Astropoetica: Mapping the Stars through Poetry celebrates Global Astronomy Month with the launch of its spring issue, featuring:

• Starfruit, by J. C. Runolfson
• Comet Girl, by Claudine R. Moreau
• The Moon and Venus, by Jim Culleny
• Volcanoes on Io, by Melissa Frederick
• Like Craters, by Stephanie Suhr
• Deep Solar Minimum Blues, by Ann K. Schwader
• Eros, by Melissa Frederick
• Lithopedion, by Robert Borski
• Dark River to Antares, by Stefanie Maclin
• Heliopause, by Raul Garcia
• The Reform of the Calendar, by Maryann Corbett
• Orbit, by Jen D. Clark
• Chant, by Raul Garcia
• Total Lunar Eclipse, by Elissa Malcohn
• Dying Butterfly, by Ann K. Schwader
• The Crab Nebula, by Albert Melear
• Not in Our Stars, by Maryann Corbett
• Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, by Stephen Lefebure
• The Eighty-Eight, by Claire Webber
• A Conclusion after the International Year of Astronomy 2009, by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

Astropoetica: Mapping the Stars through Poetry celebrates the International Year of Astronomy with the release of its fall issue, featuring:

• Duet for Leviathan and Glass, by Mary Alexandra Agner
• Constellations, by Jim Culleny
• Looking for the Comet Halley, by Barbara Crooker
• Beyond These Thin Apartment Walls, by Emily K. Bright
• Apparition, by Mary Alexandra Agner
• When the Seeing is Good, by Shelly Bryant
• Myth Of Aether, by Claudine R. Moreau
• Dissolution of the Moon, by Rae Pater
• River: 18, by Jeff Streeby
• Missing A Comet, by Meg Smith
• A Dark Matter, by Kath Abela Wilson
• A Letter to the Moon, by F.J. Bergmann
• Blue Hand, by G. O. Clark
• Haystack Observatory, by Meg Smith
• Mother of the Moon, by Dan Mitrut
• Tilt Your Satellite Dishes, by Claudine R. Moreau
• Observatory, by John Colvin
• Black Hole Theorem: ‘The Great Alexander’, by Dave Shortt
• Dumbbell Nebula, by Tree Riesener
• Astro-Memorial, by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

This issue is dedicated to the memory of Steliana Gheorghe, mother of longtime Astropoetica contributor Andrei Dorian Gheorghe. She was a dear friend of astropoetry and left us much too soon.

I enjoyed the AP story “No Strain for Andromeda: Galaxy Is Cosmic Cannibal” about M31’s savage treatment of dwarf galaxies unfortunate enough to cross its path. If you have access to Nature you can read the nitty gritty here; otherwise, I recommend a peek at the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey’s images and a trip to Astropoetica’s archives to read Greg Beatty’s fabulous “One Man’s Cannibalism.“

Astropoetica: Mapping the Stars through Poetry is pleased to announce the launch of its summer issue, featuring:

• Under the Geography of Heaven, by Taylor Graham
• Gardening Space, by F.J. Bergman
• Astronomy in the Dark, by Taylor Graham
• The Names of Distant Stars, by Kendall Evans
• Birds and stars, by P.S. Cottier
• Constellation, by John Mirisola
• Moonsong, by Rae Pater
• The Surface of Venus, by Geoffrey A. Landis
• Force Fields IV, by F.J. Bergman
• Losing Weight, by Tim Jones
• Fireflies, by Geoffrey A. Landis
• Absolute Zero, by Neil Ellman
• Comet, by John Bennett
• The Strange Attractor, by S. A. Kelly
• The many lives of stars, by P.S. Cottier
• The Blue of Neptune, by Meg Smith
• The Arecibo Message, by Dave Shortt
• The Yap is Forbidden in the Heavens, by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
• The Moon, Again, by Mary Cresswell
• Magician on a Bed of Stars, by Dan Mitrut

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, Astropoetica invites you to enjoy these lunar gems from our past issues:

• July ‘69, by Tim Myers
• Inconstant, by J. C. Runolfson
• The Moon, by C. John Holcombe
• There Are No Imagists on the Moon, by Greg Beatty
• Apogee, by Jennifer G. Cuthbertson

More poems about the moon can be found in our archives.

Astropoetica: Mapping the Stars through Poetry is pleased to celebrate National Poetry Month with the release of its spring issue, featuring:

• Rapture, by Barbara Crooker
• Nix, by Deborah P Kolodji
• Star Man Every Night, by John Grey
• Northern Lights, by Joanne Merriam
• Leonid Meteor Shower, by Barbara Crooker
• Do Red Dwarfs Have Habitable Planets?, by Barton Paul Levenson
• My Dear Astronomer, by John Grey
• Instead, by Barbara Crooker
• Devil’s Verse, by Michael Constantine McConnell
• Triangulation, by George Moore
• In the Sun’s Empire, by Valentin Grigore
• Stars in Daylight, by Jared Carter
• Age in Years, by Patrick Ryan Dunn Sullivan
• Steady Flames, by Lyn C. A. Gardner
• Deliberation, by Cheryl Lewis
• The Long-Term Effects of Auroral Kilometric Radiation on the Earth’s Population, by Matt Betts
• Cruithne, by Clare Walker
• The Newest Moons of Dirt And Rome, by Michael Meyerhofer
• BPM 37093, by Michael Meyerhofer
• Saturn Backlit by the Sun, by Jared Carter
• No Small Thing, by Michael Travisano
• Cosmic Agglomeration, by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
• Everywhere Spirals, by Rick Novy

On the Winter Solstice I received an amazing gift from my friends in SARM (Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy). Andrei Dorian Gheorghe wrote to tell me they had dedicated their delightful Favourite Constellations project to the Fifth Anniversary of Astropoetica. I am deeply touched, and I urge all fans of astronomy poetry to take a look.

