Poetry: The Mining Town

Winner of the 2019 SFPA poetry contest in the long form category, Eligible for the Rhysling Award

Update: This poem is eligible for a Rhysling Award. Members of the SFPA can vote for it for best poem of the year. Keep an eye out for the anthology!

I am pleased to announce that my poem, “The Mining Town” is the winner of the SFPA: Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association contest long form category. Here’s what the judge had to say about the winners:
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“When the container for our work is expanded, there’s room to explore braided narratives. These longer poems convey multiple specific stories while still opening themselves up for the audience to imprint their own experiences onto the work.”

This poem is an excerpt from a longer epic poem of the same name. It’s meant to be a “choose your own adventure” type poem, where you can read it in any order you like. Read it here in series form.

The Mining Town
by Holly Lyn Walrath

is all bric-a-brac now. Tourists cram into houses-turned-stores, drink beer on the corners from the new microbrewery in the old mill, buy sweatshirts that say “I mined the deep and all I got was this stupid shirt,” but few take the walk up…