joshua Gage breathing phosphorus air and praying for their Gods to delay a fiery judgement day old red barn— —M. X. Kelly remnants of a dying star —Mark E. Brager

the odds of life on other planets cherry petals —LeRoy Gorman

15 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

only hours out as the capsule overheats Laika’s whimpers die then the signal of her heart silent snow between the stars —F. J. Bergmann

orbiting Neptune imagining my obituary —Joshua Gage painting fences a wish to be the green of dragons —Alan Summers red planet— the distance a dream has to travel —Sam Bateman

16 Dwarf Stars 2018 Rock, Paper, Scissors (Human vs. Robot Finals)

Despite my employment of several cheating algorithms this time, results are still the same— servos crush my outplayed hand. —Robert Borski ruby sky first day as a Martian Saturn’s rings —Christina Sng the anarchists’ group lacks a quorum —Marietta McGregor

scent of blackened cherry blossoms zen apocalypse —Greer Woodward

17 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

seconds before the asteroid hits he finally tells me he loves me eye roll —Christina Sng Separation Anxiety

The baby robot cries for its motherboard —Shannon Connor Winward

silent jump out of the old pond to light speed Space Efficient —Tom Sacramona

The legends of outer space call the void empty and lonely. I live shoulder to shoulder among four million people on a generation ship. I wonder what lonely means. —Herb Kauderer

18 Dwarf Stars 2018 time snake quiet poison scaling history time travel dining —NE Taylor a good meal is worth repeating —LeRoy Gorman Time Travel No. 7

Of the eighteen techniques of time-travel, seven’s the fastest: constricting space, time, and potential (to lower awareness of life’s passing), and shuffle you swiftly to death – without dent or incident. It’s the passage of choice in lush, over-stimulating environments. —Soren James to save space we brought e-books to New Earth one by one batteries dying —Lauren McBride

19 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association Vampire Fortuneteller

She reads the veins in your throat and only charges a few drops. —Bruce Boston

what if the ferryman does doesn’t take plastic —Helen Buckingham

year end a Mars orbiter briefly points toward Earth —paul m.

zombie chic kids compare missing teeth —Helen Buckingham

20 Acknowledgments

“first time away,” Billy Antonio, Prune Juice 21 “ICU,” Billy Antonio, Prune Juice 21 “red planet,” Sam Bateman, tinywords 17.2 Writing Prompt Winner, September 2017 Betsy Ross, F. J. Bergmann, Eye to the Telescope 24 “only hours out,” F. J. Bergmann, SpecPo blog 11/3/17 Rock, Paper, Scissors, Robert Borski, Asimov’s SF, March/ April 2017 Alien Dowry, Robert Borski, Star*Line 40.4 Full Moon Forecast, Bruce Boston, Grievous Angel, December 2017 Vampire Fortuneteller, Bruce Boston, Grievous Angel, June 2017 “old red barn,” Mark E. Brager, Modern Haiku 48.3 “absolute zero,” Susan Burch, Grievous Angel, November 2017 “alien,” Susan Burch, Star*Line 40.4 “zombie chic,” Helen Buckingham, brass bell: a haiku journal, 10/1/17 “what if the ferryman …,” Helen Buckingham, Under the Basho-, 2017 “footprint in red dust,” Frank Coffman, Haikuniverse 6/21/17 The Colors of Time, Deborah L. Davitt, The Tanka Journal 5 Chiasmus, Deborah L. Davitt, Scifaikuest, November 2017 Lo Shu’s Magic Square, Deborah L. Davitt, Snakeskin 237 “orbiting Neptune,” Joshua Gage, Scifaikuest, February 2017 “nightcap,” Joshua Gage, Scifaikuest, February 2017 “abandoned colony roof,” Joshua Gage, Scifaikuest print, August 2017 “time travel dining,” LeRoy Gorman, Star*Line 40.4 “the odds,” LeRoy Gorman, Otata 19 “ger-,“ C. R. Harper, Prune Juice 21 “down to earth,” C. R. Harper, Star*Line 40.4

