TWO SCIFAIKU & A DREAM TANKA: Response to One Single Impression Prompt of 6/22/08

[two scifaiku]


no way to go
"Crazy" plays as the glass
starship cracks


* * * *

tea in cracked cups
rescued crash landers
learn an alien song



* * * * * * * * * * * *



[a dream tanka]


the disaster spreads
outside my plate glass window
I wake while writing a song:
nothing’s a sure thing, baby,
so play the game with most heart


* * * *

The prompt for this week at ONE SINGLE IMPRESSION is “melody.” The first two pieces above are scifaiku. The third is a tanka about a dream. (I wrote those last two lines in the dream along with a tune, but I can’t recall the melody – sigh.)

Visit ONE SINGLE IMPRESSION to enjoy the melodies with which the others play.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

**** [aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT, and Yahoo DREAMJIN: Group for Dreamku – Haiku-Like Dream Poems ****

SCIFAIKU: Response to One Single Impression Prompt of 6-8-08

sleeping kittens
float by the delighted child
no-gravity surprise

The prompt this week at ONE SINGLE IMPRESSION is "pets." The small poem above is a scifaiku, a haiku-based scifi/fantasy theme form I've shared here a few times before.

I'm sure you will enjoy a visit to ONE SINGLE IMPRESSION, where you can read the full prompt and others' intriguing responses.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

**** [aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT, and Yahoo DREAMJIN: Group for Dreamku – Haiku-Like Dream Poems ****

SCIFAIKU: Response to One Single Impression Prompt of 5/11/08

MORPHING CHIYO-NI

The prompt this week at ONE SINGLE IMPRESSION is "warm." Before I share my scifaiku in response I need to do a little explaining. Every once in a while a member of the scifaiku writing list I participate in will suggest we "morph" a haiku by a haiku Master into a scifaiku. So first is the haiku, then my scifaiku "morph":

change of kimono:
showing only her back
to the blossom's fragrance

(by Chiyo-ni, woman Haiku master)

change of state
turning their proud backs
to the Nova's flare

(my "morph" into a scifaiku)

I think a Nova's flare would be considerably warm. :-) Please visit ONE SINGLE IMPRESSION (link above) to see others' always intriguing responses to the week's prompt.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT, and Yahoo DREAMJIN: Group for Dreamku – Haiku-Like Dream Poems.

SCIFI HAIGA: Response to One Single Impression Prompt of 3-30-08

stone drunk/under Medusa's glare/narrow escape

The prompt this week at ONE SINGLE IMPRESSION is "laughter." You can visit there to read the full prompt and enjoy others' senses of humor. What gave me a surprised giggle was I had originally thought to post a lengthy, very funny prose piece by someone else today, when I recalled that the new prompt for OSI would be up by now. So laughter was in the air!

BTW, the words on the image above are a scifaiku, a haiku-like form with scifi/fantasy themes. The image is a figurine of Medusa from the old film "Clash of the Titans." And I'd like to add that I have had a great fondness for Medusa from childhood, learning many years later that in her most ancient form She was an earth Goddess, so I am having fun with Her from a place of great affection.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT, and Yahoo DREAMJIN: Group for Dreamku – Haiku-Like Dream Poems.

SCIFAIKU: Response to One Single Impression Prompt of 3-16-08

the moons rise
overlapping shadows
lead us home

The prompt this week at ONE SINGLE IMPRESSION is "circle." (As always, please visit to enjoy others' responses.)

Scifaiku are like haiku and have scifi/fantasy themes.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT, and Yahoo DREAMJIN: Group for Dreamku – Haiku-Like Dream Poems.

HAIKU in Response to One Deep Breath Prompt of 1-6-08

glorious the moon
therefore our thanks dark clouds
come to rest our necks

The theme this week at One Deep Breath is the moon. I’ve always loved the above classic Japanese haiku by the wonderful Basho (Haiku Hut/Basho).

Here’s a scifaiku (haiku like form with scifi/fantasy theme) I wrote a long time ago in response to it:

moonless world
unthinking
we crane our necks

You can drop by One Deep Breath (link above) and check out the comments to appreciate the results of others' moon gazing.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT.

