Since 2024, the SFPA has coordinated a series of virtual poetry readings with a Valentine's Day theme by current SFPA members.
Curated by a volunteer editor during the months of January and February each year, recordings of accepted poems are then hosted on the SFPA website, along with art and poet biographies, if desired.
Current Coordinator
The 2026 Valentine's Day Reading series is coordinated by Jessica Lucci.
Jessica Lucci is a poet and steampunk author who writes about modern issues while maintaining historic integrity. All of her books promote multi-faceted LGBTQ+ characters. Her poetry collections, “How Can I Steal a Purse,” and “Graveyard Shift,” have been featured in the front window at the Grolier Poetry Bookshop, the oldest poetry bookshop in America.
Her haiku was included in an installation commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Minuteman Bikeway. More haiku have been installed in Arlington, MA and Lexington, MA.
Her poetry was included in the “Moody Street Art Walk” in Waltham MA, 2023.
Her micro-poetry is in “The Edible Anthology of Poetry Greatest Hits” edited by Peter Payack.
She makes her home in Waltham, MA, where she serves as president of the Waltham Arts Council, on the board of directors of the Waltham Museum, board of directors at Waltham Pride Fest, a committee member with Riverbeat, the producer of Watch City Readers, and a member of the Waltham Historical Society.
Lucci travels across the USA, mostly in New England, to appear at steampunk festivals and renaissance faires.
She is thrilled to connect with readers, and can be found across social media platforms.
"[what a mess]" by Nicholas De Marino
This poem first appeared in View From Atlantis, Issue 130: Love Eternal and Infernal, Oct. 25, 2025.
Nicholas De Marino is an advocate of old-fashioned bow-and-arrow-based romance. He is firmly against arming winged babies with TASERs. Read more at https://nicholasdemarino.blogspot.com/.
"Cupid And Psyche" by LindaAnn LoSchiavo
LindaAnn LoSchiavo, native New Yorker and award-winner, is a member of British Fantasy Society, HWA, SFPA, and The Dramatists Guild.
Titles published in 2024: "Always Haunted: Hallowe’en Poems" [Wild Ink], "Apprenticed to the Night" [UniVerse Press], and "Felones de Se: Poems about Suicide" [Ukiyoto].
Released in November 2025: "Cancer Courts My Mother" [Prolific Pulse Press] and "Vampire Verses" [Twisted Dreams Press].
Book Accolades earned: Elgin Award (3rd place) for "A Route Obscure and Lonely"; Chrysalis BREW Project’s Award for Excellence and The World’s Best Magazine’s Book of Excellence Award for "Always Haunted: Hallowe’en Poems"; the Spotlyts Story Award from Spotlyts Magazine for "Apprenticed to the Night"; the Chrysalis BREW Project’s Seal of Excellence and the Voyages in Verses Book Award for "Cancer Courts My Mother"; and the Excellence in Literature Award and The Bookish Reader's Pick Award for "Vampire Verses: Poems."
Her nominations include: a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Rhysling Award, Dwarf Stars, Eric Hoffer Award, and CLMP’s Firecracker Award.
Her craft essays have appeared in Writer’s Digest, Authors Publish Magazine, Behind the Pages, Beyond Craft, Roi Faineant, SPARREW Newsletter, and elsewhere.
Blue Sky: @ghostlyverse.bsky.social - - - X: @Mae_Westside
URL: linktr.ee/LindaAnn.LoSchiavo
Substack: https://substack.com/@greenwichvillagepoet
YouTube: LindaAnn Literary: https://www.youtube.com/@lindaannliterary8035
"Death and the Musicians" by S. T. Eleu
This poem first appeared in Rambunctious Review, 2010.
Raised in Vegas then exiled to Chicago, S. T. Eleu (they, them – gay, femme) has been a musician, teacher, and consummate Vulcan. Autism is their default universe, and, though sparsely populated, is a glorious place to escape to, write in, and display an impressive collection of action figures. Their most recent publications were in AntipodeanSF, View from Atlantis, Altered Reality Magazine, and Confetti.
"Foiled" by Anna Cates
This poem first appeared in Abyss & Apex, January 1, 2026.
