Poetry Roundup: Asimov's June 2010

Human Potential by Geoffrey A. Landis

There is a lot of potential energy in humans, in the nuclear sense. Would blind all the aura people. Funny, not deep or beautiful, but not bad.

Crushed by Susan Abel Sullivan

Never fall in love with a black hole. Funny, but the metaphor breaks down a bit halfway through. Black holes don't technically suck, unlike relationships.

Of Lycanthropy and Lilacs by Sandra Lindow

Werewolves in spring. Nice rhythm, very good imagery, not as obvious as I thought. Still not too deep, but this was a very nice poem. Best of the issue.

Poetry Roundup: Asimov's March 2009

First Beer on Mars by David Lunde

Just what it says on the can; story about the building of the first Mars brewery. Adequate.

Nightlife by Sandra Lindow

Grammar is sexy. Great fun, the only part I didn't love was the last line. But it needed something like that, so I'm calling this page-full-of-wordplay pretty great.

Cabaret by J.E. Stanley

Blues musicians held captive by aliens and made to perform. Good enough in a shortshortshort story sort of way.

Poetry Roundup: Asimov's October/November 2009

The top 5 poems of the year are split between this issue, and August's.

Derivative Work by Elissa Malcohn

Frankenstein's Monster has legal troubles: fun concept, mediocre poem.

For Ye, of Very Little Faith by W. Gregory Stewart

As physics puns go, this one's electroweak.

Monsters by Geoffrey A. Landis

Commercial Halloween makes monsters unscary, this could be a mistake. Like spending too much time on this poem. And I like Werewolves of London.

Unghost Stories by Greg Beatty

A haunting poem about how one does not need ghosts to feel haunted. Excellent.

The Hedge Witch's Upgrade by Sandra Lindow

Fantastic gardening inspired by the world record for World's Longest Herbaceous Border. Magical description of the mundane is always fun.

Edgar Allan Poe by Bryan D. Dietrich

I like his poem, but I'm not letting Mr. Dietrich run my Dead Writers Action Figure business.

In the final evaluation, this was an excellent issue for poetry: I rate Unghost Stories as my favorite poem of the year, with Edgar Allan Poe and The Hedge Witch's Upgrade as fourth and fifth place, respectively.