[Dan's Home Page][Graduate Resources][SciFaiku Review]
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First off, if you don't know what SciFaiku is, check out The SciFaiku Manifesto, it's kind of the rule book of the genre.
Once you've done that, you may wish to check out some of Tom Brinck's SciFaiku, a sample of Todd Hoff's work, or some SciFaiku submissions from the web community. In addition, there is an unmoderated SciFaiku Forum that has submissions of varying quality.
Anyway, the point of this page is to provide you, the discerning SciFaiku consumer, with my expert reviews. This serves a number of purposes:
Jump to: [Introduction] [Call for Participation] [Reviews]
Submit your reviews now! I'd like to include reviews from as many sources as possible. If you'd like to share your criticisms with others, e-mail it to me. Please be sure to include the original work and its location as well as your home page (if any). You can review previously unreviewed pieces or works that have already been critiqued by others.
Send submissions to danhorn@umich.edu.
Jump to: [Introduction] [Call for Participation] [Reviews]
| Piece: | no time to notice |
| Author: | Todd Hoff |
| Review: | Given society's breakneck pace, this piece provides an insightful perspective on the social dilemas to come. I view this work as a precursor to the excuses of tomorrow. Today it's screening answering machine messages, and calling in sick. Tomorrow, it will be tears in the fabric of space-time. There will always be those annoying entities that we wish to avoid. It's good to have an excuse handy. |
| Reviewed by: | Dan Horn danhorn@umich.edu |
| Reviewed on: | 29-June-1997 |
| Piece: | Tumble, roll, and spin... A flash of broken tether Through helmet visor. |
| Author: | Michael R. Gates - gatemi@rmci.net |
| Review: | This piece lacks verbs. It seems to me that it accretes slowly, like a growing crystal, one integral element after another. It begins very abstract. Rolling what? Tumbling what? Spinning what? Where? When? Then the image of the broken tether. Suddenly we have focus. After all, SOMETHING must be associated with this tether. The last line gives us the helmet and that is the crucial link. With the helmet we suddenly intuit the location as being in space. The broken tether immediately assumes a shocking importance and gives significance to the images in line one. It is the inverted symmetry of the piece that makes it work. Only at the end of the last line does it suddenly have context and meaning, as abrupt as a slap in the face. The reader, at least THIS reader, gets a chill down the spine from visualizing the elements one after another and thus feeling that it is YOUR tether that has broken... |
| Reviewed by: | Jim Tucker jimtauntuc@ellijay.com |
| Reviewed on: | 21-Apr-1996 |
| Piece: | Suspended in the
amniotic amber Memories chemically-imprinted Waiting to be born. Again. |
| Author: | Roger Cotton - roger_cotton@qmail.lightspan.com |
| Review: | I don't know if "amber" was supposed to be "chamber", but "amber" works quite poetically, since it suggests to me a yellow, sticky, and preserving fluid. The scene here is powerful, and the SF theme is clear and striking. The "Again" is a final punch that interprets the poem nicely. |
| Reviewed by: | Tom Brinck - brinck@umich.edu |
| Reviewed on: | 1-May-96 |
| Piece: | Butterfly roams
free In the cabin Of a wandering nomad in space. |
| Author: | Rod Stuart - stuart@aladdin.co.uk |
| Review: | Butterflies are wonderful creatures of fancy and freedom. There's something very energetic about a butterfly in zero-gravity, about moving within the ship while the ship moves through empty space. A contrast of small insect and immense space. The spark of beauty of a butterfly in what I see as a carelessly messy ship of a lonely nomad... |
| Reviewed by: | Tom Brinck - brinck@umich.edu |
| Reviewed on: | 1-May-96 |
| Piece: | late night UFO
movie I leave the porch light on for visitors |
| Author: | John Sheirer - as_jsheir@apollo.commnet.edu |
| Review: | The appeal of this piece seems to lie in its almost naive world view. By neglecting the boundary between Hollywood and the real world, the author gives us a fanciful glimpse at a pre-Wellsian reliance on media as a provider of fact. The piece enables readers to believe, not just in UFOs, but in that ethereal concept that is faith. A well written, subtly evokative, heartening work. |
| Reviewed by: | Dan Horn |
| Reviewed on: | 22-Feb-1996 |
| Piece: | Midway between
stars Abandoned here for my crimes dark |
| Author: | Tom Brinck - brinck@umich.edu |
| Review: | The resignation conveyed in this piece provides the reader with a glimpse into the depths of human solitude. The artist's use of space, placing the final two words in the appropriate horizontal location yet one line below their expected place, imbues this work with a certain isolation. The stark final words engender the very essence of the genre. |
| Reviewed by: | Dan Horn |
| Reviewed on: | 14-Dec-1995 |
| Piece: | Peeling
an orange in zero-g |
| Author: | Todd Hoff |
| Review: | A rarity in the world of SciFaiku, this piece evokes a sense of almost whimsical existentialism. Where most SciFaiku tends to embrace dark themes, often conferring feelings of loss, this work examines an alternative theme. I interpret this piece as embracing a view of contextual existence. The space theme reminds the reader of our insignificance in a grander scheme, yet contrasts this with the view of human as Creator, or at least possessor of wisdom. I also like the fact that it rhymes... |
| Reviewed by: | Dan Horn |
| Reviewed on: | 14-Dec-1995 |
| Piece: | Supernova,
|
| Author: | Adam Brown - gemini@cybertap.com |
| Review: | An oft overlooked approach to the great art. The juxtaposition of the objective and subjective aspects of tragedy is captured in an almost innocent fashion. The second and third lines can be seen as being contrasting or merely as different levels of granularity. The absence of deictic indicators of the ancient world leaves the reader to ponder the narrator's location. |
| Reviewed by: | Dan Horn |
| Reviewed on: | 14-Dec-1995 |
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