A poem I wrote many years ago, in 2002 to be exact, based on a dream I had about reciting a poem in a beat club of the 50s. It was published in The Martian Wave in 2002, and reprinted in my poetry collection Raven's Runes in 2004. The launch of the Orion spacecraft made me think of it ( Read more... )

This poem is both a personal favorite of mine and a reader favorite as based on comments I've received over the years. It was first published in Full Unit Hookup Magazine, Issue Number Six, and reprinted in The Sword Review, Issue Number 23 ( Read more... )

MARS BEAT
By Karen A. Romanko

Mars beat
Sol fleet
cool heat

Star race
set pace
shoot space

Rouge hip
Zen zip
real trip

Mars beat
port seat
cool heat

First published in The Martian Wave, September 2002.

Raven Electrick Ink's second planned publication for 2012 (in addition to Spec-tacular: Fantasy Favorites from Raven Electrick Ink) is The House of Forever: Selected Poems by Samantha Henderson. My plans are to make Sam's first poetry collection available in both trade paperback and Kindle e-book editions during the first half of next year. Get ( Read more... )

The 2011 SFPA Halloween Poetry Reading is now live and includes an MP3 recording of yours truly as I read "Death in a Harlequin Suit," my prose poem just published in Jack-o'-Spec: Tales of Halloween and Fantasy. Other poets offering spooktastic fare include G. O. Clark, Elissa Malcohn, and David Lee Summers. Check it out! (And please forgive my ( Read more... )

I am guest author for the Writer's Craft column at the Clarion Blog today on the topic of "What makes a poem SF/Fantasy?" My charge from editor Lynda Williams was to write a short, 200-word introduction to the topic with a concluding question to stimulate discussion. I'm delighted for the invitation to address this theme outside of the usual ( Read more... )

I received notification this weekend from Rhysling Chair David Lunde that my poem "Binary Creation Myth" has been nominated for a Rhysling Award from the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Yay! Since it was my only published poem last year (and I think my only submission), this one is particularly sweet! As I've been focusing on being an editor ( Read more... )

Nowadays you can never have too many vampires, so please check out my online reading of "Country Inn," my short poem about a little hideaway for the fanged set, now available at SFPA's 2010 Halloween Poetry Reading. I also contributed the photo art "Masks" you see there. Other goodies include photos and readings by Lyn CA Gardner, Elissa Malcohn, ( Read more... )

I took this shot in colonial Williamsburg about 10 years ago. I started writing a poem about it, but it ended up as a little cinquain about a colonial carriage in Boston's Louisburg Square. I offer the photo herewith as inspiration to other poets who may be able to stay more on point. :-)


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I have a new online reading that just went live as part of the Broad Pod, a podcast sponsored by Broad Universe. The theme for the month is mothers in honor of Mother's Day, and I did two readings, "Steerage," a poem I wrote that appeared in Would That It Were, and an excerpt from "Family Movie," a story by JC Runolfson, which appeared in my ( Read more... )