Because the idea of poetry pirates was too good to resist. Dedicated to Cassandra. Published in the first anniversary double issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies. A 2010 WSFA Small Press Award finalist.

In point of fact, there is no poetry in this story.  I thought about it, but it is a rule for me now that I don’t put poetry in stories, on the grounds that there is too much bad poetry out there already.  “Alas, Lirette” does, partly because I was in undergrad when I wrote it, and partly because I wrote it before I formulated that rule for myself.