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why write bike haiku?
perhaps your bike got stolen
at poetry class?
mike kruger

 

CYCLING IN SEVENTEEN SYLLABLES
haiku submission form and checklist

We can't really answer Mike's question, posed to us the day after we opened BR to your verse,
but the fact that he asked it the way he did shows how irresistible is the urge to roadtest 5-7-5.

There's more to haiku than squeezing the right number of syllables into three lines
(see
notes on 5-7-5 and The Evolution of Haiku). Or as Michael Rasmussen, one of our
contributors, put it, 'Dried rice rolls does not sushi make'. However, this is a humble page,
charged with the simple yet ambitious task of harvesting short poems from a fleeting audience:
we thought it best to keep to the format most of us are probably familiar with,
and go from there.

bicycle haiku
ride across america
go easy, look hard

I want to ride my
bicycle I want to ride
my bike. (thank you queen)
farrokh bulsara

a rabbit runs out
then retreats while I ride on
part of the landscape
mike dennison

wind pushes into me
I am a sail for the wrong
direction - headwind

---
downhill bicycling
forty, fifty miles per hour
should have fixed brakes
---
in the town line sprint
my bicycle is last, is first
I'm racing alone
---
riding through spring time
peach orchards - imagine a
world of pink popcorn
jonathan neske (www.neske.biz)

fixed gear juggernaut
relentless in my progress
through the sultry day
---
miles disappearing
with the wavering cadence
of one cog one ring
rl canon

the road goes upwards
conversation stops, puff, pant
the silence of hills
---
Paris-Brest-Paris
all-time fixed wheel challenge
pain, but the glory
---
legs spinning madly
the constant fluid movement
pedalling nonstop
steve airey

steady rolling now.
cars very close, much too close --
I will keep riding
frank mcintosh

phone rings, girl punctured
ride to her aid, love my job!
she smiles, rides away
the bikerescue man

stupid bus driver!
now too much adrenaline
read haiku, now calm

---
green raleigh, four speed
just ripe for restoration
dynohub. superbe.

---
eight years old, just learned,
moulton mini, single speed,
ten miles, with proud mum
andy scaife

fixed gear, seductive
from my geared bike you lure me
to sweet pain I'm drawn
rlcanon

clean frosty sunlight
breezy coastal cycle trip;
feel very alive
pablo cruz

I spin cranks smoothly
wheels roll forward straight and true
burrito after
bill "sorni" sornson

country roads, scenic
mile afer mile after mile
my own l.s.d.
dale hartzler (aka mr long slow distance)

the answer my friend
is not blowing in the wind -
it's riding a bike
jaberwock

visualised pint
realised as promised but
bum too sore to sit
miles

my schwinn has left me
for another bicycle
it'll never work
taylor

war day morn $9 mil
of cars passed by biker to
misguided DC
jose

shadow emerges
cool morning soft light sharpens
chase myself westward

---
rain darkens short days
beam past mourners of sun heat
cycling brightens life
michael rasmussen

cold morning, red route.
flat tyre! gears bite finger,
electric tape mends.
giolla decair

one speed, no coasting,
the fixed gear teaches quickly:
not pedaling hurts
chip haynes

bum sore legs leaden
goggles misted heart warmed
ah! the spring is come
mike dennison

britain end to end
land's end to john o'groats. for
purists, dunnet head
BR

if my wheels were square
or triangles; trapezoids;
life would be harder

---
too many gears now
cannot decide which to use
always a split vote

---
click creak squeak rattle
diagnosis: noisy bike
unhappy camper
quetzalcoatl

riding in the dark
a car, I swerve, he misses
why do I have lights?
tim hall

february ends
dread month of gloom and twilight
now come the march winds

---
weatherman says rain
wind-empowered clouds scudding
some will not cycle

---
clear winter sunshine
driver sees me but does not care
cyclist must bail out
guy chapman (chapmancentral.co.uk)

critically massed cars
beep their silly horns at me
think I'm in the way
sharon w

very dangerous,
bicycles and poetry -
someone could get hurt
905

I cleaned my cassette
and stained the kitchen sink some;
boy, the wife got pissed!
dave

campagnolo schmidt
busch and muller cateye SRAM
shimano stronglight

---
flashing lights are banned
government is consulting
cock-up expected
guy chapman (chapmancentral.co.uk)

muscle in motion
and the bliss of solitude
what could be better
martin newstead (m series)

annoying cyclist
two wheels don't make you better
you are your own law

---
deadly motorist
owns all before the windshield
speed and impatience

---
pedestrian, you
never look where you're going
endangered species
helen shapiro

slurpy mudstuck tyres
knobbly teeth bite the brown earth
my smile is dirty

---
we just got married
singletrack courtship so fine
we made it legal
brian goode

my bike folds in half
but it didn't come that way;
thank you white van man
s taylor

