Cover: Emerald Sun Set © 2017 Steven Vincent Johnson
Editor: F.J. Bergmann
Layout: F.J. Bergmann & Robert Frazier
Production Manager: F.J. Bergmann
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Wyrms & Wormholes: NOTHING TO SEE
It’s been a great five years, guys (carefully tiptoeing around the issue of Earthling politics, of course). Steering the Star*Line cruise vessel was an unparalleled delight; it’s allowed us to meet, virtually and otherwise, a stellar group of poets from all over this planet, without whom these pages would not have become tangible manifestations of their collective imaginations, and allowed me, individually, to hone editing and design skills that have benefited me personally and professionally. Vince, you’re going to have a blast.
We are gratified by what may be a record number of Dwarf Stars nominees from Star*Line! Pay close attention to all the announcements starting on p. 7.
—F.J. Bergmann, Star*Line Editor
Editor's Choice Poems
"On Words that Cannot Be Pronounced," by Robert Dawson
The name of a certain minute just after dawn
has no letters at all:
do you remember that minute?
There is a word with no vowels
that strangles anyone who tries to pronounce it.
There is a five-syllable word that will summon an angel
who will teach the summoner all wisdom;
the first four syllables, alas,
summon a demon who immediately
destroys the summoner.
There are words (and for each person
these are different) that act as Gödel sentences,
distracting the mind to silence.
There are the words I need to say to you.
"Final Metaphysical Exam," by J. J. Steinfeld
I failed to answer the first three questions correctly
multiple choice dealing with history, deities,
and the longing for piety
even with a lifetime of study
and more crib notes
than the rest of the overcrowded classroom combined
the next three questions
I had little difficulty with
despite a momentary power outage
and ambiguity overwhelming experience
they delved into absurdity, meaninglessness,
and magical snowstorms on distant planets
and for the final three questions
I guessed wildly
hoping for the best
fearing the worst
they delved into beginnings, endings,
and everything that comes after
then left the classroom
and ran toward the mystery
of silent and wordless questions.
"I See the Same Trees," by Bevin Moeller
I see the same trees, those you avoid in sidestep,
The forest your organization finds.
You run at night over dirt. I wait to learn the spear,
Rib where only your committed grow the shadow plant.
I’ve seen the shadow maps of its habitat.
You are a who in cape cloud over the cornfield you run through.
Seed keys gnaw the way we know time.
Fear in the dark does not seem darker, maybe grayer,
Juniper you turn into sternum and run from.
I stand still in the invisible and wait to feel.
Your cooks flame forest in their eyes, flower-shaped scars
Lighting their beauty as they stare at the fire and prepare.
"Under the Plumed Serpent’s Temple," by Ann K. Schwader
With a bulb-twist, dusk. Pyrite ignites galaxies on walls already receding to dream. Constellations pulse new myths against his mind. Heartbeat of the People. Cadence of emergence. Forty feet underground under open sky, the archaeologist staggers. Shadow coils tighten his chest. Fragile shattering.
These are not his stars. There is no way home.
fingerprints
on the outside
night pane
"How to Invent Constellations," by Todd Dillard
What we see, we see
and seeing is changing
—Adrienne Rich, “Planetarium”
Before, you balanced the universe
on an apex of curved glass, the velvet black
a telescope-trapped stage
dizzied with motion and light—Aquarius
filling the Dippers’ mouths,
the way the wingbeats of Cygnus disturbed
Orion’s aim, Cassiopeia’s perfect coifs.
Now when you recall those constellations
it’s their bleeding you remember first,
how they elongated in the ship’s window,
stretched into strings of light
thin and fragile as latticework,
until all that was left were their purple ghosts
receding into your eyes. Then, faster than
light, you arrived, disembarked. Nothing
on this new planet seemed more alien
than its vast, unnamed sky.
"PTSD," by Alicia Cole
We’re still soldiers. The damage
is just different. I didn’t crash
land near the Medusa Fossae
Formation physically. The surface
of my brain is also fretted,
ready to tune a sharp note,
a cerebellum blast against
the enemy. They’re slender,
psy-wraiths. They prefer
the glacier and sand dune areas.
Sick opposites like their mouths.
Do you remember when they
played friendly, their darkness
visible on every vid? There’s
something wrong, I said. They
shivered forms at just the wrong
moment. These are the things
you have to be a soldier to see.
I survived three campaigns
without an injury, knew I was
slipping when my eldest child
appeared wraith-like. The Fossae
became my mother’s breast littered
with shrapnel, every mental
movement littered with pain.
I try to watch
the sunrise every morning
now, stay mostly in the light.
"Unseen mirror," by Deborah L. Davitt
Dark light shines in:
unseen planets, invisible stars;
people there, ghosts
passing through us,
dissolving us through.
