Pogo Stick, Issue II

Read the extended review here. 

Shades Fantastic by Bruce Boston, 2006

Read the extended review here. 

Mythic Delirium, Issue 14, Winter/Spring 2006

Read the extended review here. 

Dark Wisdom, Issue 8, Spring 2006

Lee Clark Zumpe's "The Feeble Hands of Mortal Men" discourses
satisfyingly upon that staple of horror literature, Man's tendency to
mess around with "things better left alone."  SH

Ann K. Schwader's sonnet "The Guardians of the Mound" invokes
Lovecraftian horrors, paying tribute to HPL's collaborator Zealia
Bishop. The skilled melding of the traditional poetic form and images
that manage to be at once vivid and delicate paints a stark picture of
an ancient, forbidden horror in the American Plains. My favorite poem
of this issue.  SH

In Bruce Boston's "A Geologist Braves These Torched Lands," the
titular character explores the remains of a cityscape destroyed by
nuclear war. Witnessing "metal, flesh, bone" melded into the
landscape, he leaves the scene haunted, and so do we.  SH

Medusa, edited by Steve Sneyd (anthology)

Read the extended review here.

Petting the Time Shark and Other Poems by Mike Allen (chapbook)

Read the extended review here.

Separate Destinations by Kendall Evans and David C. Kopaska-Merkel (chapbook)

"Parchment Found in an Antique Book"

A clone experiences the past in quite intimate detail and relates the resulting change in his perceptions in this intriguing poem.  EM

"Of Time and the Teeth of the Black Dog"

A dark and evocative exploration of emotionally skewed science and personal loss, this poem leaves the reader sad and wondering.  EM

"Immortal's Lament"

In this well-wrought poem, Evans and Kopaska-Merkel depict a distant future where the line between life and death has become both blurred and futile.  EM

"Variations on the Songs of Seraphim Downloaded to a Hybrid Medium"

Mouse-whisker effects, alien observations, and crop circles form just a few of the bizarre and intriguing underpinnings of this fine science fantasy poem.  EM

"Migration"

An artificial consciousness is dispersed into the cosmos in this evocative and structurally intriguing poem.  Well worth a careful and appreciative read.  EM

"Fecundity"

In this dark and vivid poem, the primordial ooze is reincarnated with hyperevolutionary power by scientific and accidental means, and the world we know vanishes beneath nonhuman limbs.  EM

"Walking the Dog"

No stalker, human or otherwise, will dare accost the woman walking the peculiar and powerful dog depicted in this clever and entertaining poem.  EM

"Reefs"

In this vivid narrative poem, an ancient collective intelligence is awakened by a pair of visitors, one human and one not, with fantastic transformational results.  EM

"Patchwork Land"

A questing man and his Appaloosa mount wander a physically and temporally fractured landscape in search of someone both known and unknown in this evocative and mind-bending poem.  EM

"Separate Destinations"

A fitting finale to the chapbook, this companion piece to "Migration" depicts an artificial intelligence journeying in a microbial way through the universe, as it wonders if it will ever encounter its sibling consciousness again.  EM

Not One of Us Issue #34, September 2005

"In Sight of the Seasons" by Sonya Taaffe

Mythic deities and seasonal change intertwine/interchange in this fascinating and image/symbol-rich poem.  Sonya Taaffe offers a dense and satisfying read with this piece.  EM

"Street Oracle" by Lee Clark Zumpe

Lee Clark Zumpe evocatively and sadly portrays the dark and desperate lives of true seers in modern society in this finely turned poem.  EM

"The Thin Men" by Kristine Ong Muslim

In this poem, mythic/comic/nightmarish beings called the thin men are drawn with dark and stick-figure mystery by Kristine Ong Muslim -- a strong piece.  EM 

"The Eyewish Station" by Mike Allen

Mike Allen depicts in vivid detail a process by which guilt and horror-glutted sight is painfully scoured away to be replaced by something that sounds like an improvement but is really only a sad illusion.  EM

"You Don't Exist" by Kent Kruse

Full of post-violence imagery, "You Don't Exist" describes a physical and mental flight from an immediate and bloody past.  Although smoothly written and intriguing, I found myself needing to know more of the past to appreciate the depicted present.  EM

"Aranea" by Mike Allen and Sonya Taaffe

A lifeweb/relationship-tapestry woven by two beings (people? gods? both?) is vividly and imaginatively depicted in this intriguing poem by Mike Allen and Sonya Taaffe.  EM

