John C. Mannone

Edited by John C. Mannone

Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association 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 , and Elysium,* using Adobe InDesign.

edited by John C. Mannone Introduction

The book’s cover art is by Michelle Young, a talented visual artist, and also a singer-songwriter and a writer of poetry and fantasy fiction. The design and colors point to something cosmic, alien, yet beautiful and alluring. She says, about the multimedia artwork titled Aurora, “Utilizing acrylic and digital painting techniques, I wanted to capture the subtleties of space—the vast darkness and swirls of gasses, and far galaxies that glow like pixie lights—and to contrast them with the brightly glowing aura of a groping, exploring entity. The partially hidden planet seems to wait calmly for the strange visitor.” When my fifth great-grandchild was born prematurely at 1 lb. 1 oz, fighting for her life, Michelle kindly offered to name her artwork after this little girl, Aurora (who, after three surgeries, as of late June, is at 3.5 pounds). Thanks to everyone who made suggestions to me for this anthology. Between those suggestions and my own due diligence in sifting the literature, I’ve read over 1400 poems and skimmed many more. The resultant book includes 97 poems in English (two of which are translations from Spanish and Italian) written by 78 poets from all over the world. The geographic distribution of these poets is 63% U.S. and 37% international. A wide variety of “dwarf” poems includes monostich, distich, haiku (including the American haiku), senryu and haiku-like poems (such as scifaiku), tanka, cherita, cinquain, sevenling, limerick, hybrid poems, a Fibonacci poem, a golden shovel and free-verse poems. This anthology is not a comprehensive compendium of the best short speculative verse published in the preceding year; there were too many excellent poems that have yet to be unearthed, and many others that could not be reprinted. It is, however, a snapshot of what came into my view as editor, which hopefully embraces the beautiful breath (and breadth) of the short forms. The dynamic range of the selected poems spans from the funny to the serious to the dark. Nature may be speaking a truth that transcends nature, peeks into the human condition, or merely observes us. There is science: real, or fictive and fanciful. I like the way Billy Collins puts it in his insightful introduction to Haiku in English: The First Hundredii Years, eds. Jim Kacian (whose work is also represented here), Philip Rowland & Allan Burns (W. W. Norton & Company, 2013). I believe what he said applies to not just haiku, but to the compressed form in general. And as a physicist, I appreciate his analogy of haiku to physics: “Just as matter is composed of atoms, which give off a great energy when accelerated to the point of collision, so time is made up of moments; and when a single moment is perfectly isolated, another kind of cosmic energy is released. I like to think of the haiku as a moment-smashing device out of which arise powerful moments of dazzling awareness. But I also like to think of it as something to do while walking the dog.” Many different voices appear in this anthology. I am thankful for each one of them, and particularly thankful for all the distinguished voices: prize-winning poets, SFPA grand masters, journal editors, and the 2017–2019 U.S. Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith. Please enjoy. —John C.Congratulations Mannone to last year’s 2019 DwarfDwarf Stars Chair Stars and Award Editor winners!

1st 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) 2nd Place: If She Knew She Was a Ghost • David C. Kopaska- Merkel • Polu Texni, 5/22/17 3rd Place (tie):

Lo Shu’s Magic Square • Deborahrd L. Davitt • Snakeskin 237 Lace at the Throat • Holly Lyn Walrath • 2017 SFPA poetry contest,iii 3 place Table of Contents

Introduction ii The Alchemy of Grief, Bob Lucky 1 “all my nightmares,” Christina Sng 1 “all that flickers,”C.R. Harper 1 anniversary, Brittany Hause 1 “another atom,” Michelle Muenzler 2 Annie Jump Cannon Cataloged Stars, Jessy Randall 2 Archaeopteryx, Robert Borski 2 At Last, Sandra J. Lindow 3 “at the farm gate,” Joy McCall 3 “autumn leaves,” Dave Read 3 The Bar-fly Dilemma,Ken Poyner 3 blink, Jim Kacian 4 [Cameo], Anna Cates 4 “cannibalizing parts,” Lauren McBride 5 “canoe through the mist…,” kjmunro 5 Changeling, David C. Kopaska-Merkel 5 The Cold Spot, Kimberly Nugent 6 “crash of waves,” Paul Geiger 6 “crow moon,” Caroline Skanne 6 “crystals of nitrogen,” David C. Kopaska-Merkel 7 Cybernetic Harvest, Deborah L. Davitt, Gretchen Tessmer & D.A. Xiaolin Spires 7 “death flowers,”Roxanne Barbour 8 embalmed, Sofía Rhei (translated by Lawrence Schimel) 8–9 “emerging,” Christina Sng 9 Datasphere, Suzie Gray 10 “empty house,” Maryalicia Post 10 The Everlasting Self, Tracy K. Smith 11 The Evolutionary Race, Peter Payack 11 Everything started with the Big Bang, they say, Juanjo Bazán iv 12 Dwarf Stars 2019

