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 Cover: Aurora by Michelle Young acrylic on canvas/digital © 2019 michelleyoung.comThree-Sixty Condensed, Eaglefeather, Amelia Basic The text was set in , and Elysium,* using Adobe InDesign. © 2019 Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association sfpoetry.com All rights to poems retained by individual poets. Dwarf Stars 2019 The Best Very Short Speculative Poems Published in 2018 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.