"Autumn, or Fall" by Jennifer Gomoll

Jennifer Gomoll explores the post-night life reality of a woman never given the opportunity to ride a pumpkin-turned-carriage or dance with a smitten prince -- quite well done.  EM

"Gods with Big Heads" by Karen R. Porter

A clever and vivid portrayal of divine sleight of hand, "Gods with Big Heads" left me grinning after several appreciative reads.  EM

(Editor's Note:  As the author of "The Word God," I did not review it.  EM)

The Ruined City by David C. Kopaska-Merkel (chapbook)

Read the extended review here.

Dreams and Nightmares 72 September, 2005

"Moon over Innsmouth" by K. S. Hardy

A one-sentence ode to the Lovecraftian mythos, this evocative poem is both concise and potent.  EM

"Creek Moon" by Gary Every

Creek Moon explores the sun-moon creation myth with simple yet effective language, but the inconclusive ending left a bit too much to the imagination for my taste.  EM

"When Winter Dreams of Summer's Realm" by Mikal Trimm

Mikal Trimm portrays Old Man Winter in a unique and amusing way in this clever and smoothly written poem.  After reading this piece, you will not think of the Riviera or winter in quite the same way again.  EM

"A House with Many Openings" by Marge Simon

If this evocative and sad poem was ever considered a speculative piece, current events have pulled it forcefully into present reality.  Well worth reading.  EM

"After Medusa" by Elizabeth Keogh

Sibling rivalry, alienation, and potentially fatal attractions are explored by Ms. Keogh in three emotionally evocative stanzas.  An intriguing riff on the Gorgon myth.  EM

"After Part of a Line From Lost in the City" by Alan Catlin

Another one-sentence poem, "After Part of a Line From Lost in the City" is a long and vivid fever dream of African disease-induced death and dark magic-mutated resurrection.  Worth a careful read.  EM

"THOSE WHO LANDED, SURPRISED TO DISCOVER THAT ZOMBIES HAD TAKEN OVER THE PLANET" by Michael A. Arnzen

Michael A. Arnzen uses the deceptively simple device of listing beings and objects returning or arriving from their journeys to Earth to leave the poem's reader feeling equal parts horror and amusement.  EM

"Nursling" by Angelyne Bosch

In "Nursling" maternal instinct transcends undeath in this disturbing and vivid poem.  A darkly compelling read.  EM

"Shadow and Sun in the Shadow City" by Bruce Boston

Atmospheric and intriguing, this poem explores the nature of shadow in a city named after it, as well as the unusual effects left by the same on the city's population.  I particularly liked the lines "Shadows so long and hallowed/they encompass time and space/in their lightless embrace."  EM

"Lust Sulks: A Sin-quain" by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff

In this poem, Marcie Lynn Tentchoff offers a clever play on the Seven Deadly Sins where each sin is personified, and six of them are analyzed by Lust and found . . . wanting.  EM

"FOUR REASONS WHY I WANT TO GO WITH YOU" by Wendy Rathbone

"FOUR REASONS WHY I WANT TO GO WITH YOU" is a darkly fanciful poem of yearning set in a future where Earth is failing as a life-sustaining planet.  The lines "Beyond the sun/your black rook ship/rocks in a dream of/galactic November" are particularly evocative.  EM

"fossil" by Chris Ambrose

In this intriguing poem, Chris Ambrose depicts the fossilization of a being from a scientist-fantasist's, rather than a strict paleontologist's, point of view, to good effect.  EM

"the broad strokes" by W. Gregory Stewart

W. Gregory Stewart explores the idea that we are largely alone in the universe in this casually toned but deeply themed poem.  Although quite clever, the lines "then nothing much until scum-in-a-puddle/left the sea/and learned to walk and borrow money" felt out of sync from the rest of the poem's progression -- almost as if the lines comprised the poem's original core that the poet liked too much to alter after the poem developed further.  EM

"We can't sleep 'til morning" by Terrie Leigh Relf

An entertaining and clever exploration of the activities and motivations of the restless dead, this long poem is well worth the time it takes to read.  The second to last stanza is quite strong in a whimsical way and might have made a better ending for the poem than the actual last stanza does.  EM

"White-Snow, A Tale With Elizabeth Bathory " by cythera

This poem is a dark variation on the Snow White tale that is written solidly for the most part but with a fascinating last line that pulls the poem from interesting to arresting.   EM

Scifaikuest (Online Issue) -- August 2005

Read the extended review here.

