My Goodreads review: The 2023 Rhysling Anthology

The 2023 Rhysling Anthology by Maxwell Gold

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As always, this 2023 edition of the SFPA's Rhysling Anthology (edited by Maxwell I. Gold) serves a dual purpose: as a voting instrument for the Rhysling Awards, & as a convenient snapshot of the state of speculative poetry. After several years of larger & larger anthologies, this marks the first year for a Rhysling jury system. Fifty Short Form poems & twenty-five Long Form poems were chosen as finalists to be printed in the anthology. Even so, it's a generous 154 pp., perfect-bound trade paper with full color cover art by Dan Sauer.

In both short & long form work, a strong preference for narrative verse was evident this year. Nearly all the poems chosen were free verse (though I did note at least one sestina). Several prose poems were also included. Science fiction seemed to be more represented than horror or fantasy, particularly in the short form work. Mythology continues to be a strong inspiration for speculative verse, though I saw fewer fairy-tale references than in the past.

Recommended for anyone curious about current trends in speculative poetry, & to mainstream poetry readers looking to widen their horizons.





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