Michael R. Collings

MICHAEL R. COLLINGS is professor of English, director of creative writing, and poet-in-residence at Seaver College, Pepperdine University. Author of a number of poetry collections, in addition to scholarly studies of Or- son Scott Card, Stephen King, and other fantasy/science-fiction writers. He is also the organist in his Thousand Oaks, California, ward. He and his wife, Judit

The Golden Chain

Articles/Essays – Volume 16, No. 4

Paradise pendant from a golden chain
opal pendant paradise
swirling blue and green
through white cloud streaks:
golden chain gleaming on the breast of God.

Refracted Visions and Future Worlds: Mormonism and Science Fiction

Articles/Essays – Volume 17, No. 3

Although science fiction and religion both attempt to define possible or J probable future states, they often seem incompatible. Critics of science fiction frequently argue that including religion in science fiction vitiates the power of…

Southern Idaho Summer

Articles/Essays – Volume 17, No. 4

I was six.
I wheeled Grandpa’s milk cans out
to wait like patient soldiers for the cheese truck.
I strutted in a new red and blue
corduroy cowboy suit.

David and Bathsheba

Articles/Essays – Volume 18, No. 1

When I slid the damask
from its plastic sleeve
to spread it on the table,
the stain throbbed against crisp white.

LDS Assumptions | Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead, and Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

Articles/Essays – Volume 20, No. 3

The only major LDS science-fiction writer, Orson Scott Card recently won the Nebula Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America for Ender’s Game (1985) and nominations for the Hugo Award. Speaker for the Dead…

Bodies

Articles/Essays – Volume 21, No. 1

Weight —
heavy weighting down
of airier stuff
in birth

Baptism: As Light as Snow

Articles/Essays – Volume 24, No. 3

Cool, waist-high,
shallowerthanremembered;
eight years ago, it seemed
that I would float.

Patchwork

Articles/Essays – Volume 24, No. 4

The fields south of Salt Lake
Must be old.
From the air, in October,
They lie barren, empty,

Penetrating the Heart of Mormonism | Orson Scott Card, The Memory of Earth: Homecoming

Articles/Essays – Volume 25, No. 1

The Memory of Earth begins the five volume story of the Oversoul, the master computer of the planet Harmony. For forty million years, the Oversoul has preserved peace among humans exiled into space by a…

Entire Unto Himself

Articles/Essays – Volume 25, No. 4

Already cold and stiff by the time I arrived,
It was a shallow shadow, gray against black;
A collar of blood fringed its matted coat.

Warren Travels With His Father

Articles/Essays – Volume 26, No. 2

in the
dense Montana heat, the BLM vehicle musty
and smelling of oil, sweat, and age.

Nestling

Articles/Essays – Volume 27, No. 2

They hatched today. Last night
when I peeked among the apples
they were eggs, four, end to end
among twigs and scraps and a twitch

To a Cymbidium Orchid Blooming on December 25th

Articles/Essays – Volume 31, No. 3

You must have burst surprised
thrusting up your single spear
so soon past All
Hallow’s-Eve

An Act of Faith

Articles/Essays – Volume 33, No. 4

Flat, oval galaxies float—indeterminately
Distant yet distinct—above. . .glimmer and prepare
To fade into determinate darkness.