MADreads

Bloody poet

November 5th, 2009 Dennis - Central

Chill October night

A vampire writes in non-verse

A nip in the air?

How do you like my haiku?

I felt compelled to write it only because it seems appropriate to at least try to use the form when reviewing a book written in haiku.  Vampire Haiku by Ryan Mecum, uses the form created in Japan (seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, then seven, then five syllables) to write a book.  It’s not really poetry, it’s a narrative, using the short poems to convey the story.  Call it poetic license.  And it’s pretty fun.

The story starts with twenty-one year-old William Butten, on the deck of the Mayflower as it begins sailing to the New World.  William makes a vow to document all his new world adventures into small poems.  A young woman on deck a few nights later charms the young man.  Once they begin necking, life as he knew it takes a whole new direction.  Because he’s now, well, immortal.  And the vampire woman he fell in love with?  He kind of alienated her by killing her vampire husband.  So she disappears from his life, reappearing from time to time as the story progresses. Not that she’s that necessary to keep the story moving forward.  But every story needs a love interest, right?  So there you go.

American history provides a pretty convenient backdrop on which our poet can sketch his vampiric ways.  We move from feasting on Pilgrims in the 1620s (that first winter wasn’t really that harsh) to draining Redcoats in the Revolutionary War, to Davy Crockett, who didn’t so much die at the Alamo as well, you get the idea.  Emily Dickinson, P.T. Barnum, Babe Ruth, Amelia Earhart, James Dean, J.D. Salinger also make cameos.  Pop culture through the ages gets tweaked as well, including Woodstock, Buffy, Count Chocula, goths, and a Facebook “menu” for real dining.  The movie version of Twilight gets mocked of course.  Oh and he notes that flat-screen monitors will fit inside your coffin when the lid is closed.  I tell you, is this a great country or what?

All told, it was a pretty enjoyable read.  It’s illustrated with drawings and photographs and occasional drops and splashes of red on the pages.  And it’s a pretty quick read so, even though you know you’re wasting your time, you don’t waste that much of it.  More story than poem, more humor than horror, this may not be the best example of haiku but it was (I’m just guessing) a lot more fun.

And if you prefer your undead to be of the rotting flesh variety, look for Zombie Haiku.

Entry Filed under: Poetry, Recreational Fiction