The Haunted — A collection of four of my poems that share common elements: darkness, animals and a rather mysterious atmosphere.

Windy is as Windy Does — One of my more light-hearted items. I wrote it for a fiction/poetry class in the spring of 1996. Because I had recently chosen “Scirocco” as my more-or-less-permanent handle, I wanted to write something about the wind.

Morning Glory — I used to be heavily into making my verses symmetrical and orderly and this older poem is a prime example. I also liked archaic words like “thy” and “thee,” so they found their way in here just as they did for “Windy is as Windy Does” above. This one dates back to 1994.

Dark Umbra — I always liked the idea that you could somehow journey outside the universe and learn a lot about how things work or just escape to a place of quiet restfullness. I imagine such a place, if it existed, would be very dark (or very bright?). So, thinking of it as a shadow, I chose the title.

Old Tales — Even older than “Morning Glory,” I found this languishing in one of my old spiral notebooks underneath the bed. It was inspired by several things, Narnia and Redwall chief among them.

Lost Highway — Though it was inspired by the David Lynch movie of the same name, it has only the most minor correlation to the film. A little more insight is available in that niche over between those two pillars.

Fridge Fun — One boring night in May of 2000 during a stay in my brother’s dorm room, I spied the little fridge used to keep a ready supply of caffeine and take-out leftovers chilly. And since I had nothing better to do with my time, I sat there on the floor, trying to use as many of the word tiles as I could. Here are the dubious results. Last Updated: 04.10.2002.

Haiku — I bought a set of my own word magnets at the Discovery Channel Store in Santa Barbara, California; a collection labeled “Haiku.” And though it’s quite possible to write other bits of poetry with these tiles, they do seem to lend themselves to haiku poetry. I really have a lot of fun with these (especially since I invented a great way to display the tiles using HTML) and will probably update this page frequently.

Haiku II — A small collection of haiku composed away from the cookie sheet which serves as home for my tiles. I try to keep them as close to the Japanese ideal as possible, which is to say, involved with nature or one of the four seasons. However, some of them are very like what a science geek—such as myself—might write....

Such Revenge on You Both — “Forever” is perhaps a concept my mere mortal brain is incapable of embracing. “It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, a day to love someone, but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.” And we can’t really hope for much more than that. Allow me my illusion.
Apologies to Gene Breshears for stealing the title of one of his Tai-Pan stories.

The Moon’s Bright Snowflake Song — One day near the beginning of April 2002 when we’d finally rid ourselves of some late snow, a good friend invited me to an “Artist Salon” aimed at giving creativity a kick in the pants. I avoided testing my lack of skill as a painter by bringing along the cookie sheet on which I store my magnetic poetry tiles and I’m very happy with my three hours of work. It’s a lot of fun creating something with only a limited repertoire of words; it’s an exercise I highly recommend for anyone who feels their creativity is in a slump.

Diversions — An in-class publication from my poetry class in the spring of 1996. Every student submitted one poem and on the last day of class we all wandered around signing our poems for the others. I was the project’s one-man layout and design team—the title page, table of contents, organization and, of course, one poem are my work.
All poems are the sole property of their respective authors.

Dragon Flute — This is the short tale of a little girl’s experience on the shore of the ocean when she plays her flute for the waves. It was given to me as a present by a good friend. It was written on the fly and is very special to me. Please respect it as if it were your best work.

Cinderella — At the end of English 101, we were given a choice between writing one of three essays or writing our own version of Cinderella. Since I never much liked writing essays (though I can write them just fine) I chose the fiction option. I thought it was pretty good (I got an A!) but after having it torn to pieces for over three hours at Writers’ Night a year ago, I’m thinking it needs a little revision. I’m not bitter, I just... thought it was better.

So Here Are the Questions — This isn’t a poem in even the most liberal of geometric enclosures. It’s me pining for things I can’t have, namely the love and affection of someone very far away. I had someone specific in mind when I wrote it (a long time ago) but it also serves well as a general midnight rambling of the mind.

Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe — A fanzine dedicated to publishing the best anthropomorphic fiction and artwork in Known Space. Tai-Pan is a science fiction publication produced by the Tai-Pan Literary and Arts Project, based in Seattle, Washington. Stories range all over, as far as theme and subject matter, but all take place in roughly the same area of the galaxy at roughly the same time. A cast of characters, created by the contributors, provide dramatis personae and hooks on which some of the more creative of us hang our stories. I’m just the copy editor, though I do, technically, have a character.

Pelgrane Press — Publishers of the excellent and marvelous Dying Earth RPG, based on the powerful literary work of master author Jack Vance. If, for some unfathomable reason, you have not read The Dying Earth and its companion novels, you must at once remove yourself to the following hyperlink and purchace a copy: Tales of the Dying Earth.