Failing Masterpiece, Bruce Boston 12 The fabulist of familiars, Meg Smith 13 “fire),”LeRoy Gorman 13 “first frost,”F. J. Bergmann 13 “first spacewalk,”Nick Hoffman 13 “full autumn moon,” Susan Burch 14 “a full moon rising,” Gloundan Smorpian 14 Ghazal, Joshua Gage 14 The Gravity of Loss, Christina Sng 15 H+, Anna Cates 15 “his hands,” Réka Nyitrai 16 “Her hair,” Annie Sheng 16 How to Betray Sagittarius A*, Mary Soon Lee 16 “I move toward,” Mel Goldberg 16 I'll go under, Robin Wyatt Dunn 17 “in the secret garden,” Susan Beth Furst 17 “in-laws at the door,” Julie Bloss Kelsey 17 “infinity,”Stewart C Baker 17 iSpell, John Reinhart 18 “it is late,” ai li 18 “lava sizzles…,” Greer Woodward 18 Life on the Moon v1.0, Trent Walters 18 “the little girl stopped,” Jennifer Hambrick 19 Men on Mars and Witches from Venus, John C. Mannone 19 “moebius strip,” Lucy Whitehead 20 “my every night,” Marilyn Humbert 20 Negative Space, Sandra J. Lindow 20 Never Trust a Vampiress, James Dorr 21 “a newborn's cry,” kjmunro 21 News Update, Herb Kauderer 21 “night shore,” John Hawkhead 21 Nothing Left, Jane Yolen 22 “ocean swim,” Peter Jastermskyv 22 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

“the old fisherman,”Ron C. Moss 22 “on the ship from Earth,” Lisa Timpf 22 “OR gate,” Deborah P Kolodji 23 the philologist, Brittany Hause 23 The Pillars of Creation, Jason Gray 23 “pumpkin stem,” Srinivasa Rao Sambangi 24 Psalm, Peter Adam Salomon 24 Rapunzel, F. J. Bergmann 24 “red dawn…,” Dietmar Tauchner 24 “return trip,” Julie Bloss Kelsey 25 Root Bound, m.c.childs 25 “sea in winter…,” Lucia Cardillo 25 Six-Meter Surge, m.c.childs 26 “solar eclipse,” Joy MacVane 26 “space station chapel,” John J. Dunphy 26 “spaceship window,” Lorraine Schein 26 “stargazing,” Tiffany Shaw-Diaz 26 structural damage, Herb Kauderer 27 Surreal Lust, Bruce Boston 27 Tau Lyrae, John C. Mannone 28 “their drone ship…,” Lauren McBride 28 “There was an A.I.…,” Robert Dawson 28 To Io, Mindy Watson 29 “two puncture wounds,” Julie Bloss Kelsey 29 “vampire job fair,” William Landis 29 “view from the spaceship,” Serhiy Shpychenko 29 “waitless,” David J. Kelly 30 “water poured,” Caroline Skanne 30 The Weed-filled Path,Anna Cates 30 where to hide an alien in plain sight, LeRoy Gorman 31 “Year 2028,” Valentina Ranaldi-Adams 31 vi Dwarf Stars 2019

The Alchemy of Grief

Some of the tears he whittles into fine points. Those are good for gouging out his eyes. Others he distills. At night, blind and drunk, he pretends he can’t feel a thing. new moon the black hole of the cauldron

—Bob Lucky Jubail, Saudi Arabia

all my nightmares saved in the dream catcher I hang it over your bed

—Christina Sng all that flickers Singapore through the pane anniversary magic lantern

—C.R. Harper Mill Creek, WA holograms shimmer candelabra in hi def roses caught in bloom

—Brittany Hause 1 Oxford, England Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

another atom splits; when will it think of the children left behind?

