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A review by divadiane
The 2020 Rhysling Anthology by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
5.0
This was a wonderful collection of very diverse speculative poetry. I think I liked it better as a whole than previous years Anthologies. Maybe because there was less Horror? Not a big fan, except for Lovecraftian cosmic horror.
Anyway, my short list for the Short category is:
•Sphere, by Francis W. Alexander
•A Purring Cat is a Time Machine, Beth Cato
•The Planets? Sweet..., Harris Coverly
•Halsted IV, Jeff Crandall
•Robert Goddard, Alan Ira Gordon
•All-Father, Vince Gotera
•The Book of Fly, John Philip Johnson
•Seven Reason to Have Hope for a Better Future..., Catherine Kyle
•Creation: Dark Matter Dating App, Sandra J. Lindow
•when my father reprograms my mother {, Caroline Mao
•Ójí Íjè [Kola Journey], Uche Ogbuji
•The Root Kong’s Winter, Jessica P. Wick
Long poem Category:
•The Scarecrow’s Lover, Alexandria Baisden
•Maculation, F. J. Bergmann
•heliobacterium daphnephilum, Rebecca Buchanan
•The Scroll of Thoth, Frank Coffman
•The Cinder Girl Burns Brightly, Theodora Goss
•The Making of Dragons, Herb Kauderer
•Why Not?, Gerri Leen
•Nan-e, Lee Mackenzie
•Ode to the Artistic Temperament, Michael H. Payne
•Obsidian, Fungisayi Sasa
•Borrower, Cislyn Smith
•The Mining Town, Holly Lyn Walrath
My first pass through the book garnered 39 short poems and 22 long poems that I felt warranted a closer look. That made this decision so hard!! I liked so many of them. My first pass through the book is really just an assessment of whether I personally like the poem. The subsequent readings are more careful readings with an eye for comparing them towards choosing my ranked top 3.
Another member once described her method and it works well enough for me. After the first pass, I group the poems into groups of 6 and choose the best 2 or 3 and continue in that vein. This time I was left with 4 absolute top contenders in both categories and it was a very hard decision which to eliminate.
I thought I had made my decision, but then I left it for a few more hours and changed my mind in the process of voting!! I’m very interested in the final results.
The winners are:
Short Poem
First Place
“Taking, Keeping” • Jessica J. Horowitz • Apparition Lit 5
Second Place
“when my father reprograms my mother {” • Caroline Mao • Strange Horizons, Fund Drive
Third Place (tie)
Creation: Dark Matter Dating App, Sandra J. Lindow, Asimov's SF, July/August, 2019 and
“The Day the Animals Turned to Sand” • Tyler Hagemann • Amazing Stories, Spring 2019
First Place
“Heliobacterium daphnephilum” • Rebecca Buchanan • Star*Line 42.3
Second Place
“The Cinder Girl Burns Brightly” • Theodora Goss • Uncanny 28
Third Place
“Ode to the Artistic Temperament” • Michael H. Payne • Silver Blade 42
and
“The Macabre Modern” • Kyla Lee Ward • The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities (P'rea Press)
I voted for 4 of the 8! Not bad!
Anyway, my short list for the Short category is:
•Sphere, by Francis W. Alexander
•A Purring Cat is a Time Machine, Beth Cato
•The Planets? Sweet..., Harris Coverly
•Halsted IV, Jeff Crandall
•Robert Goddard, Alan Ira Gordon
•All-Father, Vince Gotera
•The Book of Fly, John Philip Johnson
•Seven Reason to Have Hope for a Better Future..., Catherine Kyle
•Creation: Dark Matter Dating App, Sandra J. Lindow
•when my father reprograms my mother {, Caroline Mao
•Ójí Íjè [Kola Journey], Uche Ogbuji
•The Root Kong’s Winter, Jessica P. Wick
Long poem Category:
•The Scarecrow’s Lover, Alexandria Baisden
•Maculation, F. J. Bergmann
•heliobacterium daphnephilum, Rebecca Buchanan
•The Scroll of Thoth, Frank Coffman
•The Cinder Girl Burns Brightly, Theodora Goss
•The Making of Dragons, Herb Kauderer
•Why Not?, Gerri Leen
•Nan-e, Lee Mackenzie
•Ode to the Artistic Temperament, Michael H. Payne
•Obsidian, Fungisayi Sasa
•Borrower, Cislyn Smith
•The Mining Town, Holly Lyn Walrath
My first pass through the book garnered 39 short poems and 22 long poems that I felt warranted a closer look. That made this decision so hard!! I liked so many of them. My first pass through the book is really just an assessment of whether I personally like the poem. The subsequent readings are more careful readings with an eye for comparing them towards choosing my ranked top 3.
Another member once described her method and it works well enough for me. After the first pass, I group the poems into groups of 6 and choose the best 2 or 3 and continue in that vein. This time I was left with 4 absolute top contenders in both categories and it was a very hard decision which to eliminate.
I thought I had made my decision, but then I left it for a few more hours and changed my mind in the process of voting!! I’m very interested in the final results.
The winners are:
Short Poem
First Place
“Taking, Keeping” • Jessica J. Horowitz • Apparition Lit 5
Second Place
“when my father reprograms my mother {” • Caroline Mao • Strange Horizons, Fund Drive
Third Place (tie)
Creation: Dark Matter Dating App, Sandra J. Lindow, Asimov's SF, July/August, 2019 and
“The Day the Animals Turned to Sand” • Tyler Hagemann • Amazing Stories, Spring 2019
First Place
“Heliobacterium daphnephilum” • Rebecca Buchanan • Star*Line 42.3
Second Place
“The Cinder Girl Burns Brightly” • Theodora Goss • Uncanny 28
Third Place
“Ode to the Artistic Temperament” • Michael H. Payne • Silver Blade 42
and
“The Macabre Modern” • Kyla Lee Ward • The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities (P'rea Press)
I voted for 4 of the 8! Not bad!