21 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

Time Travel No. 7, Soren James, Grievous Angel, June 2017 keeping company, Herb Kauderer, Altered Reality, 8/7/17 Space Efficient, Herb Kauderer, Altered Reality, 7/10/17 maybe there are, M. X. Kelly, Star*Line 40.1 “instead of a halo,” Julie Bloss Kelsey, Star*Line 40.4 “loose ends …,” Deborah P Kolodji, Haiku Canada Review 11:2 If She Knew She Was a Ghost, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Polu Texni, 5/22/17 “Monday morning,” Gregory Longenecker, Prune Juice 21 “year end,” paul m., Modern Haiku holiday greeting, 2017 Ghoul Cloud, John C. Mannone, SFPA Halloween Podcast, 2017 Marbles, John C. Mannone, Altered Reality, September 2017 If Only a Werewolf, Minadora Macheret, Bramble & Thorn anthology (Porkbelly Press, 2017) “doomsday clock,” dl mattila, tinywords 17.1, 4/10/17 For in that Sleep …, Lauren McBride, Illumen, Summer 2017 “to save space,” Lauren McBride, Grievous Angel, 12/10/17 “Saturn’s rings,” Marietta McGregor, Haikuniverse, 7/14/17 “everything,” Joan Prefontaine, tinywords 17.1, 4/18/17 Beauty, Sleeping, Marsheila Rockwell, Starward Tales II: Another Anthology of Speculative Legends, ed. C. B. Droege (Manawaker Studio, 2017) “silent jump,” Tom Sacramona, Scifaikuest, May 2017 The Little Laser Girl, Lorraine Schein, concis, Winter 2017 - “after last year,” Ann K. Schwader, Star*Line 40.3 Carbon Footprint, Ann K. Schwader, Star*Line 40.4 “lunar graveyard,” William Shaw, Scifaikuest, May 2017 “graveyard,” Tiffany Shaw-Diaz, Haikuniverse, 10/31/17 “bloody spindle,” Christina Sng, Star*Line 40.1 “ruby sky,” Christina Sng, Scifaikuest, March 2017 “seconds before,” Christina Sng, Grievous Angel, April 2017

22 Dwarf Stars 2018

“multiverse theory …,” Christina Sng, Sonic Boom 9 “depleted plutonium,” Alan Summers, Honorable Mention, 2nd World Haiku Association Haiku Contest, 2017 (Japan) “painting fences,” Alan Summers, brass bell: a haiku journal, May 2017 If it will help you think of me as Sappho, Sonya Taaffe, Blossomry 1 “time snake,” NE Taylor, Prune Juice 21 “fresh back from weeks in space,” Lisa Timpf, Scifaikuest print, August 2017 Lace at the Throat, Holly Walrath, 2017 SFPA poetry contest, 3rd place The Green, Kath Abela Wilson, Carrying the Branch: Poets in Search of Peace, eds. Diane Frank, Lois P. Jones, Ami Kaye, Rustin Larson, Gloria Mindock & Melissa Studdard (Glass Lyre Press, 2017) Separation Anxiety, Shannon Connor Winward, Eye to the Telescope 23 “scent of blackened,” Greer Woodward, Star*Line 40.1

Congratulations to last year’s Dwarf Stars Award winners! 1st Place: "aster than the speed of lightf ” LeRoy Gorman • Scifaikuest, November 2016 2nd Place: Lover Holly Day • Homestead Review, Spring 2016 3rd Place: Loss Sandi Leibowitz • Through the Gate, 11/23/16

23 Dwarf Stars 2018 The best very short speculative poetry of the prior year Edited by Deborah P Kolodji Each year, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association selects the Dwarf Stars Award for the best short speculative poetry of the year before. The 2018 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 Billy Antonio Minadora Macheret Sam Bateman John C. Mannone F. J. Bergmann dl mattila Robert Borski Lauren McBride Bruce Boston Marietta McGregor Mark E. Brager Joan Prefontaine Helen Buckingham Marsheila Rockwell Susan Burch Tom Sacramona Frank Coffman Lorraine Schein Deborah L. Davitt Ann K. Schwader Joshua Gage Tiffany Shaw-Diaz LeRoy Gorman William Shaw C. R. Harper Christina Sng Soren James Alan Summers Herb Kauderer Sonya Taaffe M. X. Kelly NE Taylor Julie Bloss Kelsey Lisa Timpf Deborah P Kolodji Holly Walrath David C. Kopaska-Merkel Kath Abela Wilson Gregory Longenecker Shannon Connor Winward paul m. Greer Woodward

Information about the Dwarf Stars awards and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry $5.00 Association can be found on sfpoetry.com.