Online Issue Contents

• Wyrms & Wormholes

• Editor's Choice Poems
  • Tree of Swords by Deborah L. Davitt
  • The Seraph and the Six of Swords by Mindy Watson
  • Gilgamesh Tomb Found in Iraq by Michael Kriesel
  • Shovel by Sara Backer
  • Schrödinger Is Considered for Publication by David Barber
  • [writer by day] by LeRoy Gorman

• Full Table of Contents

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Wyrms & Wormholes

Greetings, all! To those of you in the northern half of Terra, I hope you are staying warm. And to those in the antipodes, in the southern hemisphere, stay cool! And to those of us on other planets or in other dimensions, I hope you stay well: cool or warm, as you wish.

Speaking of cool, Bryan Thao Worra will tell you about something very cool in his president’s message later in this issue: the SFPA’s 40th anniversary. Here at Star*Line we are celebrating the 40th by featuring cover artists who are also poets. Our cover artist this time is Akua Lezli Hope, who also has poetry in this issue. I asked Akua in particular to celebrate as well Black History Month (February in the U.S.). We actually began this in the previous issue: we honored Native American Heritage Month (November in the U.S.) with cover art by Yaqui poet Anita Endrezze.

About the poetry this time, you’ll see some formal poems: a pantoum and a cascade by Deborah L. Davitt, a rondeau redoublé by Mindy Watson, gwawdodyn by Stephen Wittenberg Gordon, sonnets by Frank De Canio and Ann K. Schwader, a limerick by Lauren McBride, a fib by David C. Kopaska-Merkel, a spiraling abecedarian by Kathleen A. Lawrence, and a double abecedarian by Michael Kriesel: the first letter and last letter of line 1 are A, then line 2 begins and ends with B, and so on, using sometimes sound rather than letter on both ends… very interesting how Mike makes both ends of the Q line work. But even cooler, dig this: Mike’s abecedarian is in decasyllabics—each line has ten syllables!

To you poets, keep writing wonderful poems and send them to Star*Line. To everyone, I hope you enjoy the poems in this issue. And stay warm. Or cool. But happy. Happy New Year, and happy 40th! Cheers!

—Vince Gotera, Star*Line Editor

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Editor's Choice Poems

"Tree of Swords," by Deborah L. Davitt

The tree stood, gnarled and contorted,
just below the barren snowline,
perched precariously between boulders
split by its ancient, knotted roots.

Wind howled down from the glacial peak,
knife-keen and cruel; the sun
reflected from the snow, pain-bright;
clouds scudded the blue horizon, indifferent.

Pinned to the ancient tree, a man hung,
naked, pierced by seven swords,
run through at shoulders, arms, legs and groin;
his blood had frozen in red icicles
connecting him to the ground.

As black-winged crows landed
on the branches above and beside him
he somehow lifted his head
to regard the ravens who’d arrived
at the banquet of his life
through dim and dying eyes.

“Take what you will,” he whispered,
racked. “The table is set, the cutlery
provided. You need only feast,
and when my life is spent,
winter will finally end.”

The crows moved to their feast
as indifferent as the clouds and the sun,
but when they’d torn out his eyes
and his entrails, a warm wind
from the south drove them away.

The blood-ice began to melt,
then the glacier above, filling
empty creekbeds with snowmelt,
and for the first time in millennia,
the ancient tree bloomed
in spite of the swords that had pierced
even to its wizened heart.
And in autumn, it yielded fruit.

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"The Seraph and the Six of Swords," by Mindy Watson

(a rondeau redoublé)

My seraph, enter. Here’s the deck you bade
Me fly beyond the Gates to fetch. We’ll kneel
Beneath this verdant tree’s unstinting shade,
Unearthing all your heart desires. Let’s deal.

