NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

This is a 12 page A4 size anthology full of poetry dedicated to the Total Solar Eclipse and the Persaid Meteor Shower of 1999.

The poetry is very mixed, some of it is romantically mythic and much is elergyic. I must admit to having a bit of a problem with those poems which personify the sun and planets.

But, there are some interesting poems here, I was particularly struck by the selection from Dan Mitrut who captures some nice images. In STELLARY RAIN he writes

	Your chains
	from meteoric iron
	are rattling above
	the blind Earth.
	It's raining stars
	just like crying.

There are a number of poems worth noting, SUN LIFE by Iulia Apetri for example,

	A sun lives for a time
	like a man life
	and has the same death
	taking his mystery with him

	A man is also a sun
	he ticks in pain and brightness,
	and, after his death
	a black hole becomes his shadow.

The magazine also contains a number of scifiku (basically a short science fiction or fantasy theme using the form of a haiku) a form in which there is a growing interest.

Also worthy of note are contributions from Steve Sneyd and Gerald England who are published as special guests.

Well worth reading if you have an interest in SciFi poetry.

Boundless enthusiasm shines through this excellent anthology. Not just poetry, either — there are mini-dramas in which the Sun, Moon and planets appear as characters.

The whole production has a breadth of vision besides which most poetry written today seems quite parochial in comparison.

Just in case you think it all sounds far too serious there are humorous gems such as MURPHY'S LAWS ABOUT THE METEORS, by Marjar Mjtroj:

6. The clearest sky appears in the time of the sweetest sleep.

	Beyond the Moon's breath,
	galaxies are born,
	rolling wounded splinters
	over the shadow of the light.

	Steps on the lunar ground,
	museum exhibits
	in the cosmic temple.

	The event horizon closes,
	time continues, but cannot escape. 

		(Ciel Tierra, THE BLACK HOLE)

Published by the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy, this anthology presents poetry in English from around the world on all things astronomical. Haiku and poetical sketches or mini-dramas seem to be favoured forms as is free verse; a number of the poems are also translations from Eastern European languages. The work of high school students and astronomers is showcased alongside well-known poets from the English-language small press scene. The work of Romanian student Diana Maria Ogescu stood out from the crowd and I particularly enjoyed her STARRY PROTEST:

	Stars escaped from 
	constellations,
	falling down into the sea.

	Wounded by the waves,
	thrown to the shore,
	they are dying
	closed in the shells
	of the beach.

	bright full moon
	shines through thin cloud
	— a plane flies over

Analogous to the sky lore of the ancients which complemented their extraordinary skills in observations of the heavens, it is meet that the modern world should possess an organisation which provides an updated platform in the form of cosmic SF complementary to scientific interests of 21st century astronomy. The two together, the imaginings of the mind (often intuitively predictive) in alliance with contemporary astronomical observations, form such a satisfying completeness that it shows up the deficiencies of an outlook which is only one-sided.

Thus we have here what is termed Astropoetry or Cosmopoetry from SARM, complementing their reports as an internationally known amateur group promoting serious astronomical interests, especially in the annual Leonid meteor showers.

There are over 60 short to medium length poems: UK contributors include Gerald England, John Francis Haines, and Steve Sneyd. The Romanian must have suffered in translation, but even then the poems remain interesting curiosities from which the gist can be deduced.

From Teodora Plaesu's OUR SOLAR SYSTEM'S NEIGHBOURS

	Betelgeuse knocks on my window
	and doesn't want to leave me alone
	  but sometimes, blinks coldly
	The good little dog came to me too,
	   and Procyon wants to bark,
	but I don't understand its words:
	      it is just a star.

	    Sadly,
	  stars flow
       from the living sky
	  to the east.
	
	   They pass,
	  with no name
	  and no story
	 to be told us.