062919b

Sold a poem to the next issue of Eye to the Telescope: infection. I don't really write about infection, per se, but I found something to say that apparently was close enough. Also, I have a poem in the current issue on sports and games. That is something I hardly ever write about either. Maybe I am more versatile than I used to be.

Our hall from the garden this morning: two tomatoes, four cucumbers, about a dozen yard long beans (really more like 18 inches long), and five banana peppers.

Science Fiction Poetry Association Grand Master

I did NOT expect to win. But I am now the 7th Grand Master named by the SFPA. The first-named is Bruce Boston, elevated, if that's the word, in 1999. The award is voted on by the members of the SFPA, and is awarded on the basis of a sort of speculative-poetry gestalt: skill, accomplishment, and service. Here's a link for more info: http://sfpoetry.com/grandmasters.html

I am honored. Basking in the glow.

Thank you!

Read this Rhysling nominee

Quack

It walks like a duck

but that's only because

it's loaded down

with sashes and ribbons

and medals of honor

and symbols of patriotism

and religious iconisms.

The thing about these things

from starsystem Squawk

is that they're immortals,

or at least they claim they are

or believe they are

and some around here

really believe it too

and want to get in line.

It's too soon to tell,

but one reason for skepticism

is that, as presently understood,

our universe will continue

to expand forever

and eventually anyone left

on Earth (or anywhere else)

will be totally alone

with nary a star to shine

in the dark, dark sky.

You can call that immortality

but you might as well be dead.

Neal Wilgus

Reprinted w permission from DN 104

Press Release about Rhysling Anthology

I sent it to my local paper. Based on the template Robin Mayhall created.

Local Writer Edits Volume of Poems

Nominated for International Poetry Award

A local geologist and part-time science-fiction writer is the editor of this year’s Rhysling Anthology, the annual collection of poems nominated for a prize awarded by the Science Fiction Poetry Association to honor the best science fiction, fantasy or horror poems from the previous year.

Kopaska-Merkel has been writing science fiction and fantasy short stories and poems for more than four decades. He has edited and published the speculative poetry magazine Dreams and Nightmares since 1986. The Rhysling Award honors poetry in two categories: short poems of 1 to 49 lines and long poems of 50 lines or longer. Kopaska-Merkel won the long-poem award in 2006 for “The Tin Men,” a collaboration with Kendall Evans.

Only dues-paying members of the Science Fiction Poetry Association can nominate a poem for the Rhysling Award, which was established in 1978. All of the nominated poems are published in a printed anthology, which is distributed to the membership for use as a voting tool. SFPA members vote on their favorites in each category, and the winners are announced in the summer. The Rhysling Anthology also is sold by the SFPA to offset the cost of printing and to raise funds for association programs.

The winning works are regularly reprinted in the Nebula Awards Anthology from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., and are considered in the speculative fiction field to be the equivalent in poetry of the awards given for “prose” work: achievement awards given to poets by the writing peers of their own field of literature. Past winners have included such science fiction and fantasy notables as Ursula K. Le Guin, Bruce Boston, Joe Haldeman and Jane Yolen.

Kopaska-Merkel was born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, but has lived in Tuscaloosa for almost 30 years. He works for the Geological Survey of Alabama. His publications include 25 books of poetry and short fiction, more than 100 scientific books and articles, and poems in such publications as Asimov’s Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, and Night Cry. He is past president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, and a former editor of its journal Star*line.

The Science Fiction Poetry Association was founded in 1978 to bring together poets and readers interested in science fiction poetry. In addition to the Rhysling Anthology, the SFPA publishes Star*Line, its quarterly official newsletter featuring market news, interviews, articles, reviews, member news and letters, association business, and poetry by members and nonmembers. For more information, visit the association’s website at http://www.sfpoetry.com.

Call for Dwarf Stars nominations

Call for Dwarf Stars nominations

The nomination period does not open for two weeks, but now is a good time to start looking for speculative poetry (science fiction, fantasy, horror) of no more than 10 lines. You can nominate any number of poems, including ones you wrote yourself. They must have been first published in 2016. In formal publication venues, such as blogs, do count. For specifics, see the guidelines:

http://sfpoetry.com/ds/dsguide.html

Please proof your Rhysling poems

Anne Carly Abad

David Barber

Lore Bernier

Matt Betts

Karen Bovenmeyer

Josh Brown

Shari Caplan

David Clink

Alexandra Erin

Kendall Evans

Gary Every 

Alice Fanchiang

Neil Gaiman

Charlotte Geater

Lee S. Hawke

Carolyn M. Hinderliter

Johan Jönsson

Darren Lipman

S. Qiouyi Lu

John C. Mannone

Airea D. Matthews

Elizabeth R. McClellan

K.A. Opperman

Jack Ralls

Margaret Rhee

Hester J. Rook

M. Sereno

Naru Dames Sundar

KH Van Berkum

Burlee Vang

Rhysling update

The deadline for submitting nominations for the Rhysling award has passed. If you have sent a postal nomination or have had problems getting through, talk to me as soon as possible. We will work with you and want your nomination to be included.