I’ve drawn your future card. Does this reveal
Some truth to you: this Six of Swords I’ve played
That paints a boatman on a blade-pierced keel?
My seraph, enter. Here’s the deck you bade

Me burnish to a shine. You’ve always stayed
Our cosmic course, but now you wish to steal
Away by sea upon this ship you’ve made
Me fly beyond the Gates to fetch? We’ll kneel

Beseechingly before His judgment’s steel
For this infraction. Think before you trade
Celestial wings for shawl. Return to heel
Beneath this verdant tree’s unstinting shade.

What’s that? This passenger, the mortal maid
Our card depicts, denotes your soul’s ideal?
And tedium’s degraded our crusade,
Unearthing all your heart desires? Let’s deal

Then with the Throne when need decrees. Conceal
Your downcast head; pin back your wings arrayed
In fear. I’ll steer this vessel’s rigid wheel
And whisper, when we reach the port portrayed,
“My seraph, enter.”

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"Gilgamesh Tomb Found in Iraq," by Michael Kriesel

O, it turns out the sonofabitch and
narcissist is immortal after all . . .
—Karl Elder, Gilgamesh at the Bellagio

Abuzz with conspiracy theories, a
blurb of truth escapes the internet’s web:
cloned in secret, Gilgamesh’s epic
drama resumes. He returns from the dead.
Expedition led by Germans finds the
fabled city, Uruk. The Persian Gulf
gets invaded one month later, nothing
heard again. Same way the UFO crash
in Roswell spawned one headline. FYI
Jesus is coming—He’s one pissed-off judge.
Know O Prince, King Gilgamesh shall come back
like Arthur, but this returning royal
murders mankind's future with Nephilim,
New World Order orchestrating return
of this demigod to the throne, also
priest, star of oldest known poem, hell’s imp,
Qliphoth’s knight. Doom’s clap sounding from Iraq
resonates thy greatness, Son of Sumer,
son who saw the abyss, crossed the abyss
to defeat death. The U.S. Government
unearthed your remains, found (no Enkidu)
viable alien DNA. Grave
warriors seed Armageddon’s shadow.
X-Files becomes real. We fight a phoenix.
Yea, though I be the only one to pray,
Zeus save us from extinction’s losing buzz.

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"Shovel," by Sara Backer

The shovel stalks me
rocking forward left-right
on its blade.

I wear disguises, dodge
into doorways. Sometimes shovel passes,
sometimes waits.

I hire clippers, rake, and fork
to spy on shovel.
They report nothing.

I suspect shovel wants to whack me—
one hard blow to my occiput.
I’m jealous of those who plant daffodils.

My shovel is sinister,
rusty,
persistent.

On rainy nights, I dream
shovel deepens my grave.
My dream fork says dig.

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"Schrödinger Is Considered for Publication," by David Barber

You will hear from us within thirty days.
Meanwhile, you are neither here nor there,
someone either hates or loves it, you do
not know. Be content with the mystery.

The Copenhagen Interpretation states
until you hear from us you are both published
and in the bin. The Many Worlds version
sees one of you in print and the other

spiked. Guess which world you find yourself in.
Wigner, the Editor’s friend, thinks he saw
Schrödinger borrow some lines from Einstein.
Will it make a difference if he tells?

While the coin spins, it is hard to know
if it is heads or tails, or just the price
someone pays for a self-addressed envelope
an observer has slit open, and reads.

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"[writer by day]," by LeRoy Gorman

writer by day
werewolf by night
my elemental shift from clause to claws

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Full Table of Contents

Departments

• Dragons & Rayguns * Vince Gotera
• President’s Message * Bryan Thao Worra
• From the Small Press • Herb Kauderer
• Stealth SF: In Transparent Petropolis • Denise Dumars
• XenoPoetry: Japanese Tanka • Hiroyasu Amase (translated by Natsumi Ando)

Art

• The Golden Cloak • Marge Simon
• Into the Light • Christina Sng
• Superkitty vs. Octopus • Jack Foo
• Stilt Runner • Denny E. Marshall