"SCIFAIGA": Response to One Deep Breath Prompt of 12/24/07

[baby shower gift/a new universe/spins above the crib]

The above is a scifaiku (haiku-like science fiction/fantasy form), so might be better termed a scifaiga, than haiga. :-) The photo is of the Cat's Eye Nebula, by the way.

May we all find the wonders of a new universe spinning in each new day. Happy Holidays!

To enjoy the other gifts prompted this week, visit One Deep Breath.

* * * *

'til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT.

SCIFAIKU by Patricia Kelly

nuclear spring
an ancient lighthouse points
to the shattered moon

Only days after I wrote this scifaiku in July of 2006, I received my copy of T.V. Guide with this above ad on the back cover for a new T.V. show. I'd not known about this show and it's premise of life in a small town after nuclear war, resulting in a shattered moon. Imagine my utter surprise!

I had to cut the ad in two because it had T.V. show advertising in the middle. I tried "pasting" it together again in the Paint program but the seam was very disruptive. I think my compromise works well enough, even echoing the idea of "shattering."

This scifaiku (sans the ad) was just published (along with another poem of mine) in the recently released "Dwarf Stars 2007." From the back cover "...this collection from the Science Fiction Poetry Association assembles 41 short poems of the fantastic from some of the most vibrant creators in the field." It's a delightful collection and I highly recommend it, especially -- but not only -- for lovers of speculative poetry. Visit the SFPA site to read more about it and/or to place an order; just scroll down on the left: Science Fiction Poetry Association.

NOTE OF MARCH 2, 2008: This scifaiku was just published on Tinywords.com, a site that offers a daily haiku, both on site and by email. It was quite a delight to have a scifaiku accepted for this haiku-focussed site. And, I must admit, it tickles me that it is one of mine. :-)

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT.

SCIFAIKU FOR HALLOWEEN/SAMHAIN in Response to One Deep Breath Prompt of 10/29/07

The Chariot in The Halloween Tarot

The prompt this week at One Deep Breath is “change.” October 31st marks a big change with All Hallow’s Eve and then the subsequent All Soul's Day. It is also New Year’s (Samhain) in my pagan tradition. So, as I hurry off to upstate New York to visit another retirement residence I’m interested in, I thought I’d leave you with some of my old scifaiku (haiku-like poems with scfifi/fantasy/horror themes) for Halloween/Samhain. I seriously doubt I’ll have any computer access at all during the three days I’m away, so I may not be able to make any posts, or check emails or comments until November second.

ghosts roar out
of the mercury waves
beached on old earth

* * * *

this new world’s fire
refuses to burn witches
kindred spirits

* * * *

bog fires
the fleshless bones of dancers
mark their own rhythms

* * * *

line of ghouls – Fresh Death Sale!

* * * *

hide in the caves, child
the Dragon is hungry
Green Cheese Moon

* * * *

an ego for lunch
hungry again in one hour
psi-vamp on the prowl

* * * *

snatching a soul
through the veil
dessert

* * * *


through your ghostly form
my sorrowing reach

* * * *

a nine-way kiss
takes some getting used to
hydra lover

* * * *

only dust
she sweeps where his soul
briefly danced

* * * *

immortal prison
your soul in the keep
of my dark heart

* * * *

the dark refuses
to hurry
a sun always rises

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT.

SCIFAIKU by Patricia Kelly

would that there were winds//to sweep it all away//this roaring of minds

The brightest light in the photo above is actually Mars. The scifaiku (a haiku-like poem with a sci-fi/fantasy theme) is an old one of mine I ran across organizing and weeding out my scifaiku files. It's pretty much how I'm feeling these days. Too much going on, too much to be done, too much coming at me, too much emotional and mental "noise," etc. It's all to the good, but stressful nevertheless. I can't wait until I at least know where I'll be moving and approximately when, for instance. I'm leaving town again on Tuesday for a trip to upstate New York -- not too far from Lake Placid -- to check out another retirement residence I'm interested in.

* * * *

Resource: Scifaiku.com.

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT.

THREE KINDS OF SEPARATION (Three Scifaiku) by Patricia Kelly

moonlit willow
oh, to be in his
arms, arms, arms


* * *


an embrace of tentacles
oh, for the willows
of Earth


* * *


no one to feel her death the last empath


* * *

Scifaiku are science fiction/ fantasy/ horror/ galactic themed haiku-like poems. The image above is The Three of Swords in The Witches Tarot (by Ellen Cannon Reed, published by Llewellyn) which can have the meaning of "separation."

