15 Comments
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Caro Henry's avatar

Stripped of hope and light

Scaly grip tightens constricts

Darkness pulls me down

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Honeygloom's avatar

You have me taking deep breaths right now😱 I can feel this🖤

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David Perlmutter's avatar

Phi Beta Kappa.

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Honeygloom's avatar

They make researching this beast, well kind of beastly.

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Richard Blaisdell's avatar

Sumo ninja turtle shell

River demon respected

A dish best served with drowned bodies.

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Honeygloom's avatar

I love the chaos of the first line, it’s so perfect!

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Nico Sakaki's avatar

You love the taste of

Bloodlines, soft and sweet, sucked dry

The river turns red

Hollow hands, webbed hearts

Play the scales, river child

Eat from the inside out

This was a fun way to pass the time when the power went out for a few hours today. Although I didn't mean to make both of them so murder-y .

"They like cucumbers and drowning humans" is an A+ summary btw XD

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Honeygloom's avatar

While we here at HHC Inc. do not condone murder, we enthusiastically encourage murdery haiku🙌

I’m so in love with “the taste of bloodlines” and “webbed hearts” 😍

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Amos's avatar

The drawings in your picture have big "Shadow Over Innsmouth" vibes to me.

Waiting by land's edge

For a lone child to walk by

To the deep, kiddie!

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Honeygloom's avatar

I’m picturing a kappa very matter-of-factly marching kids into the water. Just, “this is what we do here.” I really like the image.

I am a sadly deficient H.P. Lovecraft reader. I’ve read a few earlier stories and of course The Call, but I’ll have to put this one on my list.

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Amos's avatar

Reading Lovecraft is like getting blind drunk at an afternoon barbecue: You want to do it. You feel its the proper thing to do. You've had a great time doing it a couple times. But more often than not you end up in the middle of it thinking "this was a bad idea".

At least for me.

Try The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast. Two Lovecraft superfans go through the stories, discuss them, and read long passages. It's the perfect amount of Lovecraft, imho. Like having 3 1/2 beers at said BBQ. It's an old podcast, they finished going through his whole oeuvre years ago, but I think it's still around on the podcast services.

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Honeygloom's avatar

I’ve considered that podcast as an alternative to actually plowing through them myself. I wasn’t sure if you needed to actually read along, but it sounds like no.

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Amos's avatar

Not in my opinion. But I know people's preferred listening habits differ. Absolutely worth a shot.

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Ika Wright's avatar

That's interesting that they like cucumbers. I have seen them featured in anime.

I love the last line of your haiku. 🧡 Great haiku Honeygloom

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Honeygloom's avatar

They’re certainly fun characters! They’re definitely one of my favorite Yokai.

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