Saqer @saqeram@wandering.shop

Daily Poems I'm reading in 2020 (won't you read with me?)

#introductions

Hi folks, I'm Saqer. I'm an academic, finishing up grad school. I spend a lot of time translating short science fiction into Arabic, but haven't published any yet because reasons. Maybe that will change over the next year.

I also spend a lot of time listening to audiobooks of scifi novels, and the usual scifi podcasts. I spend a lot of time also wondering about backstories of minor characters and societal myths and languages in scifi.

First of the Seventh Month, and I finally sat down to read a #poem, this is one is by Mari Ness titled "Hunter"

I went into this thinking it was a love poem, but perhaps a passion murder poem?

https://mythicdelirium.com/featured-poem-ii-%e2%80%a2-july-2017

Happy End of June, it's been a day, and now I'm finally reading "Three Movements on Anatomy" a #poem by Alyza Taguilaso

In Movement II, "Dissection", what stands out to me is how every body, every limb, is in some way unknown.

http://stonetelling.com/issue6-dec2011/taguilaso-anatomy.html

Sixth Month, Twenty-Ninth Day: I'm reading Omar Sakr's #poem "In the Middle of Maize Country"

The best element in this poem is how the character speaking comes to this realization, that you are never just yourself.

http://twistedmoonmag.com/1/sakr.html

June 28, and I'm reading this #poem by Isabel Yap titled "Apologies for breaking the glass slipper"

This few verses ring so true to me: "I’m sorry if the people darting by
get their feet cut, but I’ve learned humans
are great at sidestepping."

https://uncannymagazine.com/article/apologies-for-breaking-the-glass-slipper/

For June 27, I'm reading Faye Kicknosway's #poems, but the most intriguing among them, it was "Portrait"

The thought of how Uncle Death would prepare himself to meeting his victims, and how he conducts himself. It was curious to read.

http://rivetjournal.com/new-poems-by-faye-kicknosway/

For the 26th of June, I'm reading Oliver Smith's #poem "Witch Trails"

I liked the description of the witch's tools in this. Why would she have wooden spoons and glass jars?

http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/witch-trails/

We're 177 days into the year, and I'm reading "For Preserves", a #poem by Cassandra Rose Clarke

This stanza is beyond amazing:

"Forgetting is like the yeast in
your loaves of bread, the baking powder in
your cakes. Without forgetting, the sunlight
will not cure,
only spoil
and rot."

Somethings do get better when they are forgotten and found many years later

https://www.sfpoetry.com/sl/edchoice/40.4-5.html

June 24th is a day for beautiful #poems: Shweta Narayan's "Song of Shakti"

This one's quite unique in describing the mother-creatrix

http://www.goblinfruit.net/2010/spring/poems/?poem=songofshakti

It's the 23rd, and I'm baking bread as I read this #poem by Raimo Kangasniemi titled "October 2026: The end of the picnic"

I spent quite sometime thinking about the golden bees and remembered an important element of how languages work, the words for things are arbitrary.

http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/october-2026-the-end-of-the-picnic/

June 22, and I’m loving this poem by Alexandra Seidel titled “Bei Nacht – A Demon Song”

The way the #poem talks about belonging in a city is perfect and just the way I feel about cities: “This city is ours as much as it is nobody’s.”

http://www.jabberwocky-magazine.com/2011/10/bei-nacht-a-demon-song/

June 21, and I'm reading Mary Soon Lee's #poem about pluto.

"How to Speak to Pluto" is an important guide for those of us who think of the planets as beings.

https://www.apex-magazine.com/how-to-speak-to-pluto/

Two hours and a half from the Summer Solstice, I'm reading Ann K. Schwader's "Charlotte in Waiting"

The #poem echoes the painting The Death of Marat, and it echoes the sentiments of Charlotte Corday. Some interesting history for the evening.

https://www.sfpoetry.com/sl/edchoice/31.5-1.html

June 19, I'm reading "Welcome Drought" by Lore Graham

This #poem haunts me, because it makes me think of what it will be to lose a home to rising seas, dammed or not. I don't currently live in a coastal flood zone, but my childhood home, my parents homes and neighborhoods are all in the coastal floodzone upon rising seas.

https://azejournal.com/article/2018/11/8/welcome-drought

18 June and I'm a bit late but I read Keaton Bennet's #poem published earlier this month titled "Off-Season"

This poem reminds me of Seabreeze the Horse, and my shock at finding out that the Wikipedia has the horse's family tree.

http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/off-season/

For the 17th, I dug around and found Lisa M. Bradley's #poem "The Axolotl Inquest"

A POEM ABOUT #AXOLOTL! A POEM ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF *ASKING* THE AXOLOTL.

https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-axolotl-inquest/