NEW HAIKU "Trees Whisper"

 

trees whisper 
wordless messages 
meanings felt

Haiku "Moaning Hemlock Tree"

 

Haiku "moaning hemlock tree / squalling winds sway creaking bole / snows hiss through dark boughs" originally published Jan 12, 2009, in Every Day Poets.

Background image above digital manipulation of image by Colin Behrens from Pixabay. Free for use under the Pixabay Content License.

Scifaiku "Rainbow Against Black"

 

Scifaiku "rainbow against black / birthplace of shining children / spiral nebula" originally published Spring 2008 in Issue 8 of the print-zine Illumen. Also published October 2008 in Abandoned Towers (online), October 2016 in the webzine Altered Reality Magazine, and August 2023 in the now out-of-print collection Cosmic Journeys and Gothic Visions.

Fantasy Haiku "Lonely Fairy Rath"

 

Fantasy haiku "Lonely Fairy Rath" originally published August 2008 in the webzine Aphelion and also published August 2023 in the now out-of-print speculative poetry collection Cosmic Journeys and Gothic Visions.

lonely fairy rath
grey fog enshrouds grassy slopes
voices in the mist

Scifaiku "Hand-in-Tentacle"

Scifaiku "hand-in-tentacle" originally published April 2014 in the webzine Aphelion and also published October 2016 in the webzine Altered Reality Magazine and August 2023 in the now out-of-print speculative poetry collection Cosmic Journeys and Gothic Visions.

hand-in-tentacle
she and I look up at the stars
and dream

Fantasy Haiku "Burning Lea"

 

Fantasy haiku "burning lea", another poem that was exclusive to my now out-of-print speculative poetry collection, meaning it hadn't been previously published in a zine or anthology prior to its publication August 2023 in Cosmic Journeys and Gothic Visions.

The above image is a combination of my "Ravaging Dragoness" illustration with an image by KiraSawa obtained from Pixabay,

burning lea
dragoness herds sheep 
younglings feed

Horrorku "Bearshirt"

Bearshirt

by Richard H. Fay

shaggy warrior
ursine abomination
transformed berserker

(Horrorku originally published April 2009 in the webzine Aphelion under the title "Bearshirt".)

I'm breaking from my pattern of posting the poems from my now out-of-print double-length speculative poetry collection in the order in which they appeared in the collection since I still don't have an appropriate illustration for my scifaiku "clash of tempered steel". Working on it.

Scifaiku "Gothic Armour"

Scifaiku "gothic armour" originally published Nov. 2012 in Scifaikuest (print), Vol. X, No. 2, and also published among the "Selected Fantasy Haiku and Scifaiku" in the now unpublished and out-of-print poetry collection Cosmic Journeys and Gothic Visions.

Background of above image digital manipulation of image by Daniel (DangrafArt) from Pixabay. Free for use under the Pixabay Content License.

gothic armour
mainspring powers pulleys 
clockwork knight

Fantasy Poem "The Lambton Worm"

My retelling of the legend of the Lambton Worm as a series of haiku — poem "The Lambton Worm" originally published December 2007 in the webzine Aphelion and also published in the now out-of-print speculative poetry collection Cosmic Journeys and Gothic Visions.

Background illustration in above image, "The Lambton Worm", by yours truly.

The Lambton Worm

youthful roguery
Holy Sabbath spent fishing
strange evil hauled in

squirming eldritch worm
a nearby well deep and dark 
fell catch discarded

brave crusading knight
seven long years overseas
folly forgotten

a growing menace
wound three times around a hill
ravenous devil

woolly flocks consumed
every dairy cow drained dry
countryside ravaged

diabolic beast
severed pieces recombine
immortal terror

the castle threatened 
costly daily ritual
destitute estate

lordly dilemma
wise-woman consultation
clever solution

spike-studded armour
bloody fight in the river
the worm defeated

Sci-Fi Poem "Infiltration"

Sci-fi Poem "Infiltration" (consisting of a series of scifaiku) originally published May 2008 in Issue 288 of the online zine Bewildering Stories and also published October 2008 in the online version of Abandoned Towers. "Infiltration" illustration by Richard H. Fay previously unpublished in a zine or anthology.

Infiltration

by Richard H. Fay

titanium bones
grow synthetic tegument
deadly creation

human encounter
enables social program
assimilation

government system
accesses secret data
target acquisition

strategic promise
precedes political rise
android accession

artificial man
amongst the ruling elite
assassination

Fantasy Poem "Fairyland Fantasyku"

Yet another poem from my now unpublished out-of-print speculative poetry collection. This one, "Fairyland Fantasyku", wasn't previously published in a zine or anthology, although I believe I've been sharing various versions of it online for some time now. I rewrote it for the collection.

Fairyland Fantasyku

By Richard H. Fay

dishes clang
unfinished chores done
labouring brownie

cornstalks sway
ripe grain swiftly reaped
harvesting grogoch

pickaxe knocks
cave-in avoided
forewarning kobold

twirling gleam
toadstool ring illumed
cavorting fairy

hammer rings
single shoe mended
cobbling leprechaun

shadow darts
needed tools vanish
borrowing pixy

pleading cries
rover led astray
deceiving bogle

fogbank rolls
dank cloak spreads disease
corrupting Grey Man

hooves thunder
mortal rider drowned
murdering kelpie

Electronic Tearsheet of Horrorku "Spirit of the Night" in SCIFAIKUEST

Electronic tearsheet (scanned image as proof-of-publication) of my horrorku "Spirit of the Night" published in Issue 19 of the print zine Scifaikuest, February 2008.

Haiku "Heaven's Bright Jewels"

 

heaven's bright jewels
a studded ebony shroud
nighttime firmament

Haiku originally published in Asahi Haikuist Network, July 7-8, 2007. 
Haiku Copyright © 2007 Richard H. Fay 
Background image by Nicole Köhler from Pixabay. Free for use under the Pixabay Content License.

Fantasy Poem "Pixies in the Porridge"

 

Another poem from my out-of-print speculative poetry collection: "Pixies in the Porridge", originally published Dec 2012 in Issue 43 of Aoife's Kiss and also published Oct 2016 in Altered Reality Magazine (online) and Feb 2021 in Spaceports & Spidersilk.

Pixies in the Porridge

cold winter morn
hearth flames crackle
breakfast simmers

impish twitters
soft tug draws attention
fire left untended

vaporous sprites
reel across steaming pot
porridge burned