Sci-Fi-Ku

Hat-tip to PLEP for this link to an old, but still interesting site Sci-Fi-Ku, devoted to "Sci-Fi-Ku" a marriage of Japanese haiku sensibility and contemporary scientific insight, as well as futuristic speculation. Per example:

hydroponics bay:
a snail among stars
on the wide porthole glass.

ramship prostitute:
again spitting the copper taste
from her mouth.

neuronal stimulation:
young monk trades minds
with a sparrow

…all by Tom Brinck - but there are many more poets, and it's all kinda fun and sometimes quite impressive.

This approach to poetry has been one which has largely eluded me. My most satisfying effort was a sort of tanka composed from fragments 98a and 98b from Sappho:

A very great ornament
from my mother's prime -
hair wound with purple.

Ornaments indeed!
Bindings with spangles,
or hair like yellow torches?

Daughter, no sparkling tiaras!
Where would I find them
in exile?

For a joke, I called this "Sapphu", and it was published in Lynx, an online journal for haiku, tanka and ghazal.

You might enjoy PLEP, a quirky mix of art and science.

Andrew