[Martin Elster]

Thanks, folks!

I was going to mention Matt’s excellent poem, “Requiem,” but he beat me to the punch. You can see the poem here:

http://eyetothetelescope.com/archives/016issue.html

It’s the last one in the issue (scroll all the way down).

By the way, Bill, I love that poem you quoted. But it’s actually a song by Robert A. Heinlein.

[Siham Karami]

Thanks for your eagle-eyed update, Matt. And for your working link, Ed. And congrats to you too, Matt. And for the other link, Martin. These are such good poems, I wish you the best in the final round!

Cheers,
Siham

[Matt Q]

Originally Posted by Martin Elster

By the way, Bill, I love that poem you quoted. But it’s actually a song by Robert A. Heinlein.

Rhysling is a fictional character (a blind space poet) created by Heinlein, and is the hero of the short story in which the song, attributed to him, appears. Or so Wikipedia tells me. I've not read the story, but I think I shall seek it out.

Siham, thank you!

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Matt Q

Rhysling is a fictional character (a blind space poet) created by Heinlein, and is the hero of the short story in which the song, attributed to him, appears. Or so Wikipedia tells me. I've not read the story, but I think I shall seek it out.

The story is called The Green Hills of Earth. I read it as a teenager. "Noisy Rhysling" is a kind of space bum: there's an unwritten rule that an injured space worker must be given a free ride back to earth. He takes advantage of this, and hitchhikes around the galaxy, never actually getting much closer to his home planet. Along the way, he composes poetry. This is going to be his last poem: he saves the ship he's on, but receives a lethal dose of radiation in the process. The poem is composed completely orally... he asks the ship's captain to turn on the PA recorder, and recites it into the log as the radiation begins to burn him.

Sidenote: he appears in several books, even being mentioned by Lazurus Long's favorite poet in Time Enough for Love. For some reason, the poem struck me all those years ago, so I have it from memory. Pretty sure my version is slightly off, but that's the last stanza of the last poem of the Homer of the Galaxy. And we get to remake Homer however we wish!

They really should put up a note on that site, so nominees know the origin of the prize's name!

Best,

Bill

[Janice D. Soderling]

Congratulations, Martin and Matt. Good luck to both of you.

(Martin, didn't you win this once before or am I confusing it with another Sci-fi award?)

[Matt Q]

Siham, Tony, Jayne and Janice,

Many thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing a nice shiny anthology.

Martin, belated thanks for linking to my poem.

all the best,

Matt

[Martin Elster]

Originally Posted by Janice D. Soderling

(Martin, didn't you win this once before or am I confusing it with another Sci-fi award?)

Thanks Janice! To answer your question: A couple of my poems have received prizes from the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s annual poetry contest — but not the Rhysling prize. That’s the really big one!

I did, however, have a poem in a previous issue of the Rhysling anthology, as well as work in various speculative journals.

But, as Matt said:

I reckon if enough Sphereans were to join the SFPA, we could win this thing. Just saying.