Shorts for October 17th 2024

All of this is a work of fiction, except where it isn’t.

Haikus and a note on structure

Milky way harvest,

Crickets leap into the night.

Do they become stars?

Each poem is organized in a 5-7-5 with the traditional kireji: a dash, ellipsis or exclamatory particle “how” to give it cyclicality. More often I structure it to be narratively recursive, but where I can be creative enough for the “ideal” form, I attempt including a (English-translation) kireji.

“Scopin” and Horror

Sticking with the horror theme for all of October, “Scopin” by Kordhel is our next inspiration. As a piece of horror construction “Hiding in the bushes, scoping with my red dot” makes for easy work. So I’m going to ignore the lyrics as best I can and stick with the rhythm.

What could I do? She’d have told, and that couldn’t be.

I had to kill her—she would’ve called somebody.

It’d be just like her, even in death, to rob me of my freedom.