Dr. Anna Cates teaches college and graduate level writing, literature, and education online. She has published a variety of books (poetry, fiction, and drama) through www.cyberwit.net, prolificpress.com, redmoonpress.com, and wipfandstock.com. Her full-length poetry collection Love in the Time of Covid won an Illumination Book Award. She resides in Wilmington, Ohio with her two beautiful kitties.
"Husband Be Glad" by Mary Turzillo
Mary A. Turzillo won a Nebula award ("Mars Is to Place for Children" 1999) and two Elgin awards (Sweet Poison, with Marge Simon, 2014, and Lovers & Killers, 2012, solo.) Her novel Mars Girls (Apex) features two young Martian women rescuing themselves from Face-on-Mars crazies. Her aggressively purring story collection Cosmic Cats & Fantastic Furballs appeared March 2022 from WordFire. Her latest poetry collection, Cast from Darkness, a collaboration with Marge Simon, appeared in 2023 from Mind's Eye Publications, 2023.
"It Is Too Hot" by Peter Payack
Peter Payack was the first Poet Populist of Cambridge Massachusetts (2007–2009). He's an acclaimed poet and writer with multiple appearances in The Paris Review, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Cornell Review, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Creative Computing, and the Boston Globe. He has published over 1,500 poems, stories, prose poems, photos, and articles. His work has been anthologized and he has published 20 books, including No Free Will in Tomatoes and Blanket Knowledge, both from Zoland Books. Peter was an Assistant Professor Communications at The Berklee College of Music, and taught Technical & Scientific Communications at The University of Massachusetts Lowell for over 30 years where he was awarded the 2010 Haskell Award for Distinguished teaching. Payack has also been a visiting artist at The Center For Advanced Visual Studies at M.I.T. You can read more about Peter at peterpayack.com.
"A Lasso Around It" by M. Frost
This poem was previously published in Star*Line 30.5 in 2007 and The Women of Myth (Island of Wak-Wak) in 2025.
The poetry of M. Frost appears in Strange Horizons, Star*Line, Eye to the Telescope, Dreams & Nightmares, and many others—with chapbooks Cow Poetry (Finishing Line Press) and The Women of Myth (Island of Wak-Wak), as well as a collaboration with artist-brother (Constellation). Read (and hear) more at mfrostwords.com.
"A Lovelorn Martian Contemplates Earthrise" by KB Nelson
KB Nelson is a Canadian writer whose poems have appeared in over two dozen journals and anthologies. Her chapbook Muse of Natural History was published in June 2021. KB has resided from coast to coast in Canada, in Arizona, and in New Zealand. She has won awards in both poetry and short fiction including the 2017 Cedric Literary Award for poetry. KB currently lives, writes and hikes the beaches and forests on the unceded territory of the Sechelt First Nation on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast.
"Mother Nature" by M. Frost
This poem was previously published in Aoife's Kiss in 2008.
The poetry of M. Frost appears in Strange Horizons, Star*Line, Eye to the Telescope, Dreams & Nightmares, and many others—with chapbooks Cow Poetry (Finishing Line Press) and The Women of Myth (Island of Wak-Wak), as well as a collaboration with artist-brother (Constellation). Read (and hear) more at mfrostwords.com.
"Otherworldly Dragon" by Leticia Toraci
Poem read by Diane Severson Mori.
Leticia Toraci is a Brazilian freelance writer, poet and artist who lives with her
husband, her two sons and a moody cat in South Germany. She has a degree in Master of Food Science from the University of Reading, England. She participated in theater in Campo Mourao, Brazil, where she recited several of her poems.
She has also had art exhibits in Regensburg, Aschaffenburg and Munich, Germany.
Together with other authors, she has published three short stories in three
anthologies, "The Dragon's Rocketship Presents: The Ship's Log", "Sins of the
Future (Sins of Time #2)" and "Writers in Lockdown".
