Last Update on 10/17/01
INTRODUCTION
Welcome. I appreciate your visit and I hope you find my poetry thought-provoking and interesting. For science fiction enthusiasts, scifaiku offers a new form
of literary expression. To fully understand scifaiku, please refer to Tom Brinck's Scifaiku Manifesto (see link).
As you will notice, I do not strictly adhere to the haiku form (5-7-5 syllables per line) when I write scifaiku. I just write what works and feels best for a given poem. Actually, now that I think of it, some of my stuff is more vignette than haiku (Oops. Don't tell Tom...). However, I do endeavor to stay within the tanka form as closely as possible when writing Fantanka (see below). The form is long enough to need this restriction. And, after all, it's a great challenge.
I usually write about cyberpunk and biotech-related themes. My next series of scifaiku will focus on nanotech's impact on society in the next century. Or, as can be succinctly put, the macro impact of micro on mankind.
Let me know what you think about the subject, if you've got the time...
On a sad note: When I started this site five years ago, there were quite a few aspiring scifaijin. As the Web has gotten more and more mainstream, it seems many of their links have not been updated in years, or have gone the way of 404. I'm sure there are scifaijin lurking out there. If so, friends, please let me know where you are.
LEGALITIES
Unless otherwise attributed to another author, all works contained herein are (c) 1995-2001 Roger Cotton, All Rights Reserved. Thank you.
SCIFAIKU
Passed the retinal scan, the xray field,
the cavity probe, and the DNA verification
I hurry to the Gate
Ah, the freedom of flying
Medieval madmen hijack God
and try to murder the 21st Century
Planetary stop
While refuelling, fossil found
Five-fingered imprint
monitor flicker
reflected in the dilated pupils
of the I.C.E.d hacker
There'll be no more war
once the personal forcefields start shipping
Devolving into Cro-Mag:
As Everyman scans Classifieds
Skillset obsolesces
Unzipped skin hangs by door
As dial is set to Homeworld's frequency
Time to make report
luminescent bud
blooming amid the nebula
ship flies in from hyperspace
If he were a poet circa 2040 AD,
He would have written This
In a clean, well-lighted place
loneliness floods the chamber
"Cryogenic sequence on..."
I sleep into the future
Upon Locating the Source of the Beacon
cosmic barnacles
encrusted on the alien hull
through the Void, its whale's song
red-haired replicant of a past love
time travel is possible
when I'm in your silver arms
digital alchemist
mixing pixels and polygons
animating the geometry
Texture-mapped flowers
Wither in the harsh point light
Of my 3D world
She, wireframe
Galatea.obj, my Love
I, Pygmallion
Now that I am cloned
Will my younger self, at last
Realize my dreams?
She stood at the Edge
Of Time, her hand out
Tempting me from you
Shopped for new body
Good warranty and extras
High resale value
Rabid sexual needs
Genetically removed
Neutered male sits docile
Van Winkle awakes
Sees the blinking light and weeps:
"Cryotube malfunction."
Plug in arm. Pop in eye.
Adjust reproductive system.
Put on make up.
Much to do before big date.
Outside cloning facility:
Bump into person leaving
Glint of flaw in his too, too perfect eyes.
I paid a visit
To the past. Alas, my trip
Sent ripples. My hands-!
Suspended in the amniotic amber
Memories chemically-imprinted
Waiting to be born. Again.
It trails a trillion miles behind.
We return to normal space
And my stomach slams back into place.
Oh, great.
Scotty's energizing
And my foot's aslee-
Customer Service Call to General Robotics
"No, I CAN'T read you my Serial Numbers.
Some joker on the assembly line
Etched them on my butt!!"
That discarded mass of flesh
Was once my brother Timmy.