To briefly update everyone on the status of Astropoetica, I will say that I am working on the next issue and hope to have it up this winter. Scheduling issues have proven to be more challenging than I ever anticipated. My apologies to those poets eagerly awaiting the publication of their works. It is going to be a lovely issue.

Until then, may you enjoy clear night skies and the great works of the Romanian astropoets. Ad astra!

The Spring Issue of Astropoetica is now up, featuring:

• There, where the universe begins, by Terrie Leigh Relf
• True/False Colours, by Megan M’Clure
• July ‘69, by Tim Myers
• The First Sky, by Meg Smith
• Draco, by Janie Hofmann
• Middle School Star Party in Greater Boston, by Meg Smith
• Glow-in-the-Dark Galactic Discs, by Megan M’Clure
• Spying Orion, by Megan M’Clure
• Vertigo, by Joanne Merriam
• Bodies Make Poor Lenses, by Joanne Merriam
• Good Fridays, by C. E. Chaffin
• Inconstant, by J. C. Runolfson
• Plutonian Elegy, by Peter Dabbene
• Sunspot, by Magdalena Ball
• Sifting Stars, by Ann K. Schwader
• Tycho, by Janie Hofmann
• String Theory, by Lisa Geoffrion
• Arrow, by Darin C. Bradley
• Geodesy, by M. Frost
• The Cosmic Background Radiation, by Dave Shortt
• Humanizing the Sky, by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
• Stellar Picture in Town, by Valentin Grigore
• Teacher and Cosmos, by Boris Marian (Mehr)

As we were celebrating the touchdown of the Phoenix Mars Lander last Sunday, I was reminded of our other landers and some of the poetry we’ve published about them in Astropoetica. The marvelous “Ares Vallis, 1997-” by Tim Jones seems particularly fitting.

While I’m finishing up the spring issue, why not revisit some of these other fine poems about the the Red Planet?

• “Mousing Mars,” by Ann K. Schwader
• “Southwest Mars,” by Deborah P. Kolodji and Ann K. Schwader
• “Stone,” by Tim Jones
• “The Red One,” by Michele Harvey
• “Through a Lens Vaguely (Mars ‘03),” by Ann K. Schwader
• “When I Heard the Learn’d Astrologer,” by Greg Beatty
• "When Mars Comes Close," by Kevin C. Little, Jr.
• “Phobos and Deimos,” by Kenneth Pobo
• "Water on Mars," by M. Frost
• "Tharsis Lil," by Mary Jo Rabe

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M

In honor of my little co-editor’s four-month birthday, I am pleased to announce the launch of Astropoetica’s Winter Issue, featuring:

• No Such Thing as I in the Universe, by Zayra Yves
• Poem gains self-confidence, doesn’t bite stardust, by Oke Mbachu
• watcher & watched, by Kate Hutton
• Tangent to the Z Axis, by Mary Alexandra Agner
• Moonchild, by Steve Klepetar
• Ua Huli Ka Ia (Hawai’ian Lullaby), by Mary Alexandra Agner
• The Cosmogonic Cyclist’s Itinerary, by Rich Murphy
• The Orbit, by Rich Murphy
• Fearful Weight of Moon, by Steve Klepetar
• The Sun Throws Its Kiss, by David Jalajel
• Why I am Not Afraid of the Dark, by Zayra Yves
• Jovian Dreams, by David Jalajel
• Cosmos Under Glass, by Rich Murphy
• Archaean Sea, by David Jalajel
• The Universal Law of Family, by Greg Beatty
• Rundown on the earth:, by Oke Mbachu
• The Sun is Just a Star, by Zayra Yves
• Postcards from Venus, by Patricia A. Boutilier
• Planet of Hope, by Danny Rosen
• Sleeping with one sky open, by Oke Mbachu
• Night Music, by Pat Tompkins
• I am not Mars, you are not Venus, by Damien Stednitz
• Audrey’s Shower, by Robert Appleton
• Halley’s Vision, by Richard St. Clair
• Deep Field, by Danny Rosen
• Villanelle for the Ages, by Matthew Masucci
• Three Quarters Full, by Srinjay Chakravarti
• Mythless, by Pat Tompkins
• Artemis, by R. Nugent
• The Legacy of Aristarchus, by James R. Hoye
• Universal Stage, by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
• Orion, by Dan Mitrut
• Unlucky Astronomer, by Stefan Berinde
• Children of the Galaxy, by Zigmund Tauberg
• Around the Sun, by Adrian Sima
• Astrocantata, by Dominic Diamant