Motorcycling Haiku
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 "whistful" feeling. Modern English adaptations change these rules somewhat -- either relaxing or strengthening them. I make no claim to be good at this, but it helps pass the winter.
Winter Waiting
Two deflated wheels |
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| Behind the cold door impatiently in the dark you dream of the road. |
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| Memories of tar speeding inches below us fade as the snow builds. |
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| Snow outside my door makes me long for riding while my bike waits for spring. |
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Dusty dry leathers |
The Motorcycle
| Two wheels and a seat, you seem to silently shout, "I have one purpose." |
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| Ready I inquire? Your response, a throaty roar, draws us to the road. |
Riding
| Entering the hills the road starts to twist and curl and my smile grows wide. |
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| When I am riding the landscape that I pass through stays so close to me. |
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Crouched behind the screen |