* * * *

Resource: Science Fiction Poetry Assocation.

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT.

THE FUTURE OF DREAMS (Five Scifaiku)

Death (XIII), a Tarot card,

by Stephanie Pui Mun Law

I've recently started organizing my haiku and other small poetry forms files. Although I've always kept paper copies of all my poems, with various computer crashes and the piles of unorganized paper copies, they have been in rather a mess for some time. Many don't have any date on them at all or any mention of where they may have been published, and too many aren't even on my current computer. It's quite an undertaking but I feel up to it.

The poems below of mine are scifaiku, a haiku based form with science fiction, fantasy or horror themes. I unearthed these as I began this big organizing project. They were all written back when I first discovered the form, probably all in 1998 or '99, and I've edited a couple slightly where I thought I could improve them. I've selected them because they all reference dreams.

THE FUTURE OF DREAMS
(Five Scifaiku)

refugees
they ride starships
we, dreams

invaded by bodies
the dream ship fades
lost in space

centuries
of frozen dreams
haunted cryo-ship

strange dreams, these
the elders say they are of earth
genetic flotsam

seventh generation
dreams of earth burn away
under the constant sun

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT.

SCIFAIKU: Response to One Deep Breath Prompt for 4/23/07

an unopened
braille book by the crater
memories of earthrise

One Deep Breath's prompt this week is to consider Earth Day. The piece above is a scifaiku, a haiku inspired form with science fiction/fantasy/horror themes. In the case of this scifaiku it may not be one for much longer. Humans have stood on the moon and looked at earthrise. However, I don't believe a blind person has yet had the joy of remembering earthrise from beside a moon-crater. :-) May we all remember our earth's many beauties and joys, and treat Her accordingly.

The photo is from Liquid Sculpture and is used by permission. You can visit One Deep Breath (link above) to read the wide variety of others' responses to the prompt.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT.

REVIEW OF STELLAR POSSIBILITIES by John J. Dunphy

STELLAR POSSIBILITIES
Author: John J. Dunphy
Illustrator: 7ARS
Sam's Dot Publishing
[see bottom of post for ordering information]

You may have read my review of Dunphy's book, "Old Soldiers Fading Away," a serious collection of haiku and other small poetry forms. "Stellar Possibilities" is a very different collection of small forms, almost entirely scifaiku (haiku-based scfi-fi/fantasy form), with a decidedly humorous bent overall:

his turn to bowl -
the alien rolls a ball
in every lane

prom night
her alien date's boutonniere
growing from his chest

This is a good point at which to mention the illustrations by 7ARS, that so delightfully puncutate many of Dunphy's humorous poems.

Then there are surprise, more serious gems, such as:

cemetery
where once Dad's tombstone stood
his hologram

child's burial
weeping next to the parents
the android nanny

Dunphy's scifaiku also invite us to think about how future changes may effect us:

jury selection
prosecutor objects to
the defendant's clone

baptismal water
on the alien infant's forehead
sizzling

The book ultimately left me feeling I'd not so much explored the future or met charming and intriguing aliens (though these do abound), as been offered fresh views of here and now:

meteor shower
even more stunning seen from
another planet

Sometimes we have to leave "home" to fully appreciate and know it. This book offers us just such an opportunity, while also providing a fun, imaginative ride.

* * * *

PLEASE NOTE: Copies can be purchased through the author at:

The Second Reading Book Shop
16 East Broadway
Alton, IL 62002
$6.00, plus $1.00 postage
Illinois residents, please include 7.1% sales tax.
Out of USA, query for shipping rates.
Phone orders: 618-462-2830, Mastercard and Visa accepted.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blog: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL.

SEEDS IN THE WIND (Three Scifaiku)

a new age
the wind from angels' wings
stirs the ashes

young dragons
try their wings:
seed filled winds

Pele's old front porch
the backs of sprouts
crack lava

* * * *

These were not written as a series, nor even in the same time periods. But as I was skimming through my scifaiku for something to post today I realized they sort of tell a little story when read together.