Passing ghosts there people
stars invisible, planets unseen:
in shines light-dark.
Full Table of Contents
Departments
- Wyrms & Wormholes * F.J. Bergmann
- President’s Message * Bryan Thao Worra
- From the Small Press • Herb Kauderer, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Daniel C. Smith
- Stealth SF: Accepting the Worst Is Usually for the Best • Denise Dumars
Art
- Among the Ruins * Marge Simon
- Spined Worm * Jack Foo
Poetry
- On Words that Cannot Be Pronounced * Robert Dawson
- A.I. * Jonel Abellanosa
- “Anthropocene” * Ann K. Schwader
- “time travel blues” * Deborah P Kolodji
- A Cold and Empty Place * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
- “arrival day” * Christina Sng
- “amber-dotted skies” * Daniel R. Jones
- The Loneliest Incarnation * Selena Martens
- “let’s move to the moon” * Robin Wyatt Dunn
- “after last year” * Ann K. Schwader
- Final Metaphysical Exam * J. J. Steinfeld
- Rocket Fuel * Diane Severson
- Learning to Read Tea Leaves * Denise Dumars
- First Angel * Jennifer Crow
- Orchards of Desire * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
- Maybe Next Time * Lisa Timpf
- Milliways * Glenn A. Meisenheimer
- Neo-Heian (Dis)missive * Tamara K. Walker
- The Rest of the Story * Lindsey Duncan
- A Fairy Tale in Two Acts * Marsheila Rockwell
- “time travel democracy” * LeRoy Gorman
- Demolition of Condemned Stellar Housing * John C. Mannone
- “meteor trail” * Susan Burch
- “stars rained down all night” * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
- Report * John W. Sexton
- The Invisible Man: An Emblematic Poem * Ruth Berman
- I See the Same Trees * Bevin Moeller
- extraterrestrial encounter * LeRoy Gorman
- A Net to Snare Pegasus * Beth Cato
- Subspace Real Estate * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
- “two hours” * LeRoy Gorman
- Dustbin * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
- “manifestos” *Tamara K. Walker
- Two Rounds at Least * Gretchen Tessmer
- The Wildwitch: a sestina * Alena Sullivan
- The Light Raft * John Richard Trtek
- Nebula Isis * Sheikha A.
- “spray-on Insta-Skin” * Lauren McBride
- Hello * Sarah Shirley
- The Kingdom’s Apprentice * Cas Blomberg
- Among the Ruins * Marge Simon
- “exhaling deeply” * Christina Sng
- “Watch Time Travel’s Worst First Dates” * M. X. Kelly
- Under the Plumed Serpent’s Temple * Ann K. Schwader
- Port of Call * John Richard Trtek
- “one flap” * Christina Sng
- School for Witches * DJ Tyrer
- “day moon” * Christina Sng
- The Electric Fish That … * Simon Mermelstein
- “mothers split open” * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
- The Zombie Poet * Simon Mermelstein
- In the Light of My Astral Lamp * Wade German & David C. Kopaska-Merkel
- Dormant Volcanoes * Tamara K. Walker
- “pet cemetery” * Christina Sng
- Afternoon of the Galactic Emperor * John Richard Trtek
- “spellbook spent” * Christina Sng
- How to Invent Constellations * Todd Dillard
- The First Rishis * Dean Kostos
- Some Things Overlooked * Daniel Ausema
- A Visit to Earth * Michael Collins
- “parents disappointed” * Lauren McBride
- The Next Generation * Vanessa Kittle
- PTSD * Alicia Cole
- “Platinum doubloons …” * Edward McNamara
- Suicides Leave Notes * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
- “time crystal” * Angelo B. Ancheta
- The Telepathy Treatment * Sheikha A.
- “astral snow” * Tamara K. Walker
- Transmissions from Trillig * Lee Garratt
- Bespeaking: Riddles * Mary Soon Lee
- “down by the river” * William Landis
- Epitaph for a Minor Demon * Herb Kauderer
- Brothers Under the Skin * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
- Epitaph for a Spaceman * Herb Kauderer
- Epitaph for a Dragonslayer * Herb Kauderer
- “longtemps” * Robin Wyatt Dunn
- “of all our shared childhoods,” * c. evans
- Even so it’s the darkness, * Simon Perchik
- If Maps of a Flat World, … * Laura Madeline Wiseman
- If I Ask * Cas Blomberg
- The More Things Change * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
- Blind to the Tardigrade * Herb Kauderer
- Redheaded Stepchild * Bobbie Lee Lovell
- “midnight” * Christina Sng
- Untrue Orbit ( hexagram Hsieh ) * m.c. childs
- Neighbors * Ken Poyner
- “translated” * Greer Woodward
- Engineering * Chris Galford
- Unseen mirror * Deborah L. Davitt