—Michelle Muenzler Garland, TX Annie Jump Cannon Cataloged Stars

Annie Jump Cannon cataloged stars the work was tedious the pay was terrible but every day for forty years she went to work and held the universe together

—Jessy Randall Colorado Springs, CO Archaeopteryx

ghost bird mired in fossil sky— wingprints in Jurassic ink

—Robert Borski 2Stevens Point, WI Dwarf Stars 2019 At Last

Higgs Boson revealed nabbed as it passed by Schroedinger’s cat

—Sandra J. Lindow Menomonie, WI at the farm gate the slaughterhouse truck comes to a halt autumn leaves a dozen pink piglets shaking free take to the sky the ghosts —Joy McCall Norwich, England —Dave Read TheCalgary, Bar-fly AB, Canada Dilemma

The problem With a holographic lifeform Is that after he buys you A few cheap drinks, talks the serendipitous Weather, then clumsily makes his move— And you tell him, sadly, it will never work out, He makes a few quick internal program changes: And now, damn, it will.

—Ken Poyner Norfolk, VA 3 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

blink

pulsars a compulsive copulation mayflies trying not to die too fast the hiss of the big bang in the cries of bats on a blue and white day a pale green future a blink at sundown and it’s over

—Jim Kacian Winchester, VA [Cameo]

A single image floats in a banana boat down a mighty river. The barracuda don’t mind, nor do the villagers fishing for barracuda. It sails down the river, falls into the sea, and there it lives forever …

dwindling jungle the lost gold of the gods

—Anna Cates Wilmington, OH 4 Dwarf Stars 2019

cannibalizing parts from the starship junkyard for repairs spaceworthy again our ship now carries ghosts

—Lauren McBride Baytown, TX

canoe through the mist of memory clear blue

—kjmunro Whitehorse, YT, Canada Changeling

you ain’t foolin’ nobody with these pointy ears snaggle teeth and greenish-gray skin sash raised up and cradle still rockin’: bring back my child!

—David C. Kopaska-Merkel Tuscaloosa, AL 5 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

The Cold Spot

There is always a cold spot in an old house that the dog growls at in the night. One that smells like candy when you are young. One that smells like your dead grandmother’s perfume. It soothes your senses. But it never feels right. Because there is always a cold spot in an old house that the dog growls at in the night.

—Kimberly Nugent Corrales, NM

crash of waves how does the conch hear it

—Paul Geiger Sebastopol, CA crow moon the otherworld— is only a dream away one by one shadows settle on the castle wall

—Caroline Skanne Upnor, Kent, England 6 Dwarf Stars 2019

crystals of nitrogen fall silently a cold sun rises somewhere far from here a cooling world slung into empty night its children, hard as rocks, are sleeping adamantine crystals that were their eyes

—David C. Kopaska-Merkel Tuscaloosa, AL Cybernetic Harvest (a collaborative triptych)

metal seeds implanted in the soy fields these robotic sprouts in steel and space-age plastic— beware the rust blight rovers with chainsaws— harvesting titanium sprouts requires special care

—Deborah L. Davitt, Gretchen Tessmer & D.A. Xiaolin Spires Houston, TX; Gouverneur, NY; Taipei 7 Base Zero, Taiwan Luna Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

embalsamados

anaerobio,a. (de an- y aerobio). adj. dicho de un organismo: que puede vivir sin oxígeno.

i sin aire, sí, sin aire … pero en el calor de las eras geológicas me alimento de una gema oscura y secreta, y al respirar carbón lo hago diamante. ii sin espacio, me dices, sin espacio … pero siento cada latido de la tierra en la roca, en mi inmovilidad para lo vano, soy consciente del viaje del planeta. iii sin aire estoy, sin aire …

—Sofía Rhei Tarragona, Spain

death flowers surrounding skeletal remains

—Roxanne Barbour Burnaby,8 BC, Canada Dwarf Stars 2019 embalmed

anaerobic: adj. used to describe an organism that can live without oxygen i without air, yes, without air … but in the heat of the geological eras i feed on a dark and secret gem, and on breathing carbon i convert it into diamond. ii without space, you tell me, without space … but i feel every beat of the earth in the rock, in my immobility for the vain, i am aware of the planet's journey. iii without air i am, without air …

—Sofía Rhei (translated by Lawrence Schimel) Tarragona, Spain (Madrid, Spain)

emerging seemingly unharmed from a wormhole part of me wonders am I still me

—Christina Sng Singapore9 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

Datasphere

after an image by Anthony Intraversato

The city cannot swallow me If I don't exist; Carve out my outline [With no remorse] Spitting my data into hotspots Littering with idle thoughts. Point clouds of doubt, joy and sorrow Settle into the fog-soaked foundations Of the place I once Called home.

—Suzie Gray London, England

empty house Scrabble tiles shifting in the night she seeks the last word even after death

—Maryalicia Post Dublin, Ireland

10 Dwarf Stars 2019

The Everlasting Self

Comes in from a downpour Shaking water in every direction— A collaborative condition: Gathered, shed, spread, then Forgotten, reabsorbed. Like love From a lifetime ago, and mud A dog has tracked across the floor.