I sail down the road
wind at my back, pushing hard
there's no turning back
kath

check-list for take-off:
tires are pumped - so is rider
fuel in back pocket
richard

I took it apart
it won't go back together
I'm no mechanic
charlie

my bike is heavy
a ponderous thing with wheels;
rolls to stop downhill

---
I bought a new bike
carbon, ti, magnesium -
tether it down nights
ivan the terribly polite

fixed gear project stalled
damn dropouts end just too short
who stocks a fifteen?
jmedgar

a haiku poem
so tempting to let it rhyme
just put anything
---
long distance audax
I must qualify not fail
p.b.p. the goal

---
cycle lane blocked
ignorant driver again
hit his wing mirror
steve airey

SON hub dynamo
light comes from my own movement
no need to recharge
guy chapman (chapmancentral.co.uk)

haiku's anything
you feel something about, steve
even block-ed lanes
---
world spins round its hub
dynamo keeps the SON lit
stars twinkle like spokes
BR

lever, a slight nudge -
chain, sensing my hand and will
noiselessly climbs cog
bob g

sly tectonic shifts
yesterday there was no hill
in front of my house
duffy

black ice, cyclist down
gravity and momentum
handmaidens to hurt
---
numb fingers and toes;
possibly a nose still sits
on my frigid face
---
since when has the wind
considered its means and ends
it just really blows
andrew walker

your carriage awaits
cromoly beast snorts and bucks
impatient trackstand
carrie

aerodynamic
slice through the wind in a crouch
then stop for red light
benjamin

tyre patch glue sniffer
swerves to hit brambles and nails
he can't help himself
les wilson

I copy coppi -
drink from my water bottle
to shed weight on climb
---
fighting resistance
look down momentarily
thoughts of grit and teeth
scarlett parker

studded tires buzzing
cycle to work all year, I
see stupid people
steeve@oneguycoding.com

with tears of joy, pain
harmonic gears resonate
unfurling soul's wings
mike elkink

close eyes and focus
mustn't let burning legs stop
finally, hill's crown
kirsten marquez

fool! at sub-zero?
windbreaker magic layer
commute's sweaty end
jose

smiling schadenfreude
the parking warden works hard
but ignores my bike
---
more reason to ride
pedal-powered haste makes sweat
not a heart attack
moz
'schadenfreude' is 4 syllables
pointing this out brings us no pleasure

'look!' mother chides child
'what you're doing to your bike!'
fledglings early flights
---
dark winter cyclist,
no lights! skulking in gutter!
is your life that bad?
giolla decair

snow salt ice darkness
no wimps in january.
bike chicago now!
mike kruger

a turn of the crank
is all that you need to start
a revolution
scarlett parker

the new sky of dawn
an orange glow, frozen breath
quick steel bike humming
kangstank

air leaks out my tire
where a thoughtless snake bit it
he had no manners
andrew

fifteen miles each day
twisting narrow country roads
still quicker by bike

---
riding recumbent
gives life a new perspective
makes one more laid back
guy chapman (www.chapmancentral.co.uk)

recumbent riders;
gravity has squashed them flat
yet their legs still move
BR

crunchy towpath frost
inky water foggy morn
no bell yell 'haiku!'
clwydian

sleet and ice descend.
or wind plows, frosty, frigid.
alas, I'm a wimp

---
climbing reddish knob
insects buzzing, breeze blowing
but no other sound
dale hartzler

bikes in newfoundland
vibrations wind potholes road
- our broken-off lights
marek w. & sheila miguez

pedal, pedal, go!
pedal, pedal, pedal, go!
i love to cycle

---
i like to cycle.
but i do not write poems.
not usually.
james,
to whom we're giving the benefit of the doubt

li'l stardust rider
swaying with each pedal stroke
six year old freedom

---
rotten opossum
squashed snake, beloved family pet -
all lie still by road

---
camelback water,
vanilla gu shot, clif bar,
fierce lime gatorade
claire petersky

two multiplies nine
grimace of pain defines us
win above all else
john kemp

summer bike ride slows
nature's beauty takes my gaze
- bright moon in your eyes
marco

rain pounds grounds soggy
gear melts, miles pass under wheels
winter makes spring thoughts
jmedgar

ride to work today
challenge oppressive powers
and survive the fray
lindsay

keep on pedaling
through the muck and the mire
to make room for beer
mike mcdougal

formerly fat guy
astride a gleaming machine
fueled by sweat alone

---
cannondale trek schwinn
litespeed lemond giant merckx
raleigh specialized
lou plummer

wheels glide over ice
dynamo whines gleefully
it's freezing out here
richard

mountain bikes in leeds
have deep springs but no mudguards
they swerve for puddles
david golding

wheels spinning around
flying past automobiles
the bike is freedom
nicole mcmorrow

 

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