Poet's Workshop

photo by Gerry Williams

Poet's Workshop Presents: Welcome to the Multiverse: The Science Fiction Poetry Association by Terrie Leigh Relf ©2003 All rights reserved

Last year, I became acquainted with Bruce Boston, Poet, Pushcart Prize Winner for Fiction and Grand Master Award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association recipient, through Promart and then, after the untimely passing of James B. Baker, through Samsdotpublishing.com. Much to my joy, he agreed to review my poetry collection, Lap Danced by the Muse. A few months later, he invited me to join the SFPA. Although I’ve only been a member for a short while, it didn’t take me long to realize how very fortunate I was to be in such excellent company.

Many of SFPA’s members graciously accepted my invitation to be interviewed so that I could offer you, fellow space travelers and word wielders, a long gaze through the telescope. Once you’ve gazed through the lens, I doubt you’ll remain earth-bound for longÊ

Also a former SFPA Secretary/Treasurer (1981-85), Boston said that the organization was founded by noted SF novelist Suzette Haden Elgin in January, 1978. SFPA’s Star*Line and the Rhysling Award were also created at this time "to promote science fiction poetry as a recognizable subgenre of science fiction." Gene van Troyer, past Star*Line editor (1982-84/with Bob Frazier) said that Elgin "noticed that there were several people in science fiction who were, in a haphazard way, trying to fit poetry into the genre, so she decided to do her best to give it a focal point, a newsletter where they could read and write about poetry, and the basic framework of an organization that would support the newsletter. Hence, Star*Line was born."

"Throughout the years," Boston says "the organization has attracted many poets of different persuasions, including surrealists and science poets. Today, its membership consists mainly of SF poets and dark/horror poets." David Kopaska-Merkel, founder of sfpanet, SFPA’s open listserve and publisher/editor of Dreams and Nightmares, estimates there are about 100 active members.

So what is SFPA’s mission?

SFPA’s current president, Scott Green, who is best known as the author of the only reference work on genre poetry, SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY AND HORROR POETRY: A RESOURCE GUIDE AND BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY, says the purpose of the Association "is to promote the use of poetry in SF/F/H markets, act as medium of communications among genre poets and act as a voice for poets in the SF/F/H communities." Furthermore, that "SFPA has been useful as a means to communicate ideas and projects with fellow poets outside of the convention circuit. Star*Line is the tool, along with [sfpanet, the SFPA’s] listserve, by which genre poets communicate among each other as well as serving as still another showcase for the work of genre poets. The Rhysling Awards honor the best in SF/F/H poetry for the year. Both the work of SFPA and non-SFPA members is eligible."

In addition to poetry, Boston adds that Star*Line "includes commentary, letters, and market reports. It is a tool for bringing together the SF poetry community." Horror Poet and Bram Stoker Award Winner, Michael Arnzen, states that it "is one of the longest-running journals in field of SF/F/H poetry. It features poetry by members, but more important to me are the reviews and articles. I love to read what other poets are up to and this journal helps me keep up to date."

The SFPA serves as "a focal point" within the field, says Gene van Troyer, former Star*Line editor and SF fiction writer. "First, it’s a place writers with common interests in poetry can go for sustenance. They’re not alone in their interests -- there are a number of other people who are not just doing it, but who have put a great deal of thought into what they’re doing. Second, at its best, it reminds others in the genre that there is more depth to SF/F than is generally associated with a genreÊ doing this, it -- I should say poetry, here, not really the organization--exerts some small influence on the health of the broader genre."

Mike Allen, poetry editor for Mythic Delirium, seems to think along those lines as well when he says that the SFPA "provides a gathering place for those drawn to the rather offbeat field of genre poetry; essentially it gives our little subculture a voice." When you consider that much of the interaction between members is online, this certainly gives credence to the power of cyberspace to connect peopleÊ

Nine-time Rhysling Nominee and author of the speculative poetry collection, The Heroic Housewife Papers, Sandra J. Lindow "has found SFPA exceptionally helpful over the years--not only in its marketing information and its writers’ workshops but also in the excellent poetry published in Star*Line and the Rhysling Anthologies."