The image above is copyright Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. She also has designed Tarot cards. Give her fabulous site, Shadowscapes, a visit.

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blog: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL.

ALL DAILY DREAMKU POSTED IN JANUARY 2007

[Image: from a photo in the 1974 program of the second Star Trek convention ever held in New York City, which I attended -- I also attended the first in 1973. I'll be doing a post with pictures of my trekker memorabilia in the future :-D]

This month's dreamku have more scifaiku-like themes -- space, fairies, galaxies, Star Trek, etc. -- than I've come to expect, so may seem further from being haiku or even senryu than usual. There's also more humor than I usually note in a month's worth of my dream kus. Though humor is not unusual in regular or classic haiku by others and even in my scifaiku, it does tend to be in short supply in my dreamku. At least humor that I intend. :-)

A friend once said that she was quite puzzled by most of my dreamku, that they were rather different from "regular" haiku. I agree that the themes of my dream haiku are almost always quite different from non-dream haiku. However, what one of my dream haiku asks is to take on the dream image as if it were our own and see what that feels like, or what thoughts it generates. And how different is that from what non-dream haiku request of us? That is, non-dream haiku offer a moment for us to try on, or to get inside, as opposed to telling us what to experience or think.

So here are this month's dream haiku for you to try on. You can't get any of these "wrong," BTW. These are not puzzles to be figured out or solved. They are simply open for your experiencing ... if I've done my job well enough setting the dream stage, and have also resisted the urge to give too much stage direction. That last may be the case in a few of these dream haiku below, i.e. I've over-directed. But I survive to dire ... oops! ... write again. :-)

ALL DAILY DREAM HAIKU POSTED IN JANUARY 2007

January 1, 2007

we transmute
into fairy-like slaves
I discover flight



January 2, 2007

no time off
computer glitches repeat
in my dreams



January 3, 2007

galactic journey
we seek the lost
steering mechanism



January 4, 2007

I turn his rage
into a silly food fight
fruit in my ear



January 5, 2007

she tries to get by
the knot in the food line
magic camp



January 6, 2007

quarantine...sunrise on the beach



January 7, 2007

she rinses me off
from head to foot
full service



January 8, 2007

the toddler wanders
through an adult-filled room
neck ache



January 9, 2007

she held us each
in her open-ended view
we release her now*

*Based on a dream of 1/7/07 about my 86 year young friend
who just died. See my post “Tarot Reading for Nena,”
dated 1/3/07, in her memory.



January 10, 2007

the sudden free fall
of the elevator
surviving bottom



January 11, 2007

trying to hold
the river in a net
haiku after haiku



January 12, 2007

she’d offer a child
a wonderful heritage
gene envy



January 13, 2007

eons ago they
split into two species
their forbidden love



January 14, 2007

going places:
their wheelchairs draw power
from the third rail



January 15, 2007

grief numbs
she dances on the rocks to
reduce them to sand



January 16, 2007

George Clooney naked:
a cranky and stumbling
Greek statue



January 17, 2007

Moses the cat
rejects his usual food
where will this lead



January 18, 2007

influence trap
she paints the mask
a pale aqua



January 19, 2007

resurrection
she takes over
my bedroom



January 20, 2007

I meet her in one
of her current three lives
fleet-foot



January 21, 2007

jammed in the doorway
beware of old friends
bearing gifts



January 22, 2007

the huge tree extends
an intricate limb toward me
twilight



January 23, 2007

tricked into
meeting with the enemy
only exit



January 24, 2007

she distills symbols
for the day’s hurts
removed



January 25, 2007

we stalk rich folk
in our old jalopy
moonlight joy ride



January 26, 2007

falling through space
at the speed of the earth
hanging on



January 27, 2007

snow on the way
dream of my father
malingering



January 28, 2007

whose butt is bigger
I both fear and want to win
this contest



January 29, 2007

the star ship crew
piles up in an orgy
Captain Kirk’s grin



January 30, 2007

Mama comes back to life
in good health
crowded kitchen*

*Note of 1-30-07: After initially posting this ku as: Mama in good health//comes back from the dead//crowded kitchen, I felt uncomfortable. The word "dead" is so heavy in the context of what was a lovely dream, and the inversion between the first and second lines serves no purpose so it's awkward. Then as I was climbing the three flights of stairs to my apartment it hit me how I could improve on the ku – and the version above is what I've come to. Maybe all that climbing exercise got some blood to my poor brain? :-D



January 31, 2007

free and clear
her rain soaked
formal gown clings

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blog: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL.