—Tracy K. Smith Princeton,The NJ Evolutionary Race

I run the beach six miles in two hours, pathetically slow, but not bad for a sixty-five-year-old guy with two knee replacements. Then I pass a horseshoe crab that has gone almost nowhere in roughly half a billion years.

—Peter Payack Cambridge,11 MA Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

Everything started with the Big Bang, they say

I've wandered through thousands of galaxies, observed countless civilizations on innumerable planets. I've catalogued dark clusters, sentient gas clouds, iced lights and a couple of universes too. And the truth I've learned is this: There are only three ways anything can start. A stab in the gut, a random quantum vacuum fluctuation or a kiss. Don't let them fool you with that Big Bang lie.

—Juanjo Bazán Madrid, Spain Failing Masterpiece

The author of the world has far too many plots going on.

—Bruce Boston 12Ocala, FL Dwarf Stars 2019

The fabulist of familiars

The bat shimmies along a tree limb, and dreams nothing but moths and a dark stream. The owl checks its feathers, and sings nothing but mice. The snake undrapes its skin like a lost marriage. Only the cat comes forward, in lynx eyes: “I am your daughter.”

—Meg Smith Lowell, MA fire) dark matter is not nothing (fly first frost —LeRoy Gorman Napanee, ON, Canada the cornfield rattles its bones

—F. J. Bergmann first spacewalk Madison, WI each breath a prayer

—Nick Hoffman 13 Cork, Ireland Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

full autumn moon— in the bathroom mirror the werewolf in my armpit a full moon rising the dog knows —Susan Burch Hagerstown, MD it’s my night to howl Ghazal —Gloundan Smorpian Elmer, WA

Robed in black, they mark their fellowship on our coffins. What is that putrid ichor that they sip on our coffins? Do you feel the weight of demons? Do you hear the clatter of their hooves as they skip on our coffins? Prophets say our paths to Hell squirm, undimmed with shadows cast by crimson tapers that drip on our coffins. A weathered hag meanders through the cemetery. She swathes her hide in cerements ripped from our coffins. The relics of the Pilgrim burn with one more song and smoke as pallbearers lose their searing grip on his coffin.

—Joshua Gage Pepper Pike, OH 14 Dwarf Stars 2019

The Gravity of Loss

It was sheer luck that you took flight 250 and I, flight 851. How grateful I am that we made up before we parted, as I now sob uncontrollably, watching your plane engines sputter and fail, free-falling.

the age-old battle between force and gravity the gravity of loss

—Christina Sng Singapore H+

can a transhuman cyborg write love poems— can a drone contemplate peace? above the city, no color, no sound but the hum. can a transhuman cyborg write love poems— within the city gates, interpret omens, carrion birds that hint at human surcease? can a transhuman cyborg write love poems— can a drone contemplate peace?

—Anna Cates Wilmington, OH 15 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

his hands holding her face— moon song Her hair falls in spirals —Réka Nyitrai Bucharest, curls to fork-tongued split ends Romania Googols of dimensions slip down each strand

—Annie Sheng HowEdison, to Betray NJ Sagittarius A*

Scorn her screams, those wailing radio waves warning of the hole in the galaxy's heart. Worthless to waste grief on ancient tragedies. Repudiate her testimony of mass assassination, I move toward new galaxies her lone voice speaking shedding old words for the silenced stars. like pieces of clothing that I no longer need —Mary Soon Lee Pittsburgh, PA —Mel Goldberg 16 Laredo, TX Dwarf Stars 2019 I’ll go under

for Charles Simic

I'll go under on the gun make me see what it is you saw the barrier reef of your mind washes high over the sky lightning red purple and yellow how did you get there? the gods are in your living room making themselves into furniture

—Robin Wyatt Dunn Fredericton, NB, Canada

in the secret garden where I left it my red cape in-laws at the door— those panicked moments —Susan Beth Furst Woodbridge, VA before I shapeshift

—Julie Bloss Kelsey infinity— Germantown, MD the universe peeks out from an atom

—Stewart C Baker 17 Dallas, OR Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association iSpell

her muttered incantations never worked until she realized iambic pentameter was no longer compatible shifting to binary it is late

—John Reinhart every clock Brunswick, ME has struck twelve

lava sizzles into the sea two glass slippers have become one birth song of a new island —ai li London, —Greer Woodward England Kamuela, HI Life on the Moon v1.0

As of the date of this publication, apart from earthlings & aliens, none.