The Fortean Bureau Issue #31 -- September, 2005

"The Werewolf Poet Laureate" by Greg Beatty

Does the Werewolf poet have to eat the Cowboy, Amish and Inuit poets?  Yes, because it's his nature to consume.  He's a politician and a corporation all in one.  He ate Walt Whitman and Alan Ginsberg.  He might have eaten Greg Beatty.  SH

"A Stitch in Time" by Elizabeth Keogh

The subject of this poem is nothing new and has been done to death in a thousand works of speculative fiction:  the narrator tries, without success, to go back in time and prevent the death of her lover.  But Keogh resurrects this theme in her beautifully nuanced poem with its delicate rhyme structure and demonstrates that no matter how many times a story's been told one can always tell it again and find another layer of meaning or, in this case, emotion.  SH 

"Pumpkin" by W. J. Sander

The narrator of “Pumpkin” is insane; the author seems glib.  Living on -- and writing about -- an all orange planet can do that to you:

...all those hues of orange are pleasant enough. 
after about two months... it's Hell. 

I've been here two years.

But on a second reading, it's not so glib, and the narrator, although insane, seems entirely reasonable.  How much sense does it make, after all, to define things Pumpkin in terms of things Earth?

Worth a third read.  Fourth, even.  SH 

"Black Eggs from the Sky" by Kevin James Miller

The truly Fortean poem in this issue, “Black Eggs from the Sky,” explores a precipitation of black tadpole eggs that fell on Haiti in 1786.  Miller posits that this event might have been an alien visitation rather than simply an odd earthly event explainable by updrafts or waterspouts.  In the 18th century the Haitians responded with gentleness; the poem wonders if we would do so now, and leaves us to consider the consequences on our own.  SH

"Thoughts, From a Sin Eater" by Pam McNew

In this evocative and thought-provoking poem, Ms. McNew writes of sin as something physical that can literally be eaten.  The lines,

Sin is small black larvae,
squirming among the vegetables,
maybe in the mashed potatoes.
perhaps among the green beans,

are creepily concrete yet maintain the metaphorical aspect of sin in human life.  The poem goes on in a bizarre and affecting description of the sin-eating process that warrants several careful and appreciative readings.  EM

(Editor's Note:  Ms. Henderson could not review Ms. McNew's poem because they belong to the same poetry writing group.)

Strange Horizons September 5, 2005

"Swan Fetish" by Erin Donahoe

Ms. Donahoe depicts an intriguing variation on the swan-wife myth with this short and tightly written poem.  I found her use of simple language an effective highlight of the piece's central idea.  EM

Strange Horizons August 29, 2005

"Return Engagements" by Greg Beatty

This poem toys with the '50s "aliens are after our women" trope by introducing modern female sexuality into the mix with eyebrow-raising results.  The first stanza hiccups a bit due to the ambiguous placement of lines regarding bronze bras, but the poem reads smoothly otherwise.  EM

Strange Horizons August 22, 2005

"Waiting for the Daemon" by Pamela Steele

Artful lines like "Outside, hard frost has fallen/from the mouth of the moon" carry this poem, but to my mind this piece does not differentiate itself from past works on this topic.  EM

Strange Horizons August 15, 2005

"Natalie" by Heidi Garnett

A fanciful exploration of Natalie Wood's lasting impact on the male cast of a particularly famous movie, this poem, although engaging and evocative, relies on the cinema knowledge of its audience to carry its message home.  I particularly enjoyed the line "moved to the big house, an integrated community."  EM

Strange Horizons August 1, 2005

"The Great Gnome Escape" by Duane Ackerson

As a clever and fun depiction of ambulatory garden gnomes, consumer culture, and UFOs, this poem works well, but I had an internal logic consistency issue with the line "the grass now appears almost scorched."  It might just be me, however.  EM

Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet No. 16 Summer 2005

"village of wolves (the backdrop for a fairy tale)" by Michaela Kahn

Ms. Kahn paints layer upon evocative layer of a (perhaps even the) proto-fairy tale village in this poem, meshing the mundane and the fantastic/surreal with panache.  I loved the irony of the fifth stanza, and I feel that it would have been best to end the poem at that point, as I found the last stanza/line superfluous.  Nonetheless, I highly recommend this piece.  EM

