You don’t have to wait until next November. Speculative poetry appears at any time of year. If you finish with these winners, you can move onto nominees from both full-length and chapbook categories. While the winners list reflects the top three picks, even just this small piece of the nominee list reflects the range of voices of writers from all walks of life with different approaches to specpo. “1:1 Feeding on the living is good, / but feeding on the dead is better. / . . . // 1.6 If you land on the wrist that holds the swatter, consider yourself lucky, not clever. / . . . // 1.8 You only have a few days; stay simple. / . . . // 2.2 know that it is the honor of a fly, / it is its purpose, / to die.” What began as a Kickstarter became an incredibly unique collection. “Like you, it will learn to navigate. Or it will die. . . . Always wash your hands before (and after) handling your mastodon. . . . If you have more questions about your mastodon’s health, talk to a veterinarian familiar with mastodons.” The collection is clever in this way and also informative and, like, deep. Here’s a bit of the more profound from “Self-Portrait as Mastodon Remains.” “the skull has been punched once twice / eleven thousand years later, the paleontologist / fits another tusk into the holes & sees / what damage the mouth can wreak / once upon an epoch, one mastodon bleeds out.” You’ll never look at fossils, particularly mastodons, in the same way. “Transition to afterlife cannot be completed without / a sentient witness to resolve all quantum states of / a soul moving from one plane to another… / The failure to develop artificial intelligence / haunts us all.” For an overview of specpo, you can go here. For previous Rhysling winners, you can go here.