I was thrilled to learn that Lindow has been focusing her energies on which poems and writers "best represent and inform the genre" for the purpose of developing a SF Poetry canon. There will be a panel discussion focusing on creating a canon for SF poetry at the March 2004 ICFA (International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

From my vantage point, being an SFPA member zips you into a zero-G suit and prepares you for escape velocity (i.e., there are excellent networking opportunities). Nebula Award Winner, Mary Turzillo, says: "I’ve been honored to meet some of the American classic speculative poetry writers, such as Bruce Boston, Robert Frazier, Marge Simon, Joe Haldeman, Scott Green, Carolyn Clink, Jonathan Vos Post, Geoff Landis, Ursula LeGuin, Laurel Winter, Terry Garey, Tim Esaias, Darrell Schweitzer, and others who are just as eminentÊAt the World Science Fiction convention in Glasgow, I met some fascinating British poets. I find that the British speculative poetry writers tend to be much more melded into the rest of the poetry community, which I think is good. But SFPA also calls attention to new work by other poets that I might not otherwise see. My husband, Geoff Landis, also a poet, and a very fine one, comments that Billy Colllins’ work is speculative poetry. If this is true, I think it’s a fine development for us and for the poetry world in general."

Being an SFPA member is an enriching experience for a poetry editor, according to Allen. "It makes it easy for me to communicate with a pool of potential contributors should I need to. It’s also helpful to know that there are others out there who share the madness."

SFPA membership also provides valuable networking tools. Kopaska-Merkel has this to say: "When I joined, I knew virtually nothing about genre poetry, marketing, the history of the field, who was active in the field, etc. Over the years I have learned a lot via essays, letters, poems, and reviews that were published in Star*Line. Editing Star*Line myself I learned a lot more. I have gotten some valuable market tips through Star*Line, and even more through sfpanet."

Looking for a "community of like-minded peers"? Kopaska-Merkel says that "the listserv and Star*Line help me stay in touch. Besides all that practical stuff, the conversations have been fun and enriching. I don’t go to many conventions, and most conventions in the South have few SFPA members at them anyway." Arnzen concurs, and adds that it’s a great place to "share information and chat-up poetry topics." He continues to say that "only members of the SFPA know what I’m talking about when I say things like ’Umbral Anthology’ and ’scifaiku’. I also study the poetry that gets nominated each year for the Rhysling Award -- those are contemporary classics that open my eyes to new techniques and recent trends. "

I had my first opportunity to participate in the Rhysling nominations this year, but since I’m new to the process, it’s best to hear from those who’ve been around the galaxy a few times. "The Rhyslings," according to Boston, are "nominated by and voted on by the membership, to recognize excellence in the field. The annual Rhysling Anthology publishes the best SF/fantasy/horror poetry, as recognized by members’ nominations." Kopaska-Merkel adds that the "annual Rhysling awards attract the attention of some non-member poets whose work is nominated, as well as a few others who see announcements about the anthology. The Rhysling winners are usually printed in the annual Nebula winner’s anthology. The Rhysling awards, by the way, are one of the SFPA’s legit claims to fame." (Many of the poets interviewed refer to the Rhyslings as the poetry equivalent to the Nebula.)

Don’t worry; I didn’t let these stellar writers crawl into the nearest wormhole before obtaining coordinates to chart your continued course as a SF/F/H writerÊ

To begin with, current SFPA President Green’s advice is to keep sending your poetry to editors, but only to paying markets. Kopaska-Merkel suggests that "if you are a genre poet and don’t belong to SFPA, you should join. It’s inexpensive and the organization can be rewarding in a variety of ways: contacts, voting for the Rhysling, seeing good poetry, market tips, new friendships, etc."

If you want to write in a particular genre, Arnzen argues that a writer needs to read the work of that genre. "I don’t think anyone is capable of writing good genre poetry without having read a lot of it. That means reading the ’classics’ in the genre (for horror, it might be the Graveyard Poets and the Romantic Poets of 18thC England...followed by Poe and Baudelaire...followed by Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith...and so on). After that comes subscribing to small press magazines like DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES and Star*Line, the Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Tales of the Unanticipated (a semi-prozine, with high production values, surfing the web for sites like SIDEREALITY.COM and STRANGEHORIZONS.COM. All this needs to come on top of knowing the genre itself -- being widely read in the novels and short fiction that established its conventions and watching the films and playing the games and, well, everything to do with SF/F/H. I feel that a good writer has to be a fan of sorts, in the genre that he or she writes within."