—Trent Walters Glenwood,18 IA Dwarf Stars 2019

the little girl stopped drawing circles all over the dry-erase board then erased the board then erased herself

—Jennifer Hambrick Worthington, OH Men on Mars and Witches from Venus

In a sleazy Martian bar A golden shovel poem Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble. —Macbeth, William Shakespeare,

A drop-dead gorgeous femme fatale orders a double bourbon on Venusian lava rocks, served with double portion from tongue of lark in aspic. She doesn’t toil very hard in the red-light district of Olympus Mons, and Earthmen searching for alien women easily find trouble in this joint. They’ll soon discover touching them is fire scorching wayward souls—hellfire with a lasting burn. Space witches live here; they love to cast their spells and teach those macho men the truth about the fiery caldron stirrers. They cackle just before men’s blood will bubble.

—John C. Mannone Niota, TN 19 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

moebius strip I wake to find I’m still asleep inside a dream

—Lucy Whitehead Essex, England my every night haunted by dreams of Mars … the boatman’s solo song as he steers the dry canal

—Marilyn Humbert Sydney, Australia Negative Space

The Japanese call it Ma. the empty space between objects. It is the absence that becomes central, At Tai Chi, I fight the shape of an invisible opponent: the dissolution of your warmth, the grief that rises out of an Arctic infinite Press of pain, yield of air, We know each other well now; the dance, not dance goes on.

—Sandra J. Lindow Menomonie, WI 20 Dwarf Stars 2019

Never Trust a Vampiress

Sometimes, when the vampire hunters got too close, she'd wear her fur coat and get away claiming she was a werewolf. a newborn's cry —James Dorr Bloomington, IN all the phases News Update of the moon —kjmunro Whitehorse, YT, Canada

When the word came through I was in hydroponics. The war on Earth was over. In the new eternal silence I watered the plants with tears.

—Herb Kauderer Lancaster, NY night shore the ebb tide tumbling stars

—John Hawkhead Bradford on Avon, 21 England Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

Nothing Left

When they are through with him, there is nothing left. Head, heft, feathers, bones, Even those bigly feet, Even that large beak. What he owns now is only air, dust, greed, legend, sand. ocean swim —Jane Yolen Hatfield, MA the taste of a hundred shipwrecks

—Peter Jastermsky the old fisherman Morongo Valley, CA on his final journey home hears the mermaid’s song

—Ron C. Moss Tasmania, Australia

on the ship from Earth a parcel from her parents— such charming baby clothes … too bad their daughter just turned three

—Lisa Timpf 22 Simcoe, ON, Canada Dwarf Stars 2019

OR gate I never calculated the philologist being alone

—Deborah P Kolodji Temple City, CA notebook in hand I sit near the temporal rift straining to catch murmurs of a language spoken only by the dead

—Brittany Hause Oxford, England The Pillars of Creation

The universe is not collapsing back. From the verandas of the violet Republic, we are coming to know the end Already happened years ago, the light Only now catching up to us. The pillars meet a supernova And at light speed seem to die For a long time. By the time Andromeda Is our permanent firework, someone Is watching us, and we are ghosts.

—Jason Gray Durham, NC 23 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

pumpkin stem my child tries to lift Psalm the universe —Srinivasa Rao Sambangi Hyderabad, India

Shroud me in a shallow grave Bury me with wildflower seeds In an ancient forest For while life was only rarely beautiful Death I want to be a garden Rapunzel —Peter Adam Salomon Decatur, GA

the moon’s pale hair hung to the ground from a midnight window as we climbed the black tower of sleep

—F. J. Bergmann Madison, WI

red dawn the future in a thrown away can

—Dietmar Tauchner Puchberg, Austria 24 Dwarf Stars 2019

return trip breaking up on re-entry … the weight of my tears

—Julie Bloss Kelsey Root Bound Germantown, MD (hexagram 59)

Unclench the soil and stones; dislodge your thorns; slough your rough bark. Your defenses have held you still— a lone tree on a rock. Infuse your pith with spring chyle; weave rootless feet, and walk away.

—m.c.childs Albuquerque, NM

mare in burrasca … nel fragore delle onde / tace la riva (translated by author)

sea in winter… in the roar of the waves the shore shuts up

—Lucia Cardillo Rodi Garganico,25 Foggia, Italy Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association Six-Meter Surge (hexagram Ta Chuang)

The surf shines with prismatic oil. No more palm shade. No more taro. The waters retake the earth. Our sagas, stories, lies and legends lie quiet beneath broken ocean. We set sail.

