Composing haiku while walking...

[aaron_in_sf]

I have for some years now taken to composing haiku while hiking. I find it a good mental exercise, to see if I can encapsulate observations or experiences in such a constrained form. That they are short enough to hold entirely in even my mediocre memory is a boon; and I can recall them or reconstruct them in the evening to jot them down without much trouble. The rhythm of foot-fall seems well suited to working out the scansion and meter.

This is my favorite so far this year, a response to the for-me comparatively brutal climb up to Upper Kern Basin, coming up the trench:

O trail, bid me climb!
Gladly I shall give each foot
Some hunger for sublime

I am thinking it might be backpacking mantra.

[rlown]

It is 5-7-5.. Close. Try Tanka.

Ah, the Sierra
First day hike always sucks big
Gateway to splendor

[Shawn]

First day hike always sucks big

[rlown]

My friend and I used to trade an Haiku everyday about working in R&D. We had a list. Sadly, they got deleted when we exited the company. 3 years of Haiku add up..

It is fun though..

[Jimr]

Did you reimburse the company for all of the R&D you spent on Haiku?

[rlown]

nope! different time back in the mid 80's. We actually were allowed to have fun. Even off-sites at Tahoe and Monterey. Heck, I even had a trip purely for pleasure to treat some Customer Engineers and their wives to 5 star meals for their contributions.

[rlown]

Sierra on Fire
No reason to go there now
Swimming with Simba

[oldhikerQ]

shoulder straps creaking
stepping