Queer Haiku

by R.A. Lopez, Jonathan Rodriguez (Illustrator)

Queer can mean different. Queer can also mean homosexual. Haiku has always fascinated me with it's power to boil down the umami within words to a more concise and meaningful message. It has been a solace, a mirror, and a game I play with myself when attempting to express myself. I attempt in this work to express first to myself, secondly to the zen bone and zen flesh that inspired my youth, and thirdly to amuse and cajole those who would read my words- taking this adventure with me. From the awkward and intense first kiss to the college class distraction sitting in front of you, I boil it all down into a broth that I'm sure many of you will identify with even if you're not expecting to. Many of these are written in my youth, many I've updated, and some are newer works all forming a kintsugi- forging them together into three golden books of Zen.

Kindle Edition

Published December 15, 2018

About the author

​R.A. Lopez has been writing since he was 4 years old. In his youth he received accolades from groups like the National Library of Poetry, The Raven's Writing Group, and even a scholarship to Duke University's Creative Writing Youth Program. Queer Haiku is his first official release but over the last 30 years he's produced dozens of "zines", thousands of articles, and had millions of users read his blogs, and interact with his quizzes, memes, and role playing games and forums- from the early 90's until today writing about world politics, art, science, religion, philosophy, pop culture, music, video games, and other passions. His #1 passion is being a Game Design & Development. His first book published is Queer Haiku. He is also one half of The Moonlight Collection in which he and a mysterious relative (ValentinA Saldana) collaborate on crafting chapbooks. He has released his own tabletop role playing game ("EMPYREAN: The Hyperfantasy RPG"). He is also one half of The Moonlight Collection in which he and a mysterious relative (ValentinA Saldana) collaborate on crafting chapbooks, 13 poems from each of them (26 per chapbook). Six in the series are currently available with the most recent being "The Fall of the House of The Moonlight Collection N°6" completing the six chapbooks for our "Year One" collection

I'm open to working with others on a myriad of projects from the activism genre to the entertaining stuff! You can find me on MINDS or GAB or X as I prefer to support social media that backs our freedom of speech
https://www.minds.com/electronicoffee/
https://gab.com/electronicoffee
https://x.com/AtlusAvalon

Reviews

[Lindsey R · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing I noticed upon previewing Queer Haiku was how artistically Lopez has arranged his poems. His presentation is very intuitive and other worldly. Then, the content of his poems is so realistic, that I can imagine the everyday experiences in his first two sections and relate to many of them—laughing with some and pondering others. He also includes a range of cultural allusions to appreciate. Finally, his last section of poetry is an intimate exploration of sexuality. His descriptions could stunningly transport my imagination to appreciating the beauty of the male physical form as well as the subtleties of love and desire.

[R.A. Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even years later, re-reading my entries here..
it feels like revisiting my younger self, a different person,
but someone I know far better than anyone else ever will.
Your past can teach you through the reflections of time.