"Pantoum For Hearts Parsecs Apart" by Kate Boyes
Kate Boyes is a speculative nature writer who focuses on alternate histories and near-future environments of Earth, Mars, and several choice exoplanets. Her poetry has appeared in a number of anthologies, including Climbing Lightly Through Forests, Bark & Bone, Poetry Showcase X, The Poetry Distillery, and Lycanthropicon. Her novel, Trapped in the R.A.W., was published by Aqueduct Press, and her 2024 collection of political horror poetry—GRUB: The Misadventures of a Miscreant and His Associates on Alt-Earth—arrived just in time for the strangest U.S. election cycle ever.
"Persephone Tells Her Side" by Geoffrey Landis
Geoffrey A. Landis is a NASA scientist and science-fiction author known for both fiction and poetry. His writing has appeared in more than twenty languages, and his poetry has been published in magazines and anthologies ranging from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction to The Journal of Humanistic Mathematics. He is the author of two poetry collections: Iron Angels from VanZeno press, and The Book of Whimsy from NightBallet, as well as the novel Mars Crossing and the story collection Impact Parameter (& Other Quantum Realities). He's won awards including the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction and the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s Rhysling award for poetry. He lives in Berea, Ohio, with his wife, author and poet Mary Turzillo, and his tiger cats Samurai and Scaramouche.
"The Poison Dart Frog Prince" by Katherine Quevedo
This poem first appeared in SpecPoVerse , December 31, 2025.
Katherine Quevedo was born and raised near Portland, Oregon, where she works as an analyst and lives with her husband and two sons. She is the author of the Elgin Award-winning chapbook The Inca Weaver’s Tales (Sword & Kettle Press) and the fantasy novella Thrice Petrified (Of Metal and Magic Publishing). Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Rhysling Award and appears in Asimov’s, HWA Poetry Showcase, and elsewhere. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys watching movies, playing old-school video games, singing, belly dancing, and making spreadsheets. Find her at www.katherinequevedo.com.
"Synthetics First Tear" by Wendy Van Camp
Wendy Van Camp writes science fiction, fantasy, historical regency, along with poetry and non-fiction essays. Her poetry and essays have appeared in Indie Author Magazine, Star*Line, Planetside, and Worlds of IF. She was editor for the sci-fi poetry anthology series Eccentric Orbits, inaugural editor and creator of Anaheim Poetry Review, and a guest editor for the SFPA's Eye to the Telescope. Wendy was named Anaheim Poet Laureate during (2022-2024). Currently, she works at her woman-owned imprint Indigoskye Press, an editorial and writing coach business. She lives between a writing desk and a painting easel in Anaheim, CA.
"You Like Flowers" by Miguel O. Mitchell
Miguel O. Mitchell, Ph.D.(he/him) is a Black speculative poet, SFF author, visual artist, and retired chemist. In addition to Star*Line, his poems have appeared in the magazines Amazing Stories, Dreams and Nightmares, Eye to the Telescope, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, and Scifaikuest, and the anthology Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2022). He has also published two poetry collections: Periodic Table of Alien Species (Elements 1-86) (Barnes & Noble Press, 2021) and Surrealia (Gnashing Teeth Publishing, 2024).
Submission Guidelines
Submissions to the Valentine's Day Readings page are open until February 14th. Please email your submissions to valentines@sfpoetry.org.
- SFPA's Valentine's Day Poetry Reading shares our enjoyment of speculative poetry with a broader audience, increases awareness of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, and promotes the individual poets who take part.
- All SFPA members are welcome to submit up to four audio files of themselves reading a thematically appropriate speculative poem.
- Please note that images and poetry generated wholly or in part by generative AI will not be accepted, per the SFPA's statement on generative AI.
- Reprints are allowed. Please provide the name of the publication and date of first appearance (If your work is available online, please include the link).
- No payment. SFPA acquires one-time electronic rights for audio and images. (Please note that for the purposes of Rhysling Award nominations, posting on the SFPA poetry page counts as publication.)
- Please send all material by February 14. Accepted work will be added throughout the months of January and February.
- If you are uncomfortable reading aloud or are unable to make the audio recording yourself, contact the editor or ask someone else to read your poem for you and provide the name of the reader.
- QUESTIONS? Email valentines@sfpoetry.org regarding submissions or the Valentines Day page with the subject line "SFPA Valentine's Day."