"Fall Comes to the Central Valley of California" by Michaela Kahn

An intriguing and vivid metapoetical work, "Fall Comes to the Central Valley of California" is a playful yet edgy experiment with narrative point of view in verse form that unexpectedly and effectively yanks the reader into the poem experience.  As she did in "village of the wolves . . .," Ms. Kahn contrasts the normal with the fantastic with finesse, which serves to deepen the already strong impact of the piece.  EM

"The Monster Wore Reeboks" by Sandra Lindow

Ms. Lindow uses the vehicle of an amusing play on the Frankenstein tale to explore international labor relations and idealism in this clever and sometimes silly poem.  Who knew reindeer needed labor advocacy?  EM

"A Hermaphrodite at Menopause" by Sandra Lindow

This poem amusingly conveys the subject described in its title.  Not a graphic piece by any means, it still leaves vivid, if not necessarily desirable, images in the reader's mind.  EM

"Scorpions" by Chris Fox

Mr. Fox adroitly plays with perceived reality in this surreal poem of human-language-scorpion intersections, but the last stanza's switch to a sudden, relationship-oriented focus dulls the poem's edge for me.  EM

"An Afternoon in England in Winter" by Ursula K. Le Guin

In this short but dense poem, Ms. Le Guin weaves a convoluted and emotionally dark mesh of time and beach-related images and their connection to a relationship that has ended in sea-sodden death.  EM

(Editor's Note:  "Scenes" by Chris Fox and "Watching the Fractal Set" by Ursula K. Le Guin are both strong, metaphorical poems but not, to my mind, speculative pieces.  Therefore, I did not review them.  EM)

Mythic Delirium Issue 12, 2005

"Genetics" by Charles Saplak

This poem relates the effect that our genetic history has on our everyday activities. Each stanza begins with the word "genetics" and also moves forward in time. Thus the first stanza is talking of "subatomic patterns" and the last stanza, "genetics more recent." The first few stanzas have trouble spanning the gap; however, by the end, good points are made about the effects of our genetic destiny on our everyday behavior, "I'm slapping sense into my son/my own sad father shoulders me aside/his ways ghost my skin." This is a scary view into how little control we sometimes have over our own selves.  JM

"Wordhoard" by Ursula K LeGuin

In many ways, the title says it all. While the speaker of this poem is a dragon describing her hoard, the poem shows sheer delight in the power of words: "Gross hoarder, hot-eyed miser...." This poem explores a fantasy theme but uses a very traditional ABAB rhyme scheme with the last line of each stanza being much shorter than the first three. This form often becomes quite dull, but the passion of the dragon for her hoard carries through and the final short line is enough to give the rhythm a gentle swing.  Most delightfully, it gives reason to the mindless hoarding of gold that has become such a cliché: "The one I gave would prove to be/My own, my Egg." This line occurs in the middle of the poem, and it turns the tables on the traditional relationship between gold-hoarding dragon and human adventurer. The dragon's hoarding becomes not greed but love and the final line, "I keep that one," has an unexpected sweetness.  JM

"Eelgrass and Blue" by Sonya Taafe

This poem is actually a series of five interlinked poems similar in form to Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." Although the accompanying illustrations look more like a deck of cards, the names of the cards and the action of laying them down are that of a tarot deck: "Three of Scallops," "Five of Driftwood," "Eight of Whales," etc. By using the numbered format, the poet is freed from the obligation of keeping each poem in the same form and mood; however, the oceanic imagery ties the piece together. The poems describing each card do not feel like fragments, but they do need one another for completion --  the final poem crashing down like a wave to give the rest meaning.  JM

"The Damsel's Unicorn" by Yoon Ha Lee

A painful breaking of myths, this poem takes the reader through some of the sadder, unrecorded fairy tales: the princess who went unrescued, the unicorn that, however miraculous, still cannot open doors.  Though the princess is left despairing of "happily ever after" and the unicorn, "cannot slay the sorcerer keeping you captive," there is still hope. The one thing the princess is promised is that she will not wait alone, though she may wait in vain for rescue. This poem opens a door to a new kind of pain, but offers a balm at the same time.  JM

