The 2022 Dwarf Stars Anthology contents have been finalized, which constitutes the shortlist for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association‘s Dwarf Stars award. The poems were selected by editors Adele Gardner and Greer Woodward.

The award recognizes the best speculative poem of 1–10 lines published in the previous year, and is designed to honor excellent scifaiku, tanka, cinquains, and other types of short poems that tend to be overshadowed in SFPA’s Rhysling Award competition.

Brief biographies of the contributing poets are here. A copy of the Dwarf Stars anthology is included with SFPA membership. It is also available for purchase here.

SFPA members have until August 31 to vote their favorite short-short poem from the anthology and determine who will receive the Dwarf Stars Award.

Some poems have a title, others are identified by a phrase from their first line placed in brackets:

ANTHOLOGY TABLE OF CONTENTS

(120 poems)

• [across eons] • Barun Saha • Star*Line 44.4
• [adding ellipses] • Hifsa Ashraf • Frogpond 44:3
• [after a downpour] • Anatoly Kudryavitsky • Shamrock Haiku Journal 45
• After All This Time • Robin Mayhall • Scifaikuest print, February
• [all] • Michael J. Galko • The Heron’s Nest XXIII:4
• [all this rain] • Christina Sng • Star*Line 44.1
• —And They All Lived Together— • Andrew J. Wilson • Star*Line 44.1
• [as galaxies form] • Wendy Van Camp • Eccentric Orbits: An Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry, Vol. 2, ed. Wendy Van Camp (Dimensionfold Publishing)
• [between her breasts] • Tyler McIntosh • Scifaikuest print, November
• [bewitching hour] • Francis W. Alexander • Otoroshi Journal 1:2
• Black Beak (a Nonet) • B. Sharise Moore • Fantasy Magazine 65
• Black Swan • Sharmon Gazaway • Octavos, January 28
• Blow • Holly Day • Star*Line 44.4
• [brother beamed] • Guy Belleranti • Scifaikuest print, August
• the burning river • Hal Y. Zhang • Uncanny 43
• Callisto Dreaming • Mariel Herbert • Star*Line 44.2
• closer • Matthew Daley • Star*Line 44.3
• The Closet • Jennifer Loring • Constraint 280, December 30
• [cold soup] • Roland Packer • NOON: journal of the short poem 20
• Colony • Jamal Hodge • Penumbric V:4
• [cricket song] • Joshua Gage • Wales Haiku Journal, Summer
• Damsel in Distress Redux • Marsheila Rockwell • Star*Line 44.3
• [dark sky country] • Deborah P Kolodji • horror senryu journal, Oct. 6
• [Down in the river] • Denise Dumars • Star*Line 44.2
• [Earth fills the window] • Stephen C. Curro • Star*Line 44.1
• Epitaph for the Old Ones • Maxwell I. Gold • Oblivion in Flux: A Collection of Cyber Prose (Crystal Lake Publishing)
• [exoplanet fossil] • Greer Woodward • Scifaikuest print, February
• Expect Them to Arrive with Song • Jordan Hirsch • Octavos, June 17
• Exsanguination • Lena Donnarumma • The Sirens Call 56
• Fatherless • Roger Dutcher • Star*Line 44.3
• Feline Reinforcements • Adele Gardner • Scifaikuest print, August
• Fetch • Gerri Leen • Departure Mirror 2
• The Final Fairy • Anna Cates • Canary 52
• [fingers stroking spines] • Joshua St. Claire • The Starlight Scifaiku Review 1:1
• [freeze-dried] • sakyu • Scifaikuest print, August
• Funeral for a Star • Yuna Kang • Strange Horizons, 6 September
• fury • Lee Murray • Tortured Willows: Bent, Bowed, Unbroken by Christina Sng, Angela Yuriko Smith, Lee Murray, and Geneve Flynn (Yuriko Publishing)
• Future Portrait of Dark Matter • Gene Twaronite • NewMyths.com 55
• ghost writer • Hemapriya Chellappan • horror senryu journal, July 19
• [Globules of light] • Katerina Bruno • The Starlight Scifaiku Review 1:1
• A Haiku Howdunit Murder Mystery • John H. Dromey • Star*Line 44.4
• [half-heard whispers] • Tracy Davidson • horror senryu journal, February 1
• Hard Return • Michele Mekel • Eccentric Orbits: An Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry, Vol. 2, ed. Wendy Van Camp (Dimensionfold Publishing)
• The Heart of the House • M. J. Holmes • The Horror Zine, August
• [a hissing leak in the airlock] • LeRoy Gorman • Star*Line 44.2
• Hitting the Red Line • Herb Kauderer • Scifaikuest print, February
• [horror movie] • Mark Gilbert • horror senryu journal, June 23
• [I’m trying to sleep] • Marcus Vance • Star*Line 44.2
• [in a deserted garden] • Padmini Krishnan • Shamrock Haiku Journal 46
• In Memoriam: Spring • Dan Bornstein • Star*Line 44.4
• [Jonbar hinge] • Thomas Tilton • Scifaikuest print, February