Give me a couple of days to work through all the recent nominations and get permission from the authors to reprint the poems in the anthology. We are having trouble getting in touch with a few people, and I will send out a request for help with that as soon as I can make up an up-to-date list. Give me a couple of days for that.

As always, if you have any question or problem, email me or any of the SFPA officers.

I think you'll be impressed with the length and breadth of the anthology this year. Most of you will be sorry you can't vote for more poems, they are that good.

021617b

Grand Master


For those of you who are members of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, I am running for Grand Master. Or rather, I have been nominated, and that is a great honor. If you are pondering whether to vote for me, and wonder what I have written, the easiest place to find some of my better work is online in the archives of Strange Horizons. It is also fruitful to just Google me, although sometimes you find other stuff, like paleontology.

Updates and down dates

Dreams and Nightmares 105. Every subscriber and contributor copy has been mailed. If you are supposed to get one, and you don't get it this week, please let me know.

This is the last day you can nominate speculative poems for the Rhysling award.

In about a month, I will talk about mysterious ancient creatures to science teachers at the Alabama Science Teachers Association meeting. Some creatures leave bones or teeth, others leave only footprints or burrows. In the latter case, how do we learn about them? It turns out we can learn as much or more from tracks than from bones.

Rhysling update

I am caught up on nominations through Friday, I believe. Those that came in on the weekend has been logged in, but I have not reached all of the people I need to notify.

Almost 50 of us have nominated poems so far. That leaves quite a few (more than 250) who must still be mulling over their choices. You have about three weeks left before you must make your decision. There are so many great palms out there that have not yet been nominated, making a choice will be difficult, but please do it!

011717b

Update on Dreams and Nightmares 105. I have not been able to get this sent to the printer, because I have been working on the Rhysling.

Update on the Rhysling. The deadline for nominations is February 15. You still have plenty of time, but please don't let it slip away. The more poems that are nominated, the more representative the resulting book.

011517

Working hard on Rhysling nominations, so not writing poetry this weekend. Reading some thrilling stuff! Join SFPA, if you're not a member, and be a part of it. Deadline Feb. 15.

Now I am caught up responding to Rhysling nominations, and caught up on responses to those responses partway thru yesterday. If you sent me anything about Rhysling matters b4 yesterday, and haven't heard back, please query.

Caught up thru 2 pm central on Monday. Still looking for a few nominated poets.

010517

This weekend DN 105 is prepared in final form for the printer. I will also catch up on responding to submissions. Don't forget: everything in issues 102-104 is Rhysling eligible. If you are an SFPA member, but don't have those issues, ask me for a free pdf. Also, SFPA members have till Feb. 15 to nominate poems first published in 2016. Don't lt the time slip away!

122116b

night of the tongue
giant frogs thunder along
shattering highways
mutagens dumped in wetlands
wait till you see the gators

Rhysling award

If you belong to the SFPA (http://sfpoetry.com/index.html)  you can nominate and vote for the Rhysling (http://sfpoetry.com/rhysling.html). Any speculative poem first published in 2016 is eligible. I am the Chair for the 2017 Rhysling. Beginning Jan. 1, nominate the best you've read. If you aren't a member. join.

Here is an alphabetical list of some of mine that are eligible.