Star*Line May/June 2005

"9" by Karen Porter

"9" is a short and evocative mathematical fantasy revolving around the number nine.  I found the lines, "prowling hunger/under a pale/amphibian eye" particularly intriguing.  EM

"Magicians" by Lida Broadhurst

Lida Broadhurst's poem evokes a vivid depiction of environmental and emotional elements in the lives of dark magicians.  The line "By dragons dying in dwindled depths" caught and held my reading eye for several appreciative passes.  EM

"Eleven signs that you are in a handbasket" by David C. Kopaska-Merkel

An amusing and clever play on old expression, this poem builds to a well executed conclusion with a final line that portrays a mixture of horrified realization and comic plaintiveness.  EM

"Protective Custody" by Steve Sneyd

In this haiku, Steve Sneyd shares an evocatively strange snapshot of humans held on an alien world.  EM

"In a Revolving Door" by John Amen

John Amen paints an interesting picture of human reactions to the the start of an intergalactic war.  I particularly liked the line "Economies sag like laundry lines."  EM

"She Who Wears a Jade Skirt" by Lee Clark Zumpe

In "She Who Wears a Jade Skirt," Lee Clark Zumpe explores Aztec myth with evocative language and lush sensory images perfectly suited to his divine topic.  EM  

"Lunar Beach" by Greg Beatty

In "Lunar Beach," Greg Beatty utilizes creation myth style verse to excellent effect in depicting the hopes of Lunar settlers as they transform a sterile plain into their Promised Land.  EM

"Beauty in the Beast" by Bruce Boston

In this poem, Bruce Boston uses potent two-line stanzas to reflect the embrace of the savage by humanity.  EM

"It Depends if You Believe the Witness" by Steve Sneyd

An intriguing poem requiring serious effort to decipher, this piece uses strong if disconnected language and imagery to comment on the contrasts between mankind and alienkind.  EM

"Event Horizon" by Kurt MacPhearson

Minimalist yet rich in imagery, this poem effectively uses astronomical concepts to explore the attainment of enlightenment.  EM

"Mist and Shadows" by Helen Marshall

In "Mist and Shadows," Helen Marshall contrasts the modern with the mythic to evocatively depict the impact of a shadow supplanting its caster.  EM

"Plains of Zeetmar" by Steve Sneyd

Steve Sneyd uses the haiku form in "Plains of Zeetmar" to depict an alien world's flora and fauna with brief yet powerful language and resonant imagery.  EM

"Sacrifice" by Deborah Cimo

In all senses dark, this brooding poem tastes of blood and carves disturbing images on the reader's consciousness.  EM

"Virgo" by Sonya Taaffe

Sonya Taaffe depicts a wintry and violent goddess walking her icy realm in this beautifully written poem.  EM

"Awakenings: Cryogenic Dream #2 " by Roger Dutcher

In this poem, Roger Dutcher paints a grim and effective picture of an endless cycle of failed space exploration and cold sleep.  EM

"Two Haiku" by Byron Kerman

In these two haiku, Byron Kerman evocatively explores artificial life through human and robotic senses.  EM

Like creativity running—or swimming—amuck in our subconscious, these white whales are at once endangered and dangerous.  SH

"Seasons" by Jess Horowitz

The reflective, sense-heavy narrative flow of “seasons” almost lures the reader into complacency, but one feels an underlying menace.  One is right.  SH

 "Eurydice" by Helen Marshall

This Eurydice is terribly aware of the failings of her Orpheus.  Wonderfully spare.  SH

"Sunday Silence" by Robin Mayhall

The narrator of “Sunday Silence” lives with a very strange family every day of the week.  Robin Mayhall’s witty poem could have been trimmed a couple of lines; nevertheless it is a treat, especially if you like spiders and cats.  SH

"Fair Day" by Samuel Minier 

A carnival disaster caught in the moment just before it becomes terrible.  The garish sense-images of the first stanza are particularly good.  SH

"Hot Air and Hooks" by Lon Prater

Lon Prater provides carefully chosen and vivid scraps of information one smooth, character-driven stanza at a time until the reader and the last introduced character understand quite well how the poem will end.  EM  (Editor's Note: Ms. Henderson is in a writing group with Mr. Prater and, therefore, did not review this poem.)

"Horror Stories" by Mildred Tremblay

Your big sister Ellen tells you scary stories.  But it’s just a story, isn’t it? It couldn’t be real.  Of course it couldn’t.  SH