Torn Branches: A Science Fiction Review

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!    Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes. Why preyest thou thus upon the poet’s heart,    Vulture, whose wings are dull realities? How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,    Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,    Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing? Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car,    And driven the Hamadryad from the wood To seek a shelter in some happier star?    Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood, The Elfin from the green grass, and from me The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?

You have probably guessed already that I am a bit of fan of sci fi poetry. The name of my blog, Torn Branches, is an obscure tribute to Hugh Mearn's Antigonish . So finding a sci fi poet who is both extremely talented and a Kiwi has got me a bit excited. Tim Jones is a New Zealand author and an amazing poet. His work spans genres but is mostly focused on sci fi themes. His poem ‘ Kraken ’ is an excellent example of the genre that he has shared on his own website. I'll be heading into the city on the weekend and will be sure to pick up a copy of the  Rhysling Anthology 2016 and his novella Landfall . I'll be sure to let you know what I think of both later in the coming weeks. I will post a short excerpt to ‘ Kraken ’ below, but really suggest you follow this link to read it in full on Tim's own website as it is most certainly worth your time. Kraken: by Tim Jones Millennia of sunlight passed the Kraken by. He slept where he had fallen, each molec...

Ray Bradbury wrote this poem in celebration of the Apollo moon landing in 1969. The fence we walked between the years Did balance us serene It was a place half in the sky where In the green of leaf and promising of peach We'd reach our hands to touch and almost touch the sky If we could reach and touch, we said, 'Twould teach us, not to, never to, be dead We ached and almost touched that stuff; Our reach was never quite enough. If only we had taller been And touched God's cuff, His hem, We would not have to go with them Who've gone before, Who, short as us, stood as they could stand And hoped by stretching tall that they might keep their land Their home, their hearth, their flesh and soul. But they, like us, were standing in a hole O, Thomas, will a Race one day stand really tall Across the Void, across the Universe and all? And, measured out with rocket fire, At last put Adam's finger forth, As on the Cistine chapel And ...

Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today, I wish, I wish he'd go away... When I came home last night at three, The man was waiting there for me But when I looked around the hall, I couldn't see him there at all! Go away, go away, don't you come back any more! Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door... Last night I saw upon the stair, A little man who wasn't there, He wasn't there again today Oh, how I wish he'd go away...