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.

For April 6, I'm reading Lore Graham's #poem "Absence"

http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/absence/

This poem stopped me in my tracks, particularly the second-to-last stanza. Sometimes memory cheats us, and sometimes we sit there and wonder how our past remembers us.

For the Fifth of the Fourth, I'm reading "Without Prayer or the Place in the Forest" by Sonya Taaffe.

https://uncannymagazine.com/article/without-prayer-or-the-place-in-the-forest/

Look at those amazing two verses of good #poetry:
"behind all this dry ink
is still white and black fire"

April 4, 2020, and I'm reading "Death Poem" by C.J. Miles.

https://www.sfpoetry.com/sl/edchoice/39.4-5.html

I'm still bitter about not moving to Detroit and for some reason this #poem was soothing to read.

For first Friday of April, I'm reading "Syndrome" by Ugonna-Ora Owoh.

http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/syndrome/

The most curious part of this #poem is the curses previous generations place upon ours: the curse of inability to speak the truth.

April 2nd, of 2020, I'm reading Mary McMyne's "The Mother Searches for her Own Story"

http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/the-mother-searches-for-her-own-story/

I'm going to spend quite some time thinking about those who's stories were abandoned by the writers.

Happy April 92nd day of 2020, I'm reading Ameé Hennig's "My Unborn Babies"

http://www.astropoetica.com/Summer14/my-unborn-babies.html

I've been reading a hard science fiction novel with a focus on a genetic bottleneck, which led me to looking for a relevant #poem. I wasn't successful, but I ended up finding this poem about Andromeda joining the Milky Way.

I'm two thirds thru Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. It's comforting to me that I'm reading apocalyptic lit of a very different kind from my life right now. And it is, of course, obvious to me that politicians will endanger humanity in its last stand for existence.

For the End of March, I'm reading Alicia Cole's #poem "The Far Western Regions of the Archipelago are Where the Dragons Live"

http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/the-far-western-regions-of-the-archipelago-are-where-the-dragons-live/

I've spent the day coding a manuscript (possibly long forgotten): "There is no darkness in death. Just a long chain of islands." Is this what manuscripts/texts/words feel when they are forgotten?

Today's (3/30) #poem is by Saudamini Deo called "From, To"

http://interfictions.com/from-tosaudamini-deo/

What is it that you do on boring train rides? The poem reminded me of how much I've ridden the bus between Binghamton and New York, and how many times I've witnessed things go wrong between these cities.

this is my hot take: if we're friends, i expect you to pirate my work. it's that simple. if you like my work pirate it.

It's March 29 or Day 89, and I read a #poem by Gabriel Ascencio Morales titled "Abstraction"

http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/abstraction/

Take not of the visual #poetry in the piece. I also really recommend the podcast form by Ciro Faienza which has quite amazing sound design: http://strangehorizons.com/podcasts/podcast-abstraction/

On a Saturday, 3/28, I'm reading Scott T. Hitchison's "Interpose: A Love #Poem"

https://www.sfpoetry.com/sl/edchoice/36.2-1.html

Prepare yourself, this is love #poetry in the eschatological sense.

Last Friday of March (phew!), and I'm reading a #poem by Terese Mason Pierre "A New Face"

http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/a-new-face/

This makes me think of a famous singer who died during WW2 in Egypt, and of small minority faiths in the region that believe in the transmigration of the souls after deaths, and if Asmahan was returned to us.

For Day 26 of Month 3 of Year 2020, I'm reading S. Qiouyi Lu's "Inside the Ironheart"

http://eyetothetelescope.com/archives/035issue.html

I needed something to calm me down and here the final part of this #poem does that:
"lightyears from Earth
Guanyin still hears
the cries of the world"