—m.c.childs Albuquerque, NM solar eclipse I fill my wheelbarrow with sunflowers

space station chapel —Joy MacVane Kingston, NY seated alone a crew member holds in the palm of his hand soil from Earth

—John J. Dunphy Alton, IL spaceship window— my face tattooed with stars stargazing —Lorraine Schein a moment alone Sunnyside, NY with my ancestors

—Tiffany Shaw-Diaz Centerville, OH 26 Dwarf Stars 2019 structural damage

a dying meteorite rushing to earth’s embrace passed through my atmosphere & as a parting gesture scored my heart giving it a way to fold in upon itself but within the grip of your ever-tightening gravity my heart has no chance to collapse in orderly fashion & no hope for survival Surreal Lust —Herb Kauderer Lancaster, NY

backward clock of her knees spring coils of her cheeks bicycles of her eyes ports of her breasts cosines of her hips calculus of her hair campaniles of her fingers sprockets of her toes engine of her mouth leopard of her tongue

—Bruce Boston 27 Ocala, FL Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association Tau Lyrae

Peer through the clear night glass of a telescope, a jeweler’s lens sifting stardust in the soot black skies for carbon stars —wine-red drops of diamonds that will intoxicate your eyes.

—John C. Mannone Niota, TN

their drone ship came to Earth only robots on board six legs, four wings, two antennae kept asking to see our queen

—Lauren McBride Baytown, TX

There was an A.I. from Key West Whose programmer left out a test. At a quarter to two They said, “How do you do?” And it thought and it thought and it thought and it thought and it thought and it thought and it thought and it thought until somebody pulled out the plug.

—Robert Dawson Halifax, NS, Canada 28 Dwarf Stars 2019 To Io A Spenserian stanza

The name you share with Zeus’s concubine And Galileo’s seismic moon conveys Our keen belief that children’s traits align With names their sires assign. If with one phrase Your namesake set a Greek god’s heart ablaze And reigned as Jove’s volcanic satellite, We know her name will likewise raise You toward unparalleled allure and might. May magma stir your blood and gadflies never bite.

—Mindy Watson Washington, DC two puncture wounds to the chest her soul slides out the great unknown slithers in vampire job fair —Julie Bloss Kelsey Germantown, MD under experience he put phlebotomy

—William Landis view from the spaceship Creedmoor, NC the moon lights the dew on the fields

—Serhiy Shpychenko 29 Kyiv, Ukraine Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

waitless service at the zero-g burger bar water poured —David J. Kelly Dublin, Ireland on the world tree’s roots i listen to the gossip of windflowers

—Caroline Skanne The Weed-filled Path Upnor, Kent, UK

What lies at the end of the weed-filled path? Autumn has come, and the sun is missing. Wild oats, wild grapes, or the grapes of wrath— What lies at the end of the weed-filled path? The end of days and all its aftermath— Some surmise a bog with bullfrogs croaking. What lies at the end of the weed-filled path? Winter has come, and the moon is missing.

—Anna Cates Wilmington, OH 30 Dwarf Stars 2019

where to hide an alien in plain sight

on reality television in a line to see the next Star Wars scalping tickets to Alien alongside William Shatner in an Alice Cooper cover band anyplace at a high school reunion as poster child for violence in sports as half-time entertainment in a politician’s entourage in an algorithm for leaving Earth

—LeRoy Gorman Napanee, ON, Canada

Year 2028— the robot dog deleted my homework

—Valentina Ranaldi-Adams Fairlawn, OH

31 Acknowledgments

The Alchemy of Grief, Bob Lucky, tinywords 18.2. “all my nightmares,” Christina Sng, Scifaikuest (online), November 2018. “all that flickers,” C.R. Harper, Stardust Haiku, August 2018. anniversary, Brittany Hause, Scifaikuest (print), November 2018. Annie Jump Cannon Cataloged Stars, Jessy Randall, Asimov’s S F, January/February 2018. “another atom,” Michelle Muenzler, Star*Line 41.3. Archaeopteryx, Robert Borski, Star*Line 41.2. nd At Last, Sandra J. Lindow, 2018 SFPA Poetry Contest (Dwarf Form 2 place winner). “at the farm gate,” Joy McCall, Atlas Poetica: 25 Science Fiction Tanka and Kyoka, eds. Julie Bloss Kelsey & Susan Burch. “autumn leaves,” Dave Read, Presence 62. The Bar-fly Dilemma, Ken Poyner, Star*Line 41.4. blink, Jim Kacian, ephemerae 1:A. [Cameo], Anna Cates, My Haiku Pond: Luca’s Lily Pad: A Weekly Column, December 3, 2018. cannibalizing parts, Lauren McBride, Scifaikuest (print), November 2018. “canoe through the mist…,” kjmunro, The Heron's Nest XX:2. Changeling, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Star*Line 41.3. The Cold Spot, Kimberly Nugent, Star*Line 41.2. “crash of waves,” Paul Geiger, Troutswirl, July 18, 2018. “crow moon,” Caroline Skanne, the cherita 10. “crystals of nitrogen…,” David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Scifaikuest (print), November 2018. Cybernetic Harvest, Deborah L. Davitt, Gretchen Tessmer and D.A. Xiaolin Spires, Star*Line 41.4. Datasphere, Suzie Gray, Visual Verse: An Anthology of Art and Words 5:6. “death flowers,” Roxanne Barbour, Scifaikuest (print), August 2018. 32 Dwarf Stars 2019