A Close Look at Heaven, Star*line 39.1

A Visitor from Yuggoth, Star*line 39.2

After the Shuttle Lands, Star*line 39.3

Assimilation, Star*line 39.2

Back Lot at Ed’s Scrapyard, Roswell, Asimov’s, June

Blood red, Beechwood Review 2

Bullets Won’t Stop It, Star*line 39.3

Choreography, Dreams and Nightmares blog, May 24, 2016

City in Ruins, Star*line 39.3

Contents of a Sealed Trunk found on an Abandoned Ship (with F. J. Bergmann), Polu Texni Mar. 7, 2016

Dangerous Stuff, Kaleidotrope, Autumn, 2016

Elegy, Star*line 39.1

Eyes to See, The Mind[less] Muse, May 3 2016

Faerie’s Burbs, Star*line 39.2

Fur Ceiling, Star*line 39.3

God Weather, Star*line 39.2

He Calls it Cookie, Spaceports and Spidersilk, January 2016

I, AI (with Kendall Evans), Illumen, spring 2016

I Keep Going Back To That Weekend, Lupine Lunes

If There Are No Aliens, Outposts of Beyond, October, 2016

It’s so cold now, Star*line 39.2

Man of Steel, Star*line 39.1

Martian Seashell, Star*line 39.3

Midas smiled, Star*line 39.1

Moebius World (w Kendall Evans), Star*line 39.4

Now Returning from the Sea, Star*line 39.1

Olfactory Recall, Dreams and Nightmares blog, Mar. 23, 2016

polyped bricks compose, Star*line 39.2

printing our children, Star*line 39.2

released from bed, Beechwood Review 2

Self-Cleaning Carpet, Star*line 39.1

Snail Boy, Illumen, Autumn 2016

Social Dinosaurs, Kaleidotrope, summer

Started Small, Not One of Us, 55

Thank You for Not Shifting, Star*line 39.3

the face looked up, Scifaikuest November print

the hut with pigeon feet, Star*line 39.3

The Literate Lunch, Dreams and Nightmares blog, May 24, 2016

the origami ship, Star*line 39.3

The Unnameable Clears its Throat (with Wade German), Star*line 39.1

The Woods Look Up, Outposts of Beyond, Oct. 2016

They believed in an afterlife, Star*line 39.2

Throwing the Furniture Into the Reaction Engine, Star*line 39.3

to-do list, Star*line 39.1

Too Late We Discovered, The Martian Wave

Vampire Children, Star*line 39.2

Virtual Love (with Kendall Evans), Polu Texni Sep. 26, 2016

Wearable AI, Star*line 39.3

When the Stars Align, Outposts of Beyond

your young self, Star*line 39.3

DN update

Dreams and Nightmares 102-104 were published in 2016. Every poem in all three issues is eligible for the Rhysling award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. If you are a member, and lack any of these issues, ask me for PDFs of them.

I am reading now for issue 106 (May 2017) and laying out issue 105 (January 2017). I am actively looking for submissions of poetry, small black and white illustrations, and larger black and white illustrations for covers. Payment is $12 +2 copies.

Dreams and Nightmares update

Issues 102 through 104 were published in 2016, and all of the poems in those three issues are eligible for the Rhysling award and any other award for poetry, first published in 2016. If you want to nominate or consider nominating poems that I published for any award, and you don't have copies of the relevant issues, ask me for a PDF of any or all of these three 2016 issues.

The Rhysling award is given by the Science Fiction Poetry Association:  http://sfpoetry.com/index.html

The January issue of Dreams and Nightmares, 105, is full, and I will begin laying it down this weekend. I am reading for 106.

113016

under seven moons
no stolen
kisses stay secret

Halloween poetry reading

Numerous members of the Science Fiction Poetry Association have come together to scare the heck out of you again this year. Audio files of poets (in some cases, other people) reading their work ,and spooky photographs. This is been going on for years, and all entries from previous years are still right there on the site, along with the new ones. Enjoy!


http://www.sfpoetry.com/halloween.html

Rhysling awards

These are annual awards, given to members of the Science Fiction Poetry Association for the best short and long speculative poems first published in a given year. Despite the organization's name, we aim to be inclusive, considering the term "science fiction" in the broadest possible meaning. It includes fantasy, horror, weird, slipstream, speculative, surreal, etc. As long as there is some kind of speculative element then the poem is potentially relevant to the interests of the group.

Poems published in the calendar year 2016 are eligible. It is not too early to begin pondering what you have read and making a tentative list. More, later in the year.

My personal interest for this year is twofold. First, I am going to be putting together the anthology of nominated works. I have nothing to do with choosing these works (except I get to nominate two, just like any member). Second, I have written and published a number of poems that are eligible. Anything published in Dreams and Nightmares issues 102-104, is eligible. Any poem published in this blog, unless it lists a previous publication credit at the end, is eligible. Anything by me that is published anywhere else this year, unless it lists a previous publication credit, is also eligible.

If you are not a member of the sfpa and want to join, you can visit this website: http://sfpoetry.com/join.html.