The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association has announced the finalists for the 2026 Rhysling Award — 78 short poems and 54 long poems.

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) was founded in 1978 to bring together poets and readers interested in speculative poetry. Today, the SFPA is a registered non-profit with an ongoing mission to connect readers and writers of imaginative verse.

The organization publishes two magazines and multiple annual anthologies, coordinates an annual poetry contest alongside prestigious annual awards for poets worldwide, and strives to keep its members informed about all things speculative poetry.

The Rhysling Awards are named for the blind poet Rhysling in Robert A. Heinlein’s short story “The Green Hills of Earth.” Rhysling’s skills were said to rival Rudyard Kipling’s. In real life, Apollo 15 astronauts named a crater near their landing site “Rhysling,” which has since become its official name.

Nominees for each year’s Rhysling Awards are selected by the membership of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Each member is allowed to nominate one work in each of two categories: “Best Long Poem” (50–299 lines; for prose poems, 500–1,999 words) and “Best Short Poem” (11–49 lines; for prose poems, 101–499 words).

All nominated works must have been first published during the preceding calendar year of the awards year. Review full guidelines here.

Short Poems

Poem TitleAuthor NamePublisher
‘OumuamuaGeoffrey A. LandisAnalog
A Curse ArousedScott J. CouturierPenumbra
A Troll’s FeastRebecca BuchananFairy Tale Magazine
Alligators and YouHerb KaudererStar*Line
Auctober ApocalyptoDenise DumarsHWA Poetry Blog, Terrors of Today
Beard of BirdsSandra KasturiNight Shades Magazine
Beyond the Standard ModelUrsula WhitcherAnalog
Bigfoot FarewellCarolyn ClinkCryptids, Kaiju & Corn: Poems and Micro-Stories about Modern Midwest Monsters
Black Hole FramingCasey AimerFoofaraw
Cataract DomeDebra CazaletChrome Baby
Complex Alice in the Red Riding HoodGeoffrey A. LandisAngry Gable Press
Cry of a Barren WomanBecky ParkerAbyss & Apex
Demonic OppressionC. PayneJust Keep Up
Does That Familiar Come in Black?Gerri LeenBlack Cat Publishing
Eagle-EyedNico Martinez NocitoEye to the Telescope
Escritoire For WraithsWest AmbroseNeckSnap
Final Moments of a Witch: A Poem Told in ReversePedro IniguezStokerCon 2025 Souvenir Anthology
Gaia forgets her shopping listClarabelle Miray FieldsVinegar Press
GlitchDarius JonesThe Book of Hours
God’s TownhouseRobert WootenDreams and Nightmares
HellhoundD.A. CooperForgotten Ground Regained
HistoryVonnie Winslow CristAsimov’s Magazine
How to become a sea witchTheodora GossThe Orange & Bee
I Consult a SpiritualistMerna Dyer SkinnerHeartlines Spec
I Try to Explain the Concept of Teeth to My Alien RoommateRachel LintonAsimov’s Science Fiction
I Was A FishSvetlana LitvinchukStrange Horizons
I Was Lt. UhuraJanuary Gill O’NeilPoetry Magazine
I, RobotAli TrottaSpace Cowboy Books
Is This How You Pictured It?Eugen BaconLive Encounters Poetry & Writing 16th Anniversary Volume Two
It Was the CatsColleen S. HarrisStar Line
Job InterviewMax HuntSpecPoVerse
Little Haunted HousePortia YuStrange Horizons
Los Fantasmas en Su BocaRichard LeisPoisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved, and Insane: Nostalgic Terrors
Maestro Beneath the BluebellsSilvatiicus RiddleEternal Haunted Summer
Mannequin MomRebecca O’BernRadon Journal
Matthew 28:19Jack CooperThe Latin Poetry Programme Prize Anthology
Military Industrial ComplexityIan WilleyMobius: The Journal of Social Change
Missing You, No Matter Where I AmAnna MaddenHeartlines Spec
Moon RisingColleen AndersonAbsynthe
Never Wander the Catskills Without Understanding That Rip Van Winkle Was a Cautionary TaleJuleigh Howard-Hobson518 Press
Nightmare EaterSilvatiicus RiddleCosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores
Ode to Nephila pilipesKaleb AtkinsonCarmina Magazine
Old Brooklyn MagicIan LiNighmare Magazine
Old StoriesLisa TimpfNew Myths
Our SpaceWaysAkua Lezli HopeSpacefunk!
Post-apocalypse Love PoemGospel ChineduUncanny
Precocious ChildAlexander SenkoAnalog Science Fiction / Science Fact
ReaperMary Soon LeeStrange Horizons
Renfield At His WindowsillCourtney FloydSmall Wonders Magazine
Rockets Over AnaheimWendy Van CampAnaheim Poetry Review
She-Monster Gets FiredKim FarrarThe Impossible Physics of the Hummingbird
Snow White Puts the Pieces TogetherJacqueline WestNew Myths
Southern ComfortPeg Cherrin-MyersContemporary Haibun Online
StillbornShantell PowellNightmare Magazine
Subatomic MatrimonyJamal HodgeEverything Endless / Raw Dog Screaming Press
Swamp Witch SeasonLynne SargentSolarpunk Magazine
The Blight SkyGretchen TessmerStar*Line
The Farmer and the PrincessLarina Warnock4LPH4NUM3R1c2
The Flames of PassionDeneffew GordonThe Limerick in Chains
The Great NightAdele GardnerSpectral Realms
The Inner Life of ObjectsDavid ClinkCryptids, Kaiju & Corn
The Jacarandas Are Unimpressed by Your Show of ForceGwynne GarfinkleStrange Horizons
The Language of FirefliesAngela LiuThe Deadlands
The Lost Dragon’s HomePS CottierDreams & Nightmares
The Lowest Kind of FableLynne SargentJust Keep Up Magazine
The MaskMarge SimonStar*Line
The MessageDenise DumarsEldritch Prayers I / Island of Wak Wak
The Mourning RobotAngela LiuUncanny Magazine
The NeededRoger DutcherDreams & Nightmares
The OrchidM. FrostSublimation
The Paper SwiftCiarán ParkesAsimov’s
The penitentTim JonesDracula in the Colonies
Though You Always AreLinda D. Addison & Jamal HodgeEverything Endless
Time loop for the day I die.Abdulrazaq SalihuUncanny Magazine
To Be the ChangeNico Martinez NocitoStrange Horizons
Venus on the Cusp of ProphecySheikha A.SpecPoVerse
When the Cat’s AwayBeth CatoDaikaijuzine
Why Some Towns Get Extra BearsAmelia GormanStrange Horizons