IT has jumped AGAIN!
cyberpsionicist
I jac'd in
And looked around the neon landscape
Smoky spaceport bar:
Above pilots, smugglers, borgs,
Feline women dance
the wind slices like shards:
hot cold wet sweat pins needles
as I try out my new skin
In the mirror I can see
Traces of the pig then cat
In my transgenic features
Hyperspace:
Kalaidescopic sea
of churning stars
CyberJack Takes a Holiday
Part I
The balmy breezes
Of Jamaica short-circuit
The servos in my arm
Part II
"Waitress, there's a fly in my Banana Boat."
"You want me to get you another drink, mon?"
"Never mind..."
gulp
It's the only organic thing left in me."
Part III
The chrome-clad couple
Strolls by and I sneer. Is it
Envy or the cyberpsychosis?
Dermal Regulators
Fail to chase away the chill
Of being almost all machine.
FANTANKA
As for Fantanka, I like to write poetry concerning High Fantasy themes and subjects in the tanka form (5-7-5-7-7 syllables per line). High Fantasy pertains to the literary genre best exemplified by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings) and Ursula K. Le Guin (The Wizard of EarthSea series).
Fantanka should evoke an emotional response from its readership by humanizing the inhuman and the fantastical. As in scifaiku, fantanka should also incorporate direct or metaphorical references to Nature. For example, the subject of a fantanka could be about a manticore's lonely existence. To humanize this fantastical being, and thus enable the reader to relate to its experience, you might describe the manticore's reaction to the beauty of a rose bush that is growing outside of its fetid lair.
If you would like to submit your own fantanka, I would be happy to post it on this site. Or, you can use the Free Web Pages link below to create your own Scifaiku / Fantanka web site (and then link it to mine).
The stench pervades my lair:
Droppings, dander, death, despair
Drowning me in darkness
Yet, wafting through the cavern
The fragrance of a thorny bloom!
Shy forest femme dips
Her green toe then scurries back
Into the oak's embrace
As ripples spread across
The magic pool's liquid face
Straining through dirt, rock,
Muscled elemental breaks
Through the surface. He
Gasps at sight as tears fill eyes.
At last! The mythic sunrise!
Half the pleasure of the hunt
Is the struggling
Yet in your wide eyes
I see what mirrors don't show:
Beast of night, with fangs - no soul.
He battled the shade-
Wrapped in its icy dark cloak,
Seething evil form--
That arose and drained Her life
After he had summoned it.
READER SUBMISSIONS
nanolottery
tell me i can scratch and win
just 10 more minutes
- Leslie Gornstein
INTRODUCTION
Welcome. I appreciate your visit and I hope you find my poetry thought-provoking and interesting. For science fiction enthusiasts, scifaiku offers a new form
of literary expression. To fully understand scifaiku, please refer to Tom Brinck's Scifaiku Manifesto (see link).
As you will notice, I do not strictly adhere to the haiku form (5-7-5 syllables per line) when I write scifaiku. I just write what works and feels best for a given poem. Actually, now that I think of it, some of my stuff is more vignette than haiku (Oops. Don't tell Tom...). However, I do endeavor to stay within the tanka form as closely as possible when writing Fantanka (see below). The form is long enough to need this restriction. And, after all, it's a great challenge.
I usually write about cyberpunk and biotech-related themes. My next series of scifaiku will focus on nanotech's impact on society in the next century. Or, as can be succinctly put, the macro impact of micro on mankind.
Let me know what you think about the subject, if you've got the time...
On a sad note: When I started this site five years ago, there were quite a few aspiring scifaijin. As the Web has gotten more and more mainstream, it seems many of their links have not been updated in years, or have gone the way of 404. I'm sure there are scifaijin lurking out there. If so, friends, please let me know where you are.
LEGALITIES
Unless otherwise attributed to another author, all works contained herein are (c) 1995-2001 Roger Cotton, All Rights Reserved. Thank you.
SCIFAIKU
Passed the retinal scan, the xray field,
the cavity probe, and the DNA verification
I hurry to the Gate
Ah, the freedom of flying