GREY (A Scifaiku String by Various Authors)

[Gray Dawn, by Jonathan Cummings, on webshots.com]

Back when I first started this blog, I did a post about scifaiku (scroll down to my post on scifaiku; see also "Resource" below for a scifaiku link). I've been writing in this haiku-based scifi/fantasy/horror form and taking part in a yahoo scifaiku group for years. I thought I'd share a recent string that I really enjoyed on this yahoo group.

For anyone not familiar with how a group like this works, someone makes a post. Then someone else appends a response, and so on. Sometimes the "Subject" topic is the guide for posts. At other times something in the last piece posted is the inspiration for the next responding (linking) scifaiku. The linking can be obvious or very subtle (puns are frequently made), but there is always some connection between each scifaiku in the string, from one to the other, and/or via the subject.

I'm not sure why the one below tickles me so. Maybe because I've been feeling like such an alien myself these days, even more than my usual wont. LOL! In any event, I share it here for you to enjoy. All authors have given their permission for their work to be posted here. Their names and contact information are listed at the end of this post in the order that the individual scifaiku appear.

Subject: Grey

the grey day blooms pale -
colour harvesters done with
the grey planet's dirt

another New Year
the greys' eyes
still haunt in dreams

it must be a Grey game--
one of us taken away
another given back

giving back
that grey sweater you bought me
in the spaceport gift shop

drove an awesome speedster
in some parallel dimension
winter-cloud gray

swallowed by light beams
he's one of the Disappeared
- the Greys go shopping

taken
aboard an alien craft
returned to myself

* * * *

And may we all be returned to ourselves by creativity and community when we are abducted by some life event, or wander too far away in sheer befuddlement.

AUTHORS:

Helen Patrice: helenpatrice@hotmail.com; http://sunstream10.tripod.com

Patricia (a/k/a Roswila)

oino sakai: oinosakai@yahoo.com

sakyu: sakyu_san@yahoo.com

David Kopaska-Merkel: jopnquog@Gmail.com

Helen Patrice: see above

sakyu: see above

* * * *

Resource: Scifaiku.com.

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blog: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL.

A HAIGA, DREAM 'KU & SCIFAIKU: Response to One Deep Breath 1-15-07

Phew! This week's prompt about reflections and/or taking a moment to reflect precipitated three widely different responses in me. The first below is an old haiku of mine I put on a graphic from webshots.com:



The words aren't as clear as I'd like, so just in case, the 'ku is: houseplants reflected/in the gazing ball/winter rain...I'm still learning to edit pictures and text in PaintBox. :-D BTW, the actual gazing ball is held on the wings of a fairy figurine, who sits among my plants on the table near the living room window. She is in a posture of reflection herself, but who knows on what.


This next is a dream 'ku, i.e. based on a recent dream:

crowded bus
the baby learns from me
to wave bye-bye

Writing this dream 'ku led me to think about how the world always mirrors our human actions, from the large as in the effects of global warming, to the "small" as in the somehow always awesome reflectivity of a baby.


And this last below is a scifaiku (link is to my post with more samples of this haiku-based scifi/fantasy/horror form):

unreflective
she styles her long hair by touch
petulant vampire

I just finished a book in which a vain and ancient female vampire has never gotten used to not being able to see herself in a mirror. She is an exceptionally evil and powerful vampire, and this lack of self-reflection is true in both senses of that term. (The graphic is The Queen of Swords in The Gothic Tarot of Vampires, published by LoScarabeo.)


Please visit One Deep Breath to read the full prompt, and to enjoy others' reponses.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blog: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL.

REVIEW OF DWARF STARS 2006

Dwarf Stars 2006:
The best science fiction, fantasy, and horror poems
of ten lines or less from 2005;
Edited by Deborah P. Kolodji
copyright 2006 Science Fiction Poetry Association
Published by Gromagon Press
P.O. Box 1717
Clearwater, FL 33757

"'tis the Season...," well, actually it's always the Season to indulge one's self in such a fabulous pleasure as this chapbook, Dwarf Stars 2006. But, of course, should you still be shopping for the Season, there is still time to make a gift of this delight-filled collection of very short science fiction, fantasy, and horror poetry to someone on your holiday gift list.

