Hello, fellow travelers!
Our journey through poetry is almost at its end—hopefully you would have had a stimulating time engaging with verse in the speculative from the classics to the present day, as well as discovering new joys in the poetry eligible for this year’s special best poem category in the Hugo Awards (and, if you’re anything like me, absolutely agonising over the finalists of this category as we cast our final ballots!). I am grateful that you have allowed me to share this moment with you all—this historic moment in genre fandom overall—as the first poet laureate in the history of the World Science Fiction Convention.
I hope that this is merely prototypical of the future of Worldcon and of genre overall. I hope that this future remains eager to make space for the revelations of poetry in science fiction and fantasy, with many other poets to continue speaking of its virtues from this honorable position. I hope that this moment has not only inspired more readers to venture into the poetry that this wonderful genre has to offer but also that they have found new loves within them—or at least curiosities that will lead them to that future love. I even hope that this moment has inspired those who would usually say they struggle with poetry, whether in reading or in writing, to give it another go in earnest, with patience and wonder.
When we began this journey through the blog, we did so first with the root of the word verse, the Latin vertō, “to turn,” and all its cousins. The ultimate goal of this segment was to reveal to you that poetry has a talent to allow us into each of these meanings: It can turn the way we see or even hear the world on its very head, transform our attachment to history or myth or our own bodies, subvert nascent assumptions about story and sound, translate and shift meaning in intriguing and inviting ways, exchange and trade with oft-forgotten elements of our favourite mythic and futuristic assumptions, and much more.
As such, some of you have enjoyed new work, dug deep into old loves, rediscovered the fantastic in both the classic and the contemporary, and fostered new ways to read, create, and evaluate poetry either as regular readers of verse or people tackling it anew.
Some of you have even attended the business meeting and championed the best poem category enduring throughout the Hugos, and I am incredibly overjoyed that it has—that you have—prevailed in putting up this flag to make room for poetry in this space, even though there is still work to do in that regard.
In a few mere weeks, our travels will bring us to Seattle’s Summit Convention Center to share what we’ve discovered and to witness even more in turn. Dozens of talented poets will be participating in events throughout the weekend, stewarded by the amazing poetry track programming lead and recently elected Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association President Brian U. Garrison. Some of those events will be in the program, while surely others will take place in minor pockets of delight elsewhere: in events offsite, in sudden beckonings to read in the hallways between panel rooms, and across the barcon via napkin scribbles or in the unlocked revelation of good food and better company.
At this point in our journey, it may seem selfish of me to still have homework for you all, but I do:
Keep this flame with you throughout August and beyond it. Seek the verse out wherever it may lie, and beckon it to you. If it can be heard, or read, heed it whenever you can; if it still has no voice, consider that it may be seeking yours.
Don’t hesitate to seek this con’s readings as an opportunity not only to find new voices and new work to dig into. Several of the Hugo finalists and the dozens of their peers who will be in attendance, and there will be readings and panels throughout the weekend—not to mention my favorite event, the open mic on Saturday evening, where poets of any level of experience can share in a welcoming and encouraging space.
Explore the panels as well, and don’t be afraid to ask the questions that continue to help you seek out more work to read and more ways to create your own verse. Worldcon is, as ever, a place where wonderful writers seek to share not only their own work, but their expertise and their curiosity, so take that from the poets that you meet, and turn their excitement into more wonder for you to witness.
However you find enjoyment in speculative verse this August, I hope you hold that energy within you throughout the summer to soothe you through the heat, as well as in the winter beyond it to keep each other warm in the cold. Tinker often with what verse can tell you about the future, and discover often what other poets have learned in their own travels. Just two or three poetry collections that were not on your radar this time last month will make for a steady stream of new material to explore throughout the end of the year.
I cannot wait to share this moment with you all in person soon. Until then, I repeat my blessing for the final time on this blog—but will say it often to each and every one of you that I meet during the convention:
May tomorrow and your very best days always rhyme.
Brandon O’Brien is a writer, performance poet, teaching artist, and tabletop game designer from Trinidad and Tobago. His work has been shortlisted for the 2014 and 2015 Small Axe Literary Competitions and the 2020 Ignyte Award for best in speculative poetry, and has been published in many genre magazines and collections. He is the former poetry editor of FIYAH. His debut poetry collection, Can You Sign My Tentacle?, available from Interstellar Flight Press, is the winner of the 2022 Elgin Award. He is the poet laureate for Seattle Worldcon 2025, and the first poet laureate of any Worldcon.