Long Poems

Poem TitleAuthor NamePublisher
138 Melon SeedsGeneve FlynnWeird Tales
A Priestess of Bast Reflects on a Past LifeClarabelle Miray FieldsThe Orange Rose
An Ache With No NameToby MacNuttSmall Wonders
An Aging AI Tries to Remember Its LifeCasey AimerSmall Wonders
Bass ChasersBryant O’HaraSpacefunk!
Caesar Says, Earthquakes Aren’t So Manifest From SpaceJasmine LengUncanny Magazine
CassandraE. N. DíazUncanny Magazine
Castle of IndolenceF.J. BergmannJust Keep Up
ComponentsPS CottierAntipodeanSF
Deconstructed Sestina for a Brackish BayStephanie JonesSublimation
Diamond DragonHerb KaudererView From Atlantis
Don’t Turn Your Back on the KingJohn ShirleyEternal Haunted Summer
Falling Between SecondsHannan KhanAbyss & Apex
False BeetRJ AurandSmall Wonders
From Out the Jaded SkyAlan Ira GordonSFPA Contest
Heritage / Speaker | Hablante / HerenciaAngela AcostsSamovar
Hex Supply Customer Support LogElis MontgomeryStrange Horizons
His New AntlersRick ChristiansenSheila-Na-Gig
HyapolloAdele GardnerOrion’s Beau
In Which Water Becomes AudibleHaley BosséFoglifter
Iron Worker in the Dreamers MallHerb KaudererSleepless Nights in the Dreamers Mall
IrrevocableAdele GardnerStar*Line
John Keats 2.0West AmbroseUtopia Science Fiction
Knot Loosener Memorial Disputation with Gas GiantMichael Hessel-MialForgotten Ground Regained
Look in My EyesGerri LeenPenumbric
Looking BackArthur H. MannersAnalog
MedeaDeborah L. DavittThe Pink Hydra
MeetingLindaAnn LoSchiavoAngry Gable Press
Mend Your Broken Bow and Aim It at the SkySteve WheatRadon Journal
One Hundred Thousand Legends and the Longing UnderneathGwendolyn Maia HicksDangerous to Go Alone! 2
Patient 10642Elizabeth R. McClellanSalon Sinister
prayers in zero gravityLesley Hart GunnAmazing Stories
Prometheus ReboundTheodore HolmesCarmina Magazine
PterosaurM. FrostStrange Horizons
Red Blood, Dark WaterDeborah L. DavittAbyss & Apex
Soulbirds and FirefoxesLauren SharhagMarrow Magazine
StationaryDavid C. Kopaska-MerkelFocus Summer
Tasks for the Mourning, or Flowers as for FleshG.E. WoodsSmall Wonders Magazine
The Blanket, The Secret, The DarkRB LembergStrange Horizons
The Cat Who Only Returned When You LiedFendy S. TulodoSpecPoVerse
The Church at the Edge of TimeAngela LiuStrange Horizons
The Emerald TapestryKatherine QuevedoCorvid Queen
The Fin StitchMarisca PichetteThis Exquisite Topology (Angry Gable Press)
The Last NightingaleStephen JacksonEye to the Telescope
The Mordaunt HeiressF.J. BergmanDreams and Nightmares
The Separation Was Not MutualGerri LeenPenumbric
The Timetrippers Tale—A TransferenceRobert FrazierWorlds of If
The Witch is my Mother, the Witch is my PrinceSilvatiicus RiddleStrange Horizons
Toward a Cladistic Analysis of HauntingsRick HollonTime Travel Is Easy
TranshumanAnna CatesStar*Line
Watery HorizonJames CallanChrome Baby
Welcome to the Horror Opposition Association!Bree WernickeStrange Horizons
What The Old-Timers SayBeth CatoHauntings and Hoarfrost
What Water SaysMichael H. PayneEternal Haunted Summer
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