This collection started as a challenge in the about motorcycles web site several years ago. The keeper of the site suggested motorcycling might be a good source of haiku poems. I contributed a few and have since kept up the habit of composing them in the deep of winter when I start really missing riding.
Haiku is a traditional Japanese form of poem using 3 brief lines — short, long, short. The traditional form requires exactly 17 syllables (5, 7, 5). They should make a brief point, have a seasonal reference, and a “wistful” feeling. Modern English adaptations change these rules somewhat — either relaxing or strengthening them. The haiku below follow them exactly. I make no claim to be good at this, but it helps pass the winter.
| Two deflated wheels straddle an engine waiting restlessly for spring. | |
| Behind the cold door impatiently in the dark you dream of the road. | |
| Memories of tar speeding inches below me fade as the snow builds. | |
| Snow outside my door makes me long for riding while the bike waits for spring. | |
| Dusty dry leathers hang abandoned in the dark waiting to catch bugs. |
| Two wheels and a seat, you seem to silently shout, “I have one purpose.” | |
| Ready, I inquire? Your response, a throaty roar, draws us to the road. |
| Entering the hills the road starts to twist and curl and my smile grows wide. | |
| When I am riding the landscape that I pass through is so close to me. | |
| Crouched behind the screen I hear the pings of insects striking my helmet. |