“Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact.

–attributed to Isaac Asimov

Imagine journeying across the stars in a generation spacecraft, like when European explorers crossed the ocean in Caravels. Or a comparable one in which a starship travels to a distant star for a duration no longer than a transatlantic flight. Visualize a world in which scientists have discovered—and neutralized—the gene that causes aging. Or one in which AI, fully in control of most of society, demands a contract with humanity recognizing its rights as a sentient lifeform. Frank Tassone, here, your host for another Haibun Monday, where we blend prose and haiku. Today, let’s dive into the deep end of the poetry pool. Let’s explore Scifi haibun!

During the last dVerse OLN Live, Bjorn, Sanaa, and I discussed prompts related to sci-fi poetry. Sanaa & I thought what a wild idea it would be to write both sci-fi poetry and haibun. Thus, here we are.

As you no doubt already know, Science Fiction (SciFi) is a sub-genre of Speculative Fiction, literature that utilizes settings and motifs of a reality different than our own. Fantasy, certain styles of Horror, and, of course, Science Fiction, are the common expressions of Speculative fiction.

Science Fiction literature speculates on how advances in technology can influence our collective lives. Whether exploring how novel inventions profoundly impact society, or presenting entirely new settings for humanity through advanced spaceflight, science fiction is one of the few genres of literature that still ask the overarching moral questions: Who are we? What do we do with our lives? What is right and wrong about how we act, and what we choose to do?

But how can Haiku and Haibun fit into science fiction?

Enter Julie Bloss Kelsey, a self-identified “haiku and scifiku poet.” In a video introducing her “SciFaiku” poetry, she states:

“The term scifaiku, for science fiction haiku, was coined by Tom Brinck in 1995 as part of his SciFaiku Manifesto. Scifaiku was written before that time, but no one paid much attention to it. Since 1995, scifaiku poets have expanded the term to include other speculative realms such as fantasyku and horrorku.”

She goes on to present some of her own Scfaiku:

first holiday meal—
my mother- in-law’s tentacles
in every dish
– Star*Line 37.2, Spring 2014

alien charm—
his first gift to me
was a tracking collar
– Scifaikuest, May 2018 (online)

the perfect cover
for our spaceship…
lenticular cloud
– Star*Line 37.2, Spring 2014

Alan Summers, a master haibunist, and teacher of the form, offers his take on sci Fi haibun (excerpted from Nova Normandy 3044:

Nova Normandy 3044

First there are the phantoms, wheeling around the up currents

in an early morning acid;

  the sun shielded behind laser carved mountains.

Next the spray is smashed outward, and slides between cloud scraped

shards. The tones of cloud banks subdued, and I stink in all the guises of magnesium, and iron and chlorine gripped in Co2

it’s that persistence of sweetness and chalk leaping out and through me,

disturbing

     and my water defined by the colour it takes from the

  sky.

I’m just me, feeling stupid as usual, alone in detritus, at the dull edge

of debris, snapping in and out of reminiscences…

The fact is I have never felt part of anyone’s landscape, and it’s really

too late to do that now. I invent tricks, some allied to memory, some to

encase empathy; a familiar scent of nostalgia for times long past:

      counting tadpoles

      the six year old

      saves the world

Ready to stretch your artistic range, poets? Prepared to dabble in the wonders of technology and its influence on our world? Then write your own science-fiction-themed haibun! Any variety of science fiction is welcome, of course. Space Opera, Dystopian Future, Urban contemporary: go where your gut leads!

New to haibun? The form consists of one to a few paragraphs of prose—usually written in the present tense—that evoke an experience and are often non-fictional/autobiographical. They may be preceded or followed by one or more haiku—nature-based, using a seasonal image—that complement without directly repeating what the prose stated.

New to dVerse? Here is what you do:

• Write a science-fiction haibun.
• Post it on your personal site/blog.
• Include a link back to dVerse in your post.
• Copy your link onto the Mr. Linky.
• Remember to click the small checkbox about data protection.
• Read and comment on some of your fellow poets’ work.
• Like and leave a comment below if you choose to do so.
• Have fun!