The 2023 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 David Kopaska-Merkel and Miguel O. Mitchell, Ph.D.

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.

The cover art is by Pamela Gordimer.

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

(105 poems)

[abducted by aliens now I feel needed] • Ken Slaughter • failed haiku 74

[absentmindedly] • Nick Hoffman • Scifaikuest, February print

AI can’t believe it’s not human • Ken Slaughter • failed haiku 74

[ancient archives] • Helen Ogden • failed haiku 74

Another Day, Another Year • Ann Christine Tabaka • American Diversity Report, 3/20

As Slow as Starlight • Kim Whysall-Hammond • Frozen Wavelets 7

Aurum • Mariel Herbert • The Sirens Call 60

[bedtime story…] • Sankara Jayanth Sudanagunta • horror senryu journal, 12/12

Believe the Graves • Rasha Abdulhadi • The Deadlands 16

A Bird in Hand • Shelly Jones • Octavos, 2/21

Bureaucratic • Mahaila Smith • Long Con Magazine, October

Bury Me Under Fallen Stars • Victoria Nations • Autumnal Equinox: Harvest, 9/14

[butterfly effect] • Colleen Anderson • Utopia, June/July

Cancer Surgery on Half a Shell • Mariel Herbert • Carmina Magazine, September

The Changing Face of Fear • Lisa Timpf • Eccentric Orbits 3, ed. Wendy Van Camp (Dimensionfold Publishing)

[charged particles] • Deborah P Kolodji • Eccentric Orbits 3, ed. Wendy Van Camp (Dimensionfold Publishing)

[chill Halloween evening] • xeno-unit (teri santitoro) • Scifaikuest November online

[cocktail hour] • Greg Schwartz • Star*Line 45.4

[a corpse] • Anna Cates • Five Fleas, 10/9

The Cosmologist Dreams of Venus • Aaron Sandberg • Space & Time Magazine 142

The Cover-Up • Randall Andrews • Star*Line 45.4

Curse of the Clock • Joe Haldeman • Asimov’s SF, November/December

Dark Secret Garden • Max Bindi • The Horror Zine, October

Date Night • Melissa Ridley Elmes • Spectral Realms 16

[deep-space mission] • Ngo Binh Anh Khoa • Scifaikuest, May print

[a derecho] • Debbie Strange • Prune Juice 38

[diameter pi the lake solves for moon] • Kat Lehman • Frogpond 45

[discarded pie] • Keith Evetts • horror senryu journal, 10/4

Dreamcaster • Angel Leal • Space & Time Magazine 142

The Dwelling • Lorraine Schein • Space & Time Magazine 141

Earthlings Among Us • Michael McCormick • Star*Line 45.2

Eldritch Mother • Melodie Bolt • Under Her Skin: A Women in Horror Poetry Showcase Vol. 1 (HWA)

Excerpt from a Proposal for the New City • Alyssa Lo • Strange Horizons, 11/14

The Explorers Return • Goran Lowie • Utopia, October/November

Fifth Tongue • Eva Papasoulioti • Silver Blade 53

[finally able] • Matthew Wilson • Dreams and Nightmares 121

Finest particles’ dance • Yuliia Vereta • Star*Line 45.1

For Khione • Shelly Jones • Trouvaille Review, 3/14

[Four-faced doll] • PS Cottier • Antipodean SF 290

Frankenstein • Eavonka Ettinger • Five Fleas, 10/4

The Garden of Night • Andrew White • Spectral Realms 17

[Glastonbury] • Helen Buckingham • Blithe Spirit 32.2

Globular Cluster • F. J. Bergmann • The Space Cadet Science Fiction Review 1

[golem] • Marisca Pichette • Star*Line 45.2

[her leafy blush] • Tyler McIntosh • Scifaikuest, August

Holocene Park: AIs • Denise Dumars • Cajuns in Space

In Perpetuity • Bruce Boston • Analog, July/August

[interstellar flight] • Eva Joan • failed haiku 74

[leafy alien] • Herb Kauderer • Star*Line 45.3

[locking eyes] • Barun Saha • the cherita 5:12

[long after…] • Roberta Beary • Blithe Spirit, 2/22

[long story short] • Richard Magahiz • Five Fleas, 9/21

Masquerade • Rachel Tyle • The Sirens Call 57

Maxime • Meg Smith • The Chamber Magazine, 10/7

mea culpa • Eugen Bacon • African Literature Today 40

[meteor sizzling] • Anna Cates • Five Fleas, 9/20

[midnight the sun moonlighting] • Tim Cremin • tiny words, 7/12

[mission to Titan] • Lisa Timpf • Eccentric Orbits 3, ed. Wendy Van Camp (Dimensionfold Publishing)