• [a kind of afterlife] • Roberta Beary • Haiku Dialogue, Ad Astra: star clusters
• [kohl stick] • Vandana Parashar • Poetry Pea 4:6
• [landing at the] • Brian Garrison • Star*Line 44.1
• [left behind on Earth] • semi • Scifaikuest print, August
• [left my late father’s] • David C. Kopaska-Merkel • Star*Line 44.1
• [long-dead stars] • Lev Hart • Haiku Dialogue, Ad Astra: distant suns
• [longest] • Julie Schwerin • Cold Moon Journal, June 13
• Love on Halloween • DJ Tyrer • The Sirens Call 55
• [magic mirror] • Susan Burch • Scifaikuest print, August
• Mexico City, 2101 AD • Juan Manuel Pérez • Eye to the Telescope 41
• [The modified plants] • Debby Feo • The Fifth Di…, June
• [moon walk] • Valentina Ranaldi-Adams • Cold Moon Journal, June 24
• [moonscape] • Kat Lehmann • Frogpond 44:3
• Mother • Merie Kirby • Strange Horizons, 20 December
• Narcissus Now • Diane Jackman • Octavos, March 11
• Niche • Jason P. Burnham • Constraint 280, December 30
• Night Spell • Deborah W. Sage • Eternal Haunted Summer, Winter Solstice
• Nü Wa and Earth • Ellen Huang • K’in Literary Journal, June
• [the octopus dreams] • Pippa Phillips • Cold Moon Journal, August 9
• [the offworlders didn’t] • Roxanne Barbour • Medium.com, December 28
• Older Red Riding Hood in the Woods Behind Her House • Carol Berg • Gingerbread House 47
• [One touch] • Doug Gant • Scifaikuest print, February
• Orbital Mechanics • Ian Goh • Star*Line 44.3
• [pad 39] • Topher Dykes • Temple, ed. Iliyana Stoyanova (British Haiku Society)
• Past Equinox • Ann K. Schwader • Unquiet Stars (Weird House Press)
• [peaceful Halloween] • ayaz daryl nielsen • Haikuniverse, October 31
• Penny Dreadful • Stephanie Staab • Ligeia, Spring
• The Perils of Using Traditional Practices in Modern Cults • Marcie Lynn Tentchoff • Polar Starlight 2
• Poem with Lines from my Son • Jen Stewart Fueston • Bracken VIII
• [pouring rain] • Cherie Hunter Day • Acorn 47
• Prince Charming Sleeps with the Fishes • Robert Borski • Octavos, February 17
• Reflections on the Rescue of a Fawn • Shelly Jones • The Amphibian Literary Journal 1
• Riding Down a Dream • Melissa Ridley Elmes • Star*Line 44.4
• [riding lightning] • Akua Lezli Hope • Eccentric Orbits: An Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry, Vol. 2, ed. Wendy Van Camp (Dimensionfold Publishing)
• Riverside • Avra Margariti • Octavos, March 4
• Sasquatch Burial Ground • Raven Jakubowski • Star*Line 44.1
• [scratched] • Kelli Lage • Haikuniverse, November 18
• [seeking] • Lauren McBride • Eye to the Telescope 42
• Slam • Jean Gallagher • Bowery Gothic V
• Small Blue Poem • Lorraine Schein • Subterranean Blue Poetry IX:VI
• [Something remains] • Rebecca Lilly • is/let, September
• Straw Maidens • Meg Smith • Black Petals 94
• Strings • Deborah L. Davitt • SFPA Poetry Contest
• [sturgeon moon] • Nick Hoffman • Eye to the Telescope 42
• Sunburn Affairs • Imogen L. Smiley • Lucent Dreaming 9
• Sunita Soars • Tony Daly • Utopia Science Fiction 2:4
• [superstring] • Helen Buckingham • NOON: journal of the short poem 20
• [Take Your Child to Work Day] • Ngo Binh Anh Khoa • Scifaikuest print, November
• [tattoo inked on your arm] • Matthew Wilson • Star*Line 44.2
• Ten Squared • RK Rugg • Illumen, Summer
• There Goes the Security Deposit • Sarah Cannavo • Star*Line 44.1
• [theremin] • Debbie Strange • failed haiku: A Journal of English Senryu 6.65
• Tracks • Bruce Boston • Asimov’s Science Fiction, November/December
• [two belief zones are ahead] • Barbara Candiotti • Star*Line 44.2
• Two Mountains • Brian Rosenberger • The Sirens Call 53
• Typographical Error • John Kaprielian • Riddled with Arrows 4.1
• [under the earth] • Tia Haynes • Otoroshi Journal 1:3
• [the Universe] • Alan Summers • Haiku Dialogue, Ad Astra: impermanence
• [unzipping] • John Hawkhead • horror senryu journal, September 10
• Vampire Selfies • Alan Ira Gordon • Star*Line 44.1
• Watchmaker • Carolyn Clink • Polar Starlight 2
• [water lily …] • Francine Banwarth • The Heron’s Nest XXIII:1
• [we flip through] • Colleen Anderson • Potter’s Field 7, ed. Tyree Campbell (Hiraeth Publishing)
• what they left behind • Richard Magahiz • Star*Line 44.1
• What Trees Read • Mary Soon Lee • Uppagus 48
• [white balloons] • PS Cottier • AntipodeanSF 276
• White Flag • Tim Gardiner • Otoroshi Journal 1:1
• [widdershins] • Kirsten Cliff Elliot • horror senryu journal, May 10
• [Zen garden] • Adjei Agyei-Baah • Shamrock Haiku Journal 46