New issues of Illumen and Star*Line

The Winter 2019 issues of Illumen and Star*Line have hit the presses. (Illumen should be available for purchase soon.) Each include some stellar poems. Pick up a copy of either to support the small presses and consume good poetry at the same time.

Illumen's large type and generous use of white space make it an easy magazine to read. Standouts from this issue include Marge Simon's dark and rhythmic "A Sky of Blackbirds" and David C. Kopaska-Merkel's paradoxical "Do-Overs." There's also an interview with speculative poetry's dark princess Christina Sng and a scifaiku page.

Star*Line #42.1 is packed with poems of varying lengths, forms and subjects. Speculative haiku are scattered throughout like sprinkles on a cupcake. This issue includes noteworthy poems by Ayaz Daryl Nielson, Noel Sloboda, Carolyn M. Hinderliter, and more. If you've always wondered whether a sonnet about a human-eating troll could work, P M F Johnson proves that it can.