Just to show you that I’m not alone in encouraging workshops and critique groups, Turzillo urges this as well: "Try to find a poetry workshop that is sympathetic to your workÊUniversity affiliation is a good clue that it’s a good one. (I hate to say this, since the academy is often not the best place to workshop SF fiction.) In the fiction field, I feel it’s necessary to workshop at least some of your work with a dedicated science fiction workshop. But in poetry, I’ve found that most of my work is quite intelligible to other poets who are not necessarily interested in science fiction, fantasy, or speculative poetryÊYou should go to a workshop in which at least one other person is a better poet than you are. And you should be kind to those who aren’t good -- yetÊ Workshops are more than a learning experience. They also give you your first audience."

What about poetry readings? Turzillo also encourages poets to attend and share their material at readings. I found that we share some of the same sentiments when she says "but for heaven’s sakes, don’t be a jerk -- I hate to watch some clod wait just long enough to read his stuff (sometimes even begging to be early on the agenda) then leaving after his turn is over without having the courtesy -- or the wisdom -- to listen to work by his peers." (I can’t begin to tell you how often I’ve been witness to this phenomenonÊthey can’t "all" have other "more pressing" engagementsÊ).

Other sage words of wisdom from Turzillo and Lindow are that poets need to read a variety of material. Turzillo says "you should read as much poetry as you can. Read the stuff in New Yorker. Read Poetry. Read Asimov’s and Weird Tales. Read the Rhysling Anthologies -- get old ones and read them if you can. You should also read science, because nature hands us poems every day. I have a subscription to Science News and Scientific American, and I read the Tuesday New York Times science section and Journal of the American Medical Association (which actually publishes a poem every issue!). I’m surprised how often ideas for poems jump out of the page at me. The world holds out wonder to us with both hands!"

Bob Frazier, publisher of Speculative Poetry Review, Pushcart Nominee, Rhysling Award Winner, and author of eight poetry books, has advice for poets that he construes as "simple, though the execution takes patience and persistence."

First of all, "Vigorously market individual poems to regional and national publications. Follow the prime system -- send them out, send them out again as soon as they come back, send them until they’re accepted. It helps to have a master list of your target publications, and to go down the list one by one. I suggest this because book publishers heavily favor a collection that’s majority reprinted from source publications. Secondly, "determine target list by exploring POET’S MARKET, published by the same folks as WRITER’S MARKET. Get samples issues of any magazine poetry publisher you can. Thirdly, "follow the same procedures for book publication. Make a master list of publishers based on POET’S MARKET and (this is important) your own survey of poetry books in stores -- note the publishers of any poetry volumes similar in content, theme, etc. as yours. Follow their submission guidelines, keep sending until you get a bite."

Even though you may be a "good poet" who has studied the market, you still need to present your material in a professional fashion. Allen urges poets to "follow standard manuscript format". Furthermore, if you’re going to write in traditional rhymed verse (which he does use from time-to-time in Mythic Delirium), "use craftsmanship. Rhyme should flow naturally from the cadence and language. Ann K. Schwader is a writer who is masterful at this."

He adds that "the more actively involved you become in the world of publishing, the more opportunities will open up for you.

In closing, take Marge Simon’s advice to read this column—and join SFPA!

For your continued reading pleasure, I’ve included the bios and current missions of some of SFPA’s flight crew:

Scott Green, Current SFPA President’s work has appeared in commercial, small press print, ezines, and anthologies such as the following: ASIMOV’S, AMAZING Stories, PERRY RHODAN SF MAGAZINE, ABORIGINAL SF, ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE, DREAMS & NIGHTMARES, Star*Line, MAGAZINE OF SPECULATIVE POETRY, SPACE & TIME, STRANGE HORIZONS, EOTU, and Chiaroscuro. Most recently, he has appeared in the British anthology STAR TREK: THE POETRY. He is best known as the author of the only reference work on genre poetry SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY AND HORROR POETRY : A RESOURCE GUIDE AND BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY published by Greenwood in 1989 and the first entry on SF poetry in a modern SF reference work, namely James Gunn’s NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION published by Viking. Other projects include: THE WILLIAMSON CONNECTION (ed. by Zelazany & Greenberg, Tor) and PROJECT SOLAR SAIL (ed., by Arthur C. Clarke, Tor). He has often chaired panels on poetry at many cons, including several WorldCons. Green is also the Chair of the Poets & Fiction Writers Caucus of the National Writers Union/UAW #1981.

