The recent announcement that Mel Gibson is set to return to the screen in M. Night Shyamalan's Turgid Gauntlet - Part One: The Buttering has aroused new interest in the works of Danish author Hyppigt Ryk. The film, adapted from Ryk's novel Skrub op den mistænkte (Roughing Up The Suspect), follows a hardened veteran cop (Gibson) in his pursuit of an elusive master jewel thief (rumored to be Al Pacino) who continuously slips through his fingers.

Curiously, Suspect, considered by many to be Ryk's seminal work, has remained the author's only surviving novel. Ryk died in 1961 under what Copenhagen police termed "mysterious, "lemon-fresh" circumstances."

The recent discovery of a collection of haiku only recently attributed to Ryk provides a glimpse into the life of the reclusive author. From as early as childhood, Ryk apparently harbored a competitive streak that would pulsate within the protagonists of his later works.

This portrait, from Ryk's bedroom ceiling, betrays the author's enthusiasm for Japanese culture

my favorite game
siege of the purple tower
I always triumph

Although his prose generally displayed little or no interest in social commentary, one can speculate that the dropping of atomic loads upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki pointed Ryk's pen in the direction of the traditional Japanese poetry form, infusing his already reflective writing with a darker, decidedly existentialist tone.

tiny herons fly
in a wild chaotic arc
into certain death

As his lack of commercial success progressively fueled his frustration, Ryk was reportedly given to paranoiac, often violent outbursts. In the days before voicemail, these often took the form of rambling, incoherent letters to friends, but occasionally found their way into his poetry.

why can't people knock?
goo bazooka firm in hand
shut the goddamn door

Mr. Shyamalan was ejaculatory over the casting of Mr. Gibson despite the bitter reception for Signs, their previous collaboration. "He not only has an established action-film track record, but he literally is both my film's leading man and Mr. Ryk in the flesh."