embalmed, Sofia Rhei (trans. Lawrence Schmiel),Multiverse: An International Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry, eds. Rachel Plummer & Russell Jones (Shoreline of Infinity, 2018). “emerging,” Christina Sng, Colorado Boulevard, August 2018. “empty house,” Maryalicia Post, Ribbons 14:3. The Everlasting Self, Tracy K. Smith, Wade in the Water (Graywolf Press, 2018). Everything started with the Big Bang, they say, Juanjo Bazán, Star*Line 41.2. The Evolutionary Race, Peter Payack, Asimov’s SF, March/ April 2018. The fabulist of familiars, Meg Smith, Priestess & Hierophant 5. Failing Masterpiece, Bruce Boston, Star*Line 41.1. “fire),” LeRoy Gorman, Illiterature 8. “first frost,” F. J. Bergmann, Star*Line 41.3. “first spacewalk,” Nick Hoffman, Scifaikuest (print), August 2018. “full autumn moon,” Susan Burch, Star*Line 41.4. “a full moon rising,” Gloundan Smorpian, Dreams and Nightmares 110. Ghazal, Joshua Gage, Star*Line 41.2. The Gravity of Loss, Christina Sng, WonderFold, January 2018, winner. H+, Anna Cates, Scryptic 2.2 “her hair,” Annie Sheng, Scifaikuest (print), February 2018. “his hands,” Réka Nyitrai, Troutswirl, December 5, 2018. How to Betray Sagittarius A*, Mary Soon Lee, Strange Horizons, 10/8/18. “I move toward,” Mel Goldberg, Atlas Poetica: 25 Science Fiction Tanka and Kyoka, eds. Julie Bloss Kelsey & Susan Burch. I'll go under, Robin Wyatt Dunn, Scarlet Leaf Review, July 19, 2018. “in the secret garden,” Susan Beth Furst, Wild Voices 2: an anthology of short poetry & art by women, ed. Caroline Skanne. rd “in-laws at the door,” Julie Bloss Kelsey, 2018 SFPA Poetry Contest (Dwarf Form 3 place).33 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

“infinity,” Stewart C Baker, Star*Line 41.3. iSpell, John Reinhart, Star*Line 41.4. “it is late,” ai li, Hedgerow 123. “lava sizzles…,” Greer Woodward, Troutswirl, July 18, 2018. Life on the Moon v1.0, Trent Walters, Red Flag Poetry, May 15, 2018. “the little girl stopped,” Jennifer Hambrick, Atlas Poetica: 25 Science Fiction Tanka and Kyoka, eds. Julie Bloss Kelsey & Susan Burch. Men on Mars and Witches from Venus, John C. Mannone, Tales from the Moonlit Path, November 2018. “moebius strip,” Lucy Whitehead, Otata 33. “my every night,” Marilyn Humbert, Atlas Poetica: 25 Science Fiction Tanka and Kyoka, eds. Julie Bloss Kelsey & Susan Burch. Negative Space, Sandra J. Lindow, Sky Island Journal, April 21, 2018. Never Trust a Vampiress, James Dorr, Star*Line 41.2. “a newborn's cry,” kjmunro, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal 2:1 News Update, Herb Kauderer, Star*Line 41.3. “night shore,” John Hawkhead, Troutswirl, July 11, 2018. Nothing Left, Jane Yolen, The Ostrich King (Viable Books, 2018). “ocean swim,” Peter Jastermsky, Troutswirl, August 1, 2018 “the old fisherman,” Ron C. Moss, Troutswirl, July 18, 2018. “on the ship from Earth,” Lisa Timpf, Atlas Poetica: 25 Science Fiction Tanka and Kyoka, eds. Julie Bloss Kelsey & Susan Burch. “OR gate,” Deborah P Kolodji, Prune Juice 25. the philologist, Brittany Hause, Eye to the Telescope 28. The Pillars of Creation, Jason Gray, Literary Matters 11.1. “pumpkin stem,” Srinivasa Rao Sambangi, Haiku Canada Review 12:2. Psalm, Peter Adam Salomon, HWA Poetry Showcase V, ed. Stephanie M. Wytovitch (Horror Writers Association, 2018) Rapunzel, F. J. Bergmann, Abyss34 & Apex, January 1, 2018. Dwarf Stars 2019