Poetry

• How Assumption Defeated the Unisex Invaders • Ken Poyner
• Tree of Swords • Deborah L. Davitt
• [distinct clang] • Christina Sng
• Failing Masterpiece • Bruce Boston
• Trying NOT to Make a Sound • Lauren McBride
• Filling Out Forms • Melanie Stormm
• The Timeport Stops • David Barber
• [the new models] • dan smith
• Nightshade • Steven Wittenberg Gordon
• [time travel lodging] • LeRoy Gorman
• The Golden Cloak • Marge Simon
• The Seraph and the Six of Swords • Mindy Watson
• White-Nose Syndrome • Robert Borski
• Dar Lugal • Deborah L. Davitt
• Notes of a Rebel Princess to Herself • Maya Chhabra
• Golden-Red Sunrise with Sea Monsters • Kendall Evans
• My Pet Cthulhu • Josh Brown
• New Planet Landscape 7 • Ken Poyner
• memory • Brittany Hause
• Interplanetary Poet • John Grey
• [dark smoke] • Roxanne Barbour
• Changeling • David C. Kopaska-Merkel
• Hot on fhe Trail of Martians • Donald Raymond
• Honoring the War God • Deborah L. Davitt
• Ship Down • Vonnie Winslow Crist
• [galaxy birth] • Roxanne Barbour
• [Rustless metal shell] • Brian Garrison
• End of Fairy Tales • Matthew Wilson
• If You Would Seek a Seeress • Rebecca Buchanan
• [endless loop] • Greg Schwartz
• [afraid] • Angelo B. Ancheta
• [whiskey tasting] • LeRoy Gorman
• [Murdering invisible man] • Matthew Wilson
• [communications satellites] • Roxanne Barbour
• Nightmare on Elm Street • Frank De Canio
• Song of Shadows • Casey Clabough
• After Ash • Jan Steckel
• The City Was Missing • Salik Shah
• Green Men Don’t Talk • Sara Backer
• A Progressive Reader Sighs in a Barnes and Noble New Release Bay • Richaundra Thursday
• Gilgamesh Tomb Found in Iraq • Michael Kriesel
• Clock Flies • John Caulkins
• His Seed • Akua Lezli Hope
• New Stars • David C. Kopaska-Merkel
• dogsledding • Brittany Hause
• Track 60 • Benjamin Schmitt
• [en route] • Angelo B. Ancheta
• [outside the chicken joint] • Greg Schwartz
• The Stars Sing • Beth Cato
• Venusian Arachnoids • David F. Shultz
• Keep On Till Morning • David C. Kopaska-Merkel
• Universal Immigrants • Ann K. Schwader
• Vipers • Efren L. Cruzada
• On Hunting Werewolves • K. S. Patterson
• Shovel • Sara Backer
• Contest at Olympus Mons • Matthew Wilson
• Schrödinger Is Considered for Publication • David Barber
• [at the center] • Tamara K. Walker
• Animatronic Aliens • David C. Kopaska-Merkel
• Haetae Moon • Jessica Jo Horowitz
• Black Hole Haberdashery • Sandra J. Lindow
• [microgravity peculiarities] • Roxanne Barbour
• [out damned spot] • dan smith
• [zombie apocalypse] • Greg Schwartz
• [flickering flame] • Christina Sng
• Thor at the Skateboard Park • Gary Every
• The Nostalgic Time Traveler • John Richard Trtek
• In the Folklore of Brain Worms • Richard Weaver
• Everything started with the Big Bang, they say • Juanjo Bazán
• safari • Brittany Hause
• An Indigo Sheath • Nora Weston
• Cinderella Continued • Kathleen A. Lawrence
• Tupilak in Failed Séance • Joshua Gage
• Eloise • Robert Borski
• [writer by day] • LeRoy Gorman
• [lost stick insect] • Tamara K. Walker
• [pancake-shaped disk] • Roxanne Barbour
• How It Pleasured Me • Akua Lezli Hope