R.B. Lemberg's Blog, page 26
January 31, 2013
2012 Poetry recommendations by the community, and a roundup
Dear readers: you are now invited to comment and mention one or two poems you especially liked in 2012. If you have more than two pieces to recommend, that’s great – please make a post on your blog and link back here. Thank you for participating!
Here is the full list of editors who participated in the series, with links to their posts:
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
January 30, 2013
2012 Poetry Recommendations by Editors: Rose Lemberg
At the end of last year, I approached a few editors of speculative poetry to recommend five “Best of…” poems of 2012. I asked that the five recommended poems would be written, edited and published by other people, rather than the editors themselves. The various selections so far can be found at the poetry recommendations by editors tag.
Thank you very much to the editors who participated! We round out these series with my own recommendations.
Rose’s Recommendations
In no particular order,
“I Understand Video Games Aren’t Real,” By Leslie Anderson (Strange Horizons, October 2012).
This poem speaks to our emotional connections to the digital realities we often inhabit. It’s simple and poignant, and it touched me.
“The Pilgrimage of Mouths” by Kristiana Rae Colón, in PANK Magazine (January 2012).
I am partial to work about voice, and this is the kind of exuberant, surrealistic text that speaks to me on a visceral level, that slides off like music, almost beyond reach until it is played again and again.
a woman wearing green mascara and rabbit
fur, resisting nothing, delivering two naked bodies
into the other’s mouth, remember my mouth
was full of bullets I let dribble to my living
room hardwood one at a time, blackbirds falling
from the aviary of my jaws.
I love it.
“On the question of Jonah, whales, and the weight of a woman” by by Cassie Premo Steele (Goblin Fruit, Summer 2012)
A triumphant, joyful fat acceptance poem. I want/need more of these.
“The First Flute, Played in Enceladus’s Light: Five Voices,” by Michele Bannister (Jabberwocky 10).
I also have a weakness for work with multiple voices, and this one is my favorite this year.
“A Burnt Lyric” by Sofia Samatar (Goblin Fruit, Summer 2012).
A critique of traditional scholarship, reverberations of women’s lives between the lines… obviously I fell in love with it upon first reading, and have not fallen out of love even after many rereadings.
You’ll prove whole cities from a broken brooch, and blur
what the lost dead know.
Sofia talks more about the poetic tradition with which A Burnt Lyric is in dialogue, at her blog: Obsessed with Kharja controversy .
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
January 28, 2013
2012 Poetry Recommendations by Editors – Erzebet YellowBoy
At the end of last year, I approached a few editors of speculative poetry to recommend five “Best of…” poems of 2012. I asked that the five recommended poems would be written, edited and published by other people, rather than the editors themselves. The various selections so far can be found at the poetry recommendations by editors tag.
Today’s selections have been contributed by Erzebet YellowBoy of Cabinet des Fées, Jabberwocky, and Papaveria Press.
Erzebet’s Recommendations:
“Carrington’s Ferry” by Mike Allen (Strange Horizons, January 2012)
An evocative tribute to author and artist Leonora Carrington. This poem makes you feel like you are inside one of her paintings.
“Nuclear Winter” by Ash Krafton (Electric Velocipede 25)
A short, dystopian poem that fuses longing and love. I chose it for the simplicity of its sentiment.
“Cardiomythology” by Virginia M. Mohlere (Goblin Fruit, Autumn 2012)
The best speculative poems combine the mythic and the personal. Virginia’s eulogy to the heart does just that.
“Under the Asphodel” by Erik Amundsen (Mythic Delirium 26)
I have always loved the way Eric uses words. Here he lures us down beneath where the flowers grow.
“The Last Crone on the Moon” by C.S.E. Cooney (Goblin Fruit, Winter 2012)
This is one of the most beautiful poems I have ever read. There should always be a crone where children are.
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
January 26, 2013
2012 Poetry Recommendations by Editors – Mitchell Hart
At the end of last year, I approached a few editors of speculative poetry to recommend five “Best of…” poems of 2012. I asked that the five recommended poems would be written, edited and published by other people, rather than the editors themselves. The various selections so far can be found at the poetry recommendations by editors tag. At the end of the series (in a few days) I will compile a master list!