Reaching, D. A. Xiaolin Spires, Liquid Imagination 38. “red dawn…,” Dietmar Tauchner, Modern Haiku 49.2. “return trip,” Julie Bloss Kelsey, Scifaikuest (print), May 2018. Root Bound, m.c.childs, Bracken I5. “sea in winter,” Lucia Cardillo, Troutswirl, July 18, 2018. Six-Meter Surge, m.c.childs, Toyon 64:1. “solar eclipse,” Joy MacVane, tinywords 17.2. “space station chapel,” John J. Dunphy, Scifaikuest (online), February 2018. “spaceship window,” Lorraine Schein, Star*Line 41.4. “stargazing,” Tiffany Shaw-Diaz, Wild Voices 2: an anthology of short poetry & art by women, ed. Caroline Skanne. structural damage, Herb Kauderer, Star*Line 41.3. Surreal Lust, Bruce Boston, Artifacts (Independent Legions, 2018). Tau Lyrae, John C. Mannone, Celestial Musings: Poems Inspired by the Night Sky, ed. Stacy R. Savage (Ball State Univ., 2018). To Io, Mindy Watson, Silver Blade 40. “their drone ship…,” Lauren McBride, Star*Line 41.2. “There was an A.I.…,” Robert Dawson, Star*Line 41.4. “two puncture wounds,” Julie Bloss Kelsey, Scifaikuest (online), May 2018. “vampire job fair,” William Landis, Star*Line 41.2. “view from the spaceship,” Serhiy Shpychenko, Troutswirl, June 6, 2018. “waitless,” David J. Kelly, Scifaikuest (online), November 2018. “water poured,” Caroline Skanne, the cherita 10. The Weed-filled Path, Anna Cates, Mock Turtle 18. where to hide an alien in plain sight, LeRoy Gorman, Scryptic 2:4. “Year 2028,” Valentina Ranaldi-Adams, failed haiku: A Journal of English Senryu 3:32. >

35 Dwarf Stars 2019 The best very short speculative poetry of the prior year Edited by John C. Mannone

Each year, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association selects the Dwarf Stars Award for the best short speculative poetry of the year before. The 2019 Dwarf Stars anthology contains a diverse mix of excellent, very short science fiction, fantasy, horror, and surrealist poetry (ten lines or fewer)Poetry and prose bypoems (100 words or fewer) from many venues, expected and unexpected. ai li John Hawkhead Valentina Ranaldi-Adams Stewart C Baker Nick Hoffman Jessy Randall Roxanne Barbour Marilyn Humbert David Read Juanjo Bazán Peter Jastermsky John Reinhart F. J. Bergmann Jim Kacian Sofía Rhei Robert Borski Herb Kauderer Peter Adam Salomon Bruce Boston David J. Kelly Srinivasa Rao Sambangi Susan Burch Julie Bloss Kelsey Lorraine Schein Lucia Cardillo kjmunro Lawrence Schimel Anna Cates Deborah P Kolodji Tiffany Shaw-Diaz m.c.childs David C. Kopaska-Merkel Annie Sheng Deborah L. Davitt William Landis Serhiy Shpychenko Robert Dawson Mary Soon Lee Caroline Skanne James Dorr Sandra J. Lindow Meg Smith Robin Wyatt Dunn Bob Lucky Tracy K. Smith John J. Dunphy Joy Reed MacVane Gloundan Smorpian Susan Beth Furst John C. Mannone Christina Sng Joshua Gage Lauren McBride D.A. Xiaolin Spires Paul Geiger Joy McCall Dietmar Tauchner Mel Goldberg Ron C. Moss Gretchen Tessmer LeRoy Gorman Michelle Muenzler Lisa Timpf Jason Gray Kimberly Nugent Trent Walters Suzie Gray Réka Nyitrai Mindy Watson Jennifer Hambrick Peter Payack Lucy Whitehead C.R. Harper Maryalicia Post Greer Woodward Brittany Hause Ken Poyner Jane Yolen $5.00 Information about the Dwarf Stars awards and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association can be found on sfpoetry.com.