Here are the 2025 Hugo poetry finalists ordered from best to not so great, according to my tastes/
★★★★★ Care for Lightning, by Mari Ness
Mari Ness’s “Care for Lightning was published in Uncanny Magazine Issue 62. It is my favorite of this year’s poetry finalists. It’s a poem about Hera, the goddess who was Zeus’s long-suffering consort. Zeus is of course the god who controls lightning, and that power made him chief of of the Olympian gods. Here is the final verse:
Nah, I haven’t forgotten who I’m speaking to. Don’t need to see those scars. Bitch got stuff done — that’s what I say. You know — you know — oh, gods you know — what power does to all of us. Gonna take care of this lightning now.
I am a bit puzzled by this, because in fact I don’t know who the poet is speaking to. I wish I did.
★★★★☆ The Mourning Robot, by Angela Liu
Another entry from Uncanny, Issue 66. You can find it here. For me this poem evoked the concept of “professional mourners,” a phrase I have read many a time in fiction, and which apparently describes a real thing. “The Mourning Robot” appeared to me to describe robots constructed to mourn the dead, sincerely. It’s brief: only 20 short lines.
I liked this a lot.
★★★★☆ The World to Come, by Jennifer Hudak
“The World to Come” is another contribution from Strange Horizons, and can be found here—it was originally published 22-Dec-2025. This poem imagines resurrection, occurring the way that Jewish tradition says it will. It is described from the point of view of a person suffering resurrection. I choose the word “suffering” advisedly.
It’s an “I never thought of that” poem. This was clever. If you long for immortality, this poem might convince you to reconsider.
★★★☆☆ Hex Supply Customer Support Log by Elis Montgomery
This poem purports to be a conversation on the Customer support line of Hex Supply, a mail-order business that sells supplies for witches. It appeared in Strange Horizons 25-Aug-2025 and can be read here., It is both familiar and strange. The caller accuses the support system of being a bot, an AI, but it claims to be a real witch.
Montgomery was obviously aiming for humor (not just humor, but that’s a part of it), and for me it didn’t really land.
★★★☆☆ How to Become a Sea Witch, by Theodora Goss
“How to Become a Sea Witch” appeared in the substack publication The Orange and Bee 18-Apr-2025. It describes a metamorphosis from a human to a sea-witch.
★★☆☆☆ Landing: Seattle, by Brandon O’Brien
I don’t know of any place to read “Landing: Seattle” other than the 2026 Hugo finalists packet. This poem was, I believe, composed for the opening ceremony of Seattle Worldcon 2025.
Here, I have a confession to make: I have never attended Worldcon. In fact, I have never attended any convention, except for professional scientific meetings. This poem therefore completely failed to land for me—I haven’t the experience to appreciate it.