REVIEW OF "ANCIENT SKIES," A SCIFAIKU COLLECTION BY OINO SAKAI

"A haiku is a captured moment in time.
A scifaiku is a captured moment in a possible future."

by Oino Sakai
Illustrator: Andrea Gradidge; Editor: Teri Santitoro
Web site: Sam's Dot Publishing
Email: samsdot@samsdotpublishing.com
P.O. Box 782
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52406-0782 USA

This book was a special joy to read as it shares a form of poetry I am extremely fond of and write in myself: scifaiku. In one of the scifaiku, the author expresses exactly what I experienced as I read through his collection:

imagination         bigger on the inside

I'd re-read a poem to savor it and something more would open up. Sometimes a deepening of feeling:

written in frost
inside the visor --
death poem

...in this instance, connecting a future scene to an ancient classic haiku tradition of writing a poem near one's death.


Other times, an entire futuristic story would unfold from three short lines:

holed starship
table set for forty
frost covered

And at other times, a light touch of humor would spread:

happy smile --
four teeth
8 tentacles

I also found myself seeing through alien eyes:

eyes cast down
as is only proper
they shake our earstalks

...and reveling in the wonderful haibun (scifaiku with prose) about a generous-spirited, star-ship towing squid race.

This collection also includes touching, entertaining and thought provoking futuristic writing in other poetry forms such as tanka, kanshi, acrostika, fibonacci, and stellarenga. It is nicely highlighted with artwork. The cover haiga (illustrated scifaiku) is especially moving -- the graphic at the top of this post does not do it justice.

The over-all effect of these poems is of a deep yearning. A yearning for that which the imagination insists is possible, if only for now in poetry. Treat yourself to a feast of imagination, both this author's and your own, and buy this book. You will also be supporting the free and small indie presses by doing so. These presses are where imagination and its sibling, experimentation, can still roam free.

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‘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.