Keith Allen Daniels is an American poet, publisher, and editor from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also a research scientist by day but claims that his "soul belongs to the night." Keith is a member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association and has been publishing poetry since 1972.
His poems have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, SomePIG! (an "arachnoid poezine"), Weird Tales, Recursive Angel, Poets of the Fantastic, Narcopolis, Once Upon a Midnight and numerous other magazines and anthologies. In addition, he has published several collections of his poetry.
In addition to winning the National Association of Independent Publishers’ Fallot Literary Award for What Rough Book in 1993, his work has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Rhysling Award (13 times), the Pushcart Prize and the Clark Ashton Smith International Poetry Award. His poem, “Satan is a Mathematician”, was awarded the 1995 Rhysling Award (Honorable Mention) in the Short Poem category.
A sample of his work follows. Keith Allen Daniels' poetry invariably dazzles the reader with terrific twists of humor and/or irony. You can check out more of the poet's work and view his bibliography by visiting the link to his web site, "Apokalyptikon", provided at end of this document.
Porifera
Sponges grow in the ocean. That kills me.
Imagine how much deeper the oceans would be
if that didn’t happen. — Steven Wright
Looking for all the world (and beyond)
like giant desiccated morels
with long and spindly, Daliesque legs —
ludicrous legs that never quite reach the ground —
the sponge-things appear from nowhere
(which is to say, the periphery of everywhere)
and very cleverly up-end themselves
into every pond and lake, ocean, sea and sinkhole
on this beautiful blue planet,
headstanding like baobab trees
and waving their pointless legs in the air.
And they swell to the size
of Brobdingnagian beachballs
as every drop of available water
is absorbed by their absurdly poriferous bodies.
Destroyed: nearly all aquatic and pelagic life forms.
Altered irrevocably: global climatic patterns.
Definitely pissed off: environmentalists everywhere.
And they do this, not for petty xenophobic
reasons, or for spite — we could understand
those things — or for any nefandous purpose
known only to themselves,
but purely and simply
because they suck.
Copyright © 1996 Keith Allen Daniels
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