So pleased with the publication of my poem “The Testimonial” in the Fall issue of Forgotten Ground Regained, a magazine that features modern alliterative verse. Alliterative poetry has enjoyed a resurgence lately, thanks in part to Dennis Wise’s book, Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival, which found a receptive market among groups such as the Society for Creative Anachronism. Those who appreciate Beowulf and “The Raven” know alliterative verse is the natural poetic style for English, which is a relatively rhyme-poor language.

Here’s the editor’s introduction to the Fall issue:

“This issue is devoted to speculative visions – poems set in imagined worlds, and which can therefore be classified as science fiction, fantasy, or horror (read broadly to include retellings of ancient myth and legend.) It includes not only original poems but reprints and excerpts of poems I consider significant for the modern alliterative revival.”

My contribution is a fantasy poem, “The Testimonial.” Perth, a famed wizard, sends an emissary to the conjure man of a small village to see what he thinks about a potential apprentice. The conjure man says the boy under consideration is too quirky to master advanced mystic arts. But the emissary suspects he’s hiding something….

The Fall issue of Forgotten Ground Regained is free to read online.