April is National Poetry Month, and though I’ve been behind on getting many posts up about it, I’m hustling and featuring several poets I know and love from the dark fiction/horror/fantasy/sci-fi genres this week. I’d want to thank the authors that agreed to hustle with me in order to be able to offer this small April series to readers. In the future, I plan to hopefully feature poetry here, beyond my own, at least one or two times a month as a special project.
One of those amazing ladies I adore for her positive spirit, her friendship, her talent, is Christina Sng! She’s a ray of sunshine to me every day and her creativity in both art and writing inspires me. Christina won a 2017 Bram Stoker Award® this year for her collection, A Collection of Nightmares from Raw Dog Screaming Press. She’s garnered more than 70 awards and nominations, including the Elgin, Rhysling, and the 2018 Jane Reichhold International Prize.
I’m very honored and excited that Christina chose to feature three of her 2018 Rhysling Award poems here on my site! They span various genres of science fiction and horror and were first published in various magazines as noted below. I hope you’ll love Christina’s work as much as I do. My favorite here is the one about Little Red Riding Hood.
And it was World Book Day yesterday as well, and Sng, lives in Singapore!
Enjoy….
STARLIGHT
It was far too early
When I woke this morning.
Starlight glimmered
In the sky like fireflies.
Yet the clock read ten
Despite the blanket of night,
Flung over the moon’s smile,
Leaving no crack of light.
That was when the news arrived.
The sun had just died.
We had but eight minutes
Before the Earth turned to ice.
— Christina Sng
Previously in Space and Time #129
MOONLIGHT IN THE PLAYGROUND
We wander the quiet playground
Hand-in-hand, chain-linked
And bound, blood thick within blood.
The moon is ivory rich tonight,
Shrouded by grey cotton wool clouds
Casting a soft filter on the foggy night.
My little girl softly hums
A bedtime melody about
Dragons and warrior children.
We pass by elephant swings
And an octopus roundabout,
And then she spies it,
Lets go of my hand,
Racing lightspeed toward it,
The dragon of her dreams:
Spiral loops wound in the air;
Musical notes crescendoing
Into a grand finale–
A dragon-headed slide, where
The little one now glides down,
Laughing with sheer joy,
My sweet soprano;
The high notes on
A child’s piano.
My boy is swinging
Upside down from
One of the spirals;
My bass clef, arms now
Outstretched, reminding me
Of those dexterous acrobats
We saw on television last week.
When did he let go
Of my hand to go play?
My focus has lost its razor
These days. Perhaps it is truly
Time to rest and hibernate.
The clouds yawn, puffing apart
To reveal a luminously silver moon.
She brightens up the entire night sky.
I call to them softly, kiss
Their disappointed cheeks,
Remind them that
Even the best orchestras
Need to end; and all living
Things need to sleep.
They nod in acquiescence,
Pondering now what wondrous
Adventures their dreams will bring.
And so I begin to sing,
An old melody my mother
Taught me as a child.
I hold their hands tight,
Feel our shared blood
Pulse between us.
Slowly we fade to star dust,
Drifting back into the skies,
Into the mysterious universe
Where we belong.
Motherless babe,
Taught to be self-sufficient
And brave at a young age.She gathered fruit,
Hunted squirrel, trained herself
To be a sharpshooter
With the wooden crossbow she made.
Werewolves in the forest,
The local rumors howled.
Little Red was unperturbed.
She had no fear at all.
She’d fought off snakes,
Outrun grizzlies,
Shot alligators
While spearing fishes.
“But this is new,” her ill Gran said,
“This is a cross between a wolf and a man.
He’s wily, wicked, and dangerous too.
I worry he might outsmart you.”
“Fear not, dear Gran,” Little Red said.
“I’ll fetch the doctor. Go back to bed.
My aim is true. If he causes trouble,
I’ll take care of it.”
Through the woods she walked,
Eyes ever watchful,
This fragile little girl,
Cloaked in a velvet red hood.
Predators stayed away,
Fearful of Little Red’s spear.
Only the new ones in the wood
Dared to venture near.
A soft woosh betrayed his presence.
Little Red sent two shots his way.
A yowl of pain from the south.
Little Red sent four more that way.
Out leapt the werewolf,
Dripping blood like bread crumbs.
That furry crazy-eyed wolf thing,
At Little Red he lunged.
She stepped artfully aside,
Shot him another two times:
Once in the head,
Once in his eye.
Another two for posterity,
And he was down
Splayed and drunk
Like a sheep skin rug.
Little Red rushed home,
Doc in tow.
Gran was sitting up,
Unnaturally flushed.
Her smile revealed
Stalactites in the snow.
She tore the good Doc in two
Without so much as a hello.
Little Red stared in dismay.
For the first time, she could not aim.
Scarecrow-still, she watched
Gran turn, face elongating,
Arms sprouting fur, like
Seedlings in slow-motion.
Gran’s nails and teeth
Grew like rabid weeds.
In her eyes,
A familiar crazed expression but
None of the love nor recognition
Little Red used to see inside.
She swung her new talons
At Little Red’s head, unfroze her
With the knowledge
That this was no longer Gran.
Gran would never
Raise her hand
At her beloved granddaughter.
This was truly some other monster.
Twin head shots
Dispatched that alien thing.
Little Red wept with sadness and rage
As she carried Gran’s body for burying.
Now marked
A new era for Little Red.
It was time to grow up;
Time to hunt predators instead.
– Christina Sng
Previously in Polu Texni, September 2017
By Christina Sng
ISBN-10: 1935738984
ISBN-13: 978-1935738985
Raw Dog Screaming Press, July 2017
92 pages
Christina Sng, Biography –
Christina Sng is an award-winning poet, writer, and artist. Her work has been published in numerous print and online venues worldwide and garnered more than 70 awards and nominations, including the 2018 Jane Reichhold International Prize. She is the author of A CONSTELLATION OF SONGS, CATKU, Elgin Award nominees AN ASSORTMENT OF SKY THINGS and ASTROPOETRY, and 2017 Bram Stoker Award® Winner A COLLECTION OF NIGHTMARES. Visit her at www.christinasng.com.
HOOK of a BOOK! 
This some way cool stuff! Thanks for sharing Christina’s poetry with us. It is powerful, yet playful, and empowering of women. I enjoy the surprise twist endings, too!
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I agree, Brian! Love her poetry! 🙂
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Reblogged this on Damaged Skull Writer and commented:
Hook of a Book is also celebrating National Poetry Month! Great writing from Christina Sng!
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