Beyond the Rim

Unique Visions of the Future

In this newest release of speculative poetry, Justin Bohardt is combining two separate poem cycles- "Solar Tempests" and "We're All Gaijin on Mars"- into one collection. Both cycles have individual pieces that have been featured in magazines such as Scifaikuest, Hungur, The Martian Wave, The Micro 100, and Aoife's Kiss.

The "Solar Tempests" cycle varies considerably in subject matter. From attempts to project humanity's flaws and prejudices into a futuristic landscape to the intricacies and hopeful humor of alien massage parlors, there is still one defining theme in this collection of poems. Whether it is the colonization of different worlds, death in outer space, the future of those photophobic covenant-breakers, or the nightmares that tear your soul asunder, this exploration contained in these poems is purely ethereal, looking to whatever lies beyond our time, our minds, and our lives.

In "We're All Gaijin on Mars," the capturing of nature's essence in seventeen precisely arranged syllables is moves from its classical roots and into the future as the nature of the stares, space exploration, alien contact, and the future of humanity beyond Earth is examined in over one hundred minimalist poems. This large cycle of Japanese-style minimalist poems set primarily in science fiction and fantasy settings contains works almost exclusively composed in the haiku format, although it also includes senryu, tanka, and haibun, as well as some free verse.