Mike Allen is the author of two speculative poetry collections, Petting the Time Shark and Defacing the Moon, and editor of the poetry journal Mythic Delirium, all published by DNA Publications. Individually, his poems have appeared in Absolute Magnitude, Strange Horizons, Weird Tales and The Best of Dreams of Decadence. He doesn’t just do poetry, though; recently, he had an SF novelette published in Altair and a horror story in Flesh and Blood. With British novelist Ian Watson, he has co-written three poems and an SF novelette. In his "Clark Kent" job, he is a reporter for The Roanoke Times. Mike Allen’s homepage: http://www.wwco.com/~mla/ Mike Allen’s Mythic Delirium page: http://www.wwco.com/~mla/md.htm DNA Publications’ Mythic Delirium page: http://www.dnapublications.com/delirium/index.htm A page selling Mike Allen’s first poetry collection, Defacing the Moon (which made the preliminary ballot for the 2001 Bram Stoker Award) http://www.dnapublications.com/projects/moon.htm

Michael Arnzen contributes the occasional book review to Star*Line, and was SFPA’s Secretary/Treasurer from 1991-2. Although he is mostly known for his Bram Stoker Award winning fiction, he’s been an actively publishing horror poet for about fifteen years. He also edited a well-known anthology of horror poetry called PSYCHOS in 1991. Of recent note, he ran a well-received online poetry experiment on his website, gorelets.com, involving short poetry for handheld computers. His fourth poetry book, FREAKCIDENTS, is coming out this month from DarkVesper Publishing; his fifth, GORELETS, will be out later this year from Fairwood Press. Readers can learn about his work at http://www.gorelets.com.

Bruce Boston served as SFPA Secretary-Treasurer from 1981-85, assisted with the production of Star*Line, chaired the Rhysling Awards, and served on a Rhysling committee. He is the author of thirty-two books and chapbooks, including the novel Stained Glass Rain and the best-of fiction collection, Masque of Dreams. His stories and poems have appeared in hundreds of publications, including Asimov’s Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone, Realms of Fantasy, Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and the Nebula Awards Showcase. His awards include a Pushcart Prize for fiction and the Grand Master Award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. For more information, a bibliography and links to online publications, please visit http://www. hometown.aol.com/bruboston.

Bob Frazier is the author of eight books of poetry, sixty or so published science fiction stories, of which one, "The All-Consuming", a Mutant Rain Forest story authored with Lucius Shepard, reached the final ballot for the Nebula Award for stories published in 1990. Born in 1951, I live on Nantucket Island, working as the art director for Nantucket Magazine, as a scrimshander for my basket-making wife, Karol, and as a painting member of the Artists’ Association of Nantucket--a 500+ member non-profit of which I am president. My mother was an oil painter; my father was a cryptographer who worked on the Ultra Project at Bletchley Park during WWII.

Three-time winner of the Rhysling Award for science fiction poetry given by the Science Fiction Poetry Association (founded 1978). Also winner of the Isaac Asimov’s Magazine Poetry Award, the Odyssey Poetry Award, and the 1999 Anamnesis Poetry Book Award for _The Daily Chernobyl_, published in 2000/2001 by Anamnesis Press, Palo Alto, CA. Other poetry books include Co-Orbital Moons (Ocean View Books), and Perception Barriers (Berkeley Poets Cooperative); as well as collaborative collections with Bruce Boston, "Chronicles of the Mutant Rain Forest" (Horror’s Head Press), and Andrew Joron, "Invisible Machines" (Jazz Police Books). Edited BURNING WITH A VISION, the landmark anthology of science fiction and science poetry (Owlswick Press, 1984); guest-edited issues of the Portland Review, Velocities, and Ice River. Edited (or co-edited) Star*Line, the newsletter of the Science Fiction Poetry Association for a cumulative nine-and-a-half years; and my own poetry magazine Speculative Poetry Review (later TASP) from 1978-1981. Past poems have been published in: Omni Magazine, Galaxy, Aboriginal SF, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov’s SF Magazine, Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, Night Cry, Twilight Zone Magazine, Analog, Pulphouse; Juxta, Berkeley Poets Cooperative, Pacific Quarterly, Publication for the Society of Literature and Science, Ometeca: Science & Literature, Air Fish, Terminal Velocities, Velocities, Ice River, Grue, Space & Time, Arc, Cthulhu Calls, SFWA Bulletin, The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Dreams & Nightmares; MASQUES, POLY, NEBULA AWARDS (several volumes), VERSE & UNIVERSE, SONGS FROM UNSUNG WORLDS, UMBRAL ANTHOLOGY, THE FUTURE AT WAR, DRAGONS OF DARKNESS, TROPICAL CHILL, LIGHT YEARS AND DARK, YEAR’S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR, SYNERGY. Recent works have appeared in Technology in American Literature (University Press), Verse & Universe (Milkweed Editions), Nebula Awards 32 (Harcourt Brace), Intersections (Tor Books) and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Oct./Nov. 2002), and the webzine Strange Horizons (a poem nominated for the Pushcart Prize).