[months after his death] • Joseph P. Wechselberger • horror senryu journal, 12/14

[morning newspaper] • Ngo Binh Anh Khoa • Scifaikuest, May print

Most highly honored • Richard Magahiz • Eye to the Telescope 44

[mourning] • Colleen M. Farrelly • failed haiku 74

[multiverse…] • A. J. Wentz • Dreams and Nightmares 122

[mushroom cloud] • Joshua St. Claire • Star*Line 45.4

My Daughter, in Her Silver Sky • Meg Smith • Aphelion, March

[my robot boyfriend] • Jenny Thompson • Scifaikuest, August

Never Was a Princess Girl • Melissa Ridley Elmes • Star*Line 45.1

Night at Ithaca • Federica Santini • Carmina Magazine, September

[no price is too high] • Randall Andrews • Star*Line 45.4

Nor Am I Out of It • Noah Berlatsky • Asses of Parnassus, 12/2

Ode to Harriet • Alicia Hilton • AvantAppal(achia) 12

[parallel worlds] • Ken Slaughter • failed haiku 74

[planetarium] • John Hawkhead • Poetry Pea, September

Questions for the Fallen • Omodero David Oghenekaro • Strange Horizons, 8/1

[rain shadow] • C. R. Harper • Haiku Dialogue, 8/17

[rereading] • Peggy Hale Bilbro • Haiku Dialogue, 2/23

[sawdust protected our torsos] • Richard Magahiz • Five Fleas, 9/23

Shelter • Koji A. Dae • Octavos, 2/21

Shore Leave • James Arthur Anderson • The Fifth Dimension, December

[show me, I said] • Lauren McBride • Dreams and Nightmares 120

[skeleton eyes] • Greer Woodward • Haiku Dialogue, 1/19

[sky memorial] • Akua Lezli Hope • Scifaikuest, February

[snakeskin tote glistens] • Gary W. Davis • Star*Line 45.1

[sometimes a wish] • Anna Cates • Cold Moon Journal, 10/19

[spaceship window…] • Mark Gilbert • Five Fleas, 12/5

[a stack of turtles] • Mahaila Smith • Ribbons, 10/15

[star gazing] • John Hawkhead • tiny words, 4/1

[the sudden chill] • Deborah P Kolodji • failed haiku 74

Sunlight Loves A Crystalline Structure • Robert Frazier • Asimov’s SF, May/June

Surviving • Sumiko Saulson • The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry (Dooky Zines)

Tasty • Greg Fewer • Polar Starlight 7

Tea Dragon • Herb Kauderer • Scifaikuest, August

[termination shock] • Deborah P Kolodji • Eccentric Orbits 3, ed. Wendy Van Camp (Dimensionfold Publishing)

Thanks for Nothing • Randall Andrews • Star*Line 45.2

[thinning] • Akua Lezli Hope • ubu, small absurdist poems 4

Time and Again • Greg Schwartz • Abyss & Apex 82

Time Travel II • Akua Lezli Hope • Star*Line 45.4

Trichotillomania • Warsan Shire • Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head (Random House)

[two hearts] • Valentina Ranaldi-Adams • failed haiku 74

[the universe] • Greer Woodward • Star*Line 45.2

Vampire Therapist • Alan Ira Gordon • Star*Line 45.4

A Vision of the Future • J. Y. T. Kennedy • Polar Starlight 5

What Fairy Godmothers Read • Mary Soon Lee • Kaleidotrope, Summer

[wishing this] • Petro C. K. • Haikuniverse, 10/31

[wolf moon…] • Greg Schwartz • Dreams and Nightmares 122

[Thanks to Greg Fewer for the story.]