First Gary Numan. Then Kim Wilkins. Who next?

Let me begin by saying this: The Tangled Bank is an anthology of "speculative evolution", possibly "the only anthology of fiction celebrating the 2009 Darwin anniversaries". It'll be published electronically to mark the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species, from which it takes its title. I'm very pleased to be in it, with a series of linked poems called "The Origin of Haiku by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Renga in the Struggle for Meaning".

Ahem. That's right. Charles Darwin, come on down. No one escapes the dreadful appropriation of my muse!

Anyway, the one chapter I didn't plunder was the preface to the third edition, so I've plucked out this pithy little blurb from it, just to complete the set:Doesn't that make you want to rush out and buy it? (Hmm. Be assured the book itself will be better. The preface was a bit dry.)

Meanwhile, if you're interested in the whole remix phenomenon, you'll also want to get your hands on Through the Clock's Workings, the now-legendary Remix My Lit experience anthologised by the super Amy Barker and published by Sydney Uni Press. I'm very proud to be in that too--with two more poems. (Does this make me a real writer now?) It has an awesome cover. Check it:

I'm boxing up my archives for another drop to the excellent Fryer Library at the University of Queensland--unearthing still more godawful juvenilia in the process. But that's what not this post is about, thank goodness.*

I simply want to commemorate the coolest award I ever received, for the 2000 Inaugural Sydney Writers' Festival Haiku Competition. I've talked about this before, but apart from a brief appearance in the infamous "Haiku Man" video (screened at a certain Brisbane natcon) the embroidered Y-fronts I won** have never been seen outside my office. So here they are, as modelled by the seductive walnut tree in our backyard:



Aren't they purdy? I have no idea how the valuers are going to assess them, but I'm glad they're going to a happy place.

haiku underpants:
just one owner, low mileage
worn only when drunk

* Nor is it about the mounds of homemade D&D modules I'm also donating, plus every scrap of music I ever wrote. Yowza.

** The giant banner I also received, visible at the link above, is going too. That's my second-strangest/coolest publication. Literary festivals should do this kind of thing more often! (Somehow I can't see stuffy old Adelaide Writers' Week really getting into spirit.)

#1: The word for "quickly" in Japanese is "haiyaku". (Has anyone held a speed haiku event before? How could you resist???)

#2: I really, really suck at rock climbing. (Thanks to dmw, I know now I'm to blame my sneakers.)

Here, to demonstrate my obsessiveness (and for the benefit of future linkage), is an index of all my Movember haiku--or "hairku" as they will henceforth be known (thanks, newroticgirl, for that most excellent neologism).

Day 1: Not Caturday. Movembr! (photo)
Day 2: Oh noes! Invisible mo!
Day 3: imaginary conversations with the mirror #1
Day 4: i blame my grandfather (photo)
Day 5: a moment of cynicism
Day 6: progress of a sort (photo)
Day 7: karma
Day 8: for Sir Tessa (photo)
Day 9: a mo by any other name...still itches
Day 10: grey day (photo)
Day 11: a close shave (Remembrance Day)
Day 12: a mo by any other name #2
Day 13: lurking in the foliage (photo)
Day 14: think of the karma
Day 15: International Day of the Imprisoned Writer
Day 16: International Day for Tolerance (for people with bad facial hair) (photo)
Day 17: bite me
Day 18: imaginary conversations with the mirror #2 (renga)
Day 19: normal service will soon resume (haiku duel with Tim Sinclair)
Day 20: Universal Children's Day
Day 21: old mcdonald had a mo (photo)
Day 22: tachetropolis (space opera haiku) (photo)
Day 23: a plethora of porn stars
Day 24: I haz a vote. A vote, I haz it.
Day 25: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
Day 26: Nature, Inc.
Day 27: a plethora of follicles
Day 28: Mustash haz flavr. (lolphoto)
Day 29: International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Day 30: on the last day of movember... (photo)

As noted in the comments, it was surprisingly difficult to find inspiration every day in such an uninspiring patch of fur. Thanks to those who encouraged, educated or challenged me on the way. I'm going to miss the morning ritual, even if I'm glad the mo has finally gone. (Yes, not even Zappa Plays Zappa tonight could keep the clippers away...)

Thanks to everyone for supporting me through the month of Movember. You've been very generous, and very patient with all the extra-follicular activities.

My sponsors donated $1499 out of over $10 million in Australia alone, which is an amazing achievement and a big step forward for men's health.

Alas, I fear my efforts at haiku probably weren't such a big advance for poetry, but I had fun with it, and it certainly made for having an itchy upper lip.

Wonderful work, dear friends. Kudos!