David Kopaska-Merkel has been a member of SFPA since 1986, and is the founder of sfpanet, the SFPA’s open listserv at sfpanet@yahoogroups.com. He served as Star*Line editor for 6 years, and for several of those years put together the Rhysling anthology; he advertises this fact in each issue of my own magazine, Dreams and Nightmares.

His current projects and publications are too numerous to list here, but highlights include: 2003 entries for the University of Alabama’s annual haiku contest; Shoggoths (just out from Sam’sDotPublishing, and available on Project Pulp and Shocklines.com); a book of humorous murder mysteries based on nursery rhymes (soon to be released from Sam’s Dot); a chapbook of collaborative poems that he wrote with Kendall Evans; and recent or forthcoming work in Strange Horizons, Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Mythic Delirium, Star*Line, et al.

Sandra J. Lindow’s experience as a SF poet began over twenty years ago after attending poetry readings at WisCon and MiniCon. She realized that her own poems fit with the kind of poetry she had been hearing. When she began reading her poetry, other writers gave her suggestions on where she could market them. Soon, she was sending them out with personalized cover letters that explained that she was new in the field and would appreciate feedback. She developed relationships with editors through letters and by meeting them at Cons. Soon, she was publishing her poetry and being nominated for awards. Around that time, she also joined the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Since then, her poems have been nominated for the Rhysling nine times. In 1990, her collection of speculative poetry, The Heroic Housewife Papers, was chosen by the Council for Wisconsin Writers as the best poetry collection published in that year.

Marge Ballif Simon is former president of the SFPA (1996-2000). Prior to this, she was an editor for Star*Line, digest of the SFPA (1993-96). Her poetry has appeared in numerous professional magazines for over a decade. Won the Rhysling for Best Long Poem 1995, multiple Rhysling poem nominee, 1990 to present. Marge will be listed in the Marquis Who’s Who 2003. Her newest collection, "Artist of Antithesis" (www.miniaturesunpress)is t/b/p 2003. Her poetry collections include "Eonian Variations", Dark Regions Press, 1995 and "Night Smoke", Miniature Sun Press, 2002. These poems are collaborations with her husband, Bruce Boston. She also illustrated this collection which is currently under consideration for a Bram Stoker Award.

Mary Turzillo is a fiction writer with a Nebula to my credit and am working on another Mars novel. I do a lot of poetry, and I’m a trustee in the local Poet’s League of Greater Cleveland. I founded the Hamsters, Cleveland’s SF writing workshop. I have poetry in Asimov’s, Star*Line, Weird Tales, Pandora, Tales of the Unanticipated, New Altars, Mindsparks, some non-SF venues and elsewhere. "Dash" (1996) got a second in the Rhyslings. I was on the final ballot for the British SF Association Ballot. I’ve been on the Rhysling ballot and placed in the top ten in the Asimov’s poll. I have a chapbook, Galileo’s Blindness and a cold press mini book Lawn Party. I’ve published scholarly criticism and a lot of fiction.

Gene van Troyer is a former editor of Star*Line and has been a member of SFPA since 1978. He is primarily a fiction writer whose stories have appeared occasionally in major science fiction magazines such as Amazing Stories, Asimov’s SF Magazine, and various anthologies. He has been an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America since 1972.

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