The poems in this collection were all published elsewhere in 2005 and selected for Dwarf Stars 2006 by the editor, Deborah Kolodji. None of these poems by 26 authors are longer than ten lines and some are haiku-length. All are intriguing and well worth savoring, again and again. A few are funny, many are deeply moving, others dazzle with unique imagery, and all entice us to visit other realities, worlds, futures. The cover art, by Marge Simon, says it all visually and in its title: Wonderment.

One nine line poem, "The Stepsister" by Peg Duthie, reminds us that there is always more to a story, to a life than is apparent. Another nine-liner, "Loki" by Amal El-Mohtar, explores the Loki myth through amazing images. And a haiku length one, by Tim Jamieson, is a poignant honoring of a friend: my friend's ashes/drifting away--/distant nebula. A poem by Ruth Berman, "Knowledge of," explores the law of attraction. And John J. Dunphy's haiku length vampire piece offers an ironic laugh.

I will reveal my prejudice first as a writer of very short speculative fiction, but I think something wonderful often happens in the process of producing a very short poem. Maybe as with diamonds, the compression intensifies and clarifies. However it may be, the poems in this collection are some of the best of very short speculative fiction.

My comments and brief sharing cannot do justice to the delicious variety of style and focus of the poems in this chapbook. But I do hope they will tweak your interest enough that you place an order. Where else can you get so many different world and time spanning journeys for just $5.00?

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blog: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL.

Scifaibun (A Haibun-Based Scifi-Fantasy Poetry Form)

In an earlier post I spoke about scifaiku. Today’s post shares one of my attempts at scifaibun, a form based on haibun (one or more poetic paragraphs with a capping haiku; see link at end of article for a haibun web site).

Scifaibun is a delightful form to write in. My brief comments follow it.

A CHANGE OF HEART
(from an alien point of view)

We are happily drinking the rising light when the foreign thing crashes through us, scattering poisonous shadows. Our ancestral stories speak of such things: solids, carrying even stranger solids – living things who are able to breathe in either light or shadow:

filling in
the wound of passage:
light heals all

We are briefly shocked – a rare feeling indeed – when a small solid separates from the larger solid. Although this little solid does not allow light to travel through it, its surface carries light, as it hovers quietly, bobbing:

oh, this “I”
is so lonely!
darkness looms

We turn to feeding on the joyous light, disturbed as the small solid’s feelings of separateness spread rapidly among us. They are so dense, these feelings. Will they block the light? Then it leaps:

the solid enters
our tumbling joy:
shadows burn away

The little solid spins madly, radiating fear. But what can it possibly be afraid of here? We are in joy, feeding together, singing to and through each other. This is the state we endlessly create, in spite of returning shadows, in spite of the dark’s cold fingers:

the solid’s fear
chills us:
joy is fleeting

We have no concept for this return of our songs from the outside of the solid in our midst, mixed with its fading fear. We have only "through" and "toward" and "with" for singing. But trailing our songs returned by the solid comes a new conception:

we are a-tremble
with this discovery:
this cry, this "echo"

And, oh, the small solid’s song of fear vibrates on to a new level, thrilling through us with our mutual delight at new understandings:

the solid knows!
the giving
is the song

Our old heart bursts the eons of memories it holds for us diffused easily into our nearest nascent heart. We trill our old one’s death joy:

hearts change
the songs
go on forever

* * * *

This resulted from a suggestion to the scifaiku group to write a scifaibun from an alien viewpoint. In mine above, the alternating paragraphs and scifaikus can read a bit like a "call and response" piece. The paragraphs being the chorus, and the scifaikus being individual voices crystallizing the point.

* * * *

May we all sing our songs of changing.

Resource: Contemporary Haibun Online.

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
* * * *If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email
me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) * * * *
FUTURE POST(S):Using Your Dreams to Create Poetry & Stories (4 fun exercises); Using Tarot With Dreams That Got Away. * * * *