Why Haiku Bike

Bike Haiku is a name made up on the spur of the moment and combines two pursuits I have neglected for too long, biking and poetry. So the goal here is to write one haiku, in English, for each post during my time here in Japan exploring by bicycle.

It’s an attempt to capture the mood of the day, an exercise to express some kind of feeling in a few simple words, to which some degree of modest success may be elusive.

Some people may think that writing haiku in English is a bastardization of the traditional style in Japanese and just another disrespectful, kitschy example of cultural appropriation by the West.

We can argue that later. For the time being, the haiku form offers me a simple and elegant structure to begin a creative process to express a feeling. Even what might be a terrible, ripe for parody haiku (as may appear in my posts) can foster expression and reflection.

It seems to me an example where the application of limits is appealing, a line on the map, path in the forest, winding streets and lanes.

There are tons of sites on the internet addressing the poetry of haiku, politics, history and instruction. I found the site Tofugo to be a good introduction for beginners like me.