Today’s editor is Mitchell Hart, the founder of inkscrawl, which he recently guest-edited. Mitchell is now hard at work editing a new magazine, Through the Gate.
Mitchell’s recommendations:
“Tables Turned” by Adrienne J. Odasso (Stone Telling 8)
A beautiful poem with wording and imagery that is both delicate and terrifying.
“A body that is bold to come” by Rose Lemberg (Goblin Fruit, Autumn 2012)
Well, it’s by Rose (and foxes are involved) – need more be said?
“Torah and Secular Learning” by Bogi Takács (Strange Horizons, October 22)
This poem is indescribable – just go read it.
“Warning Signs” by J.C. Runolfson (Jabberwocky 11)
Witty and rather tongue-in-cheek, yet delightfully eerie.
“Carve Me” by Alex Dally Macfarlane (Mythic Delirium 27)
A poignant, defiant love poem.
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
January 25, 2013
2012 Poetry Recommendations by Editors: Romie Stott
At the end of last year, I approached a few editors of speculative poetry to recommend five “Best of…” poems of 2012. I asked that the five recommended poems would be written, edited and published by other people, rather than the editors themselves.
Today’s editor is Romie Stott, one of the three editors in the Strange Horizons poetry team.
Romie’s recommendations:
Sarcophagus (NE Taylor, inkscrawl) – accomplishes in 2 lines what it takes other poems 40 lines to not accomplish.
The Hunchback’s Mother (Sofia Samatar, inkscrawl) – Unsanitized. Sometimes making things halfway better makes them worse.
For A Kelpie (Ariel Johnson, Goblin Fruit) – The perfect distillation of “be careful what you wish for,” with a killer deadpan.
And now unto my calling… (Brendan Constantine, Abyss & Apex) – A compassionate poem that cuts to the heart of why we want magic, or want science to be magical.
Report From the Provinces (Wayne Miller, Boulevard – the link is to a reprint) – great blend of high and low technology, old and new civilizations; truly feels like an outpost.
If anybody wants to do further reading, Romie’s longlist (which is at least 50 poems) is here.
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
2012 Poetry Recommendations by Editors: Romie Faienza
At the end of last year, I approached a few editors of speculative poetry to recommend five “Best of…” poems of 2012. I asked that the five recommended poems would be written, edited and published by other people, rather than the editors themselves.
Today’s editor is Romie Faienza, one of the three editors in the Strange Horizons poetry team.
Romie’s recommendations:
Sarcophagus (NE Taylor, inkscrawl) – accomplishes in 2 lines what it takes other poems 40 lines to not accomplish.
The Hunchback’s Mother (Sofia Samatar, inkscrawl) – Unsanitized. Sometimes making things halfway better makes them worse.
For A Kelpie (Ariel Johnson, Goblin Fruit) – The perfect distillation of “be careful what you wish for,” with a killer deadpan.
And now unto my calling… (Brendan Constantine, Abyss & Apex) – A compassionate poem that cuts to the heart of why we want magic, or want science to be magical.
Report From the Provinces (Wayne Miller, Boulevard – the link is to a reprint) – great blend of high and low technology, old and new civilizations; truly feels like an outpost.
If anybody wants to do further reading, Romie’s longlist (which is at least 50 poems) is here.
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
January 24, 2013
Poetry Recommendations by Editors – Samantha Henderson
At the end of last year, I approached a few editors of speculative poetry to recommend five “Best of…” poems of 2012. I asked that the five recommended poems would be written, edited and published by other people, rather than the editors themselves.
Today’s list has been contributed by Samantha Henderson, a speculative poet and writer who edits inkscrawl.
Samantha’s notes and recommendations:
These can’t be “best of,” because my reading 2012 didn’t even approach comprehensive; like many busy eaters of poems, I take at the table what I can and remember the particularly tasty. Looking over the list it strikes me that all these poems had an urgency of voice, a compelling need to tell something that attracted me.
In no particular order:
“Thousands of Years Ago, I Made This String Skirt,” by Alex Dally MacFarlane (Stone Telling 8)
The voice-craft of this poem is stunning: the long-dead narrator, an archeological find, is made alive by the urgency of what she can say – at once angry, joyous, exultant, incredulous – if the reader listens instead of looks with a scholar’s limited eye. My bones remember me, she concludes, less defiant than simply aware that no matter the context in which she’s perceived, she simply is.
“Skin Walker,” by Amanda Reck (Goblin Fruit, Spring 2012)
In Reck’s poem a scar – the wear and tear, but also the mapping of the body – becomes a path to the primal: a way of understanding the narrator as a beast (shapeshifter, werewolf, skin walker). Part of that understanding is, I feel, that the beast is a mask and a map in itself, that both disguises and points to the narrator’s willingness to devour experience:
Catch the moon,
if you can. I’ll snatch it back,
clad in this troll’s skin
and eat it like a hot, white heart.
“Memphis Street Railway Co. v. Stratton: 1915,” by Elizabeth McClellan (New Myths, June 2012)
This poem spins an eldritch, dark tale from the bare bones of a hundred-year-old lawsuit:
There is only so long you can stare into a hole
in a darkening street before the mind wanders
to someplace abysmal
“A Tanaga,” by David Edwards (Astropoetica, Summer 2012)
I like good science and science fiction poetry; it’s sometimes hard to find (Sofia Samatar’s 2011 poem “Girl Hours” is wonderful example of crunchy science-y goodness ). It’s often especially hard in find in short form; too often I’m reminded of what Catherynne Valente once called “the Future/I mean/wow” poems. I liked this Tanaga’s clever focus on a simple but not intuitive scientific fact – the moon is always full – especially coupled with the accompanying photo of full, half, and crescent moons.
“bell, book, candle,” by Gwynne Garfinkle (Strange Horizons, March 2012)
I like Garfinkle’s use of popular culture and wry tone in this melancholic take on making the choice to lose one’s magic (you even lose your cat), perhaps because it reminds me of watching Bewitched and wondering why Samantha would ever forgo her magic for mortal love.
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
January 23, 2013
Hacking update, and sales
Dear readers,
As some of you know, roselemberg.net has been hacked recently. I have finished unhacking it today, but the price of this is the loss of my previous website theme/design. I have installed a clean, but basic theme. This is a temporary situation before I settle on a more permanent new look for roselemberg.net, but meanwhile, please bear with me during this transition.
As for sales: as some of you already know, I recently sold two Jewish pieces.
“Likhvod a Strune” (In Honor of the String), a poem, will appear in the second issue of Through the Gate;
“Geddarien,” a short story, will be reprinted in the Journal of Unlikely Architecture.
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
ETA for LJ readers: if you have already congratulated me with these sales in other contexts, please don't do so again :) :) it would feel a bit weird!Duotrope Unblues
scriitor
alerted me to the existence of The Grinder,* a free submission tracker, hosted on diabolicalplots.com. It is promising to be free forever, though it is still in beta and a bit basic-looking. I like David Steffen's work and reviews (on diabolicalplots), so this project looks very promising. If you are so inclined, report your submissions!* I wonder though if the similarity to Grindr is intentional?
2012 Poetry Recommendations by Editors – Alexa Seidel
At the end of last year, I approached a few editors of speculative poetry to recommend five “Best of…” poems of 2012. I asked that the five recommended poems would be written, edited and published by other people, rather than the editors themselves.
Today’s five picks are by Alexa Seidel, a speculative poet and writer who edits for Fantastique Unfettered and Niteblade. Thank you, Alexa!
Alexa’s Recommendations:
* The Vigil by Mike Allen, Goblin Fruit Autumn 2012.
Mike does dark stuff really well, plus this is a horsewoman.
*Qasida of the Ferryman by Sofia Samatar, Goblin Fruit Winter 2012.
I do love a good rhyming poem, and this is a great one, mixing the here and elsewhere, something Sofia really knows how to do.
* Between the Mountain and the Moon by Rose Lemberg, Strange Horizons.
It is beautiful, the language enchanting, and with every read, there is something new to be found between those lines.
* we come together, we fall apart by Lisa M. Bradley, Stone Telling 7.
There is a great story in this poem, and it pulls you into that story, doesn’t let you go until you’ve read it through, start to finish. And you won’t forget about it either.
* Thousands of Years Ago, I Made This String Skirt by Alex Dally MacFarlane, Stone Telling 8.
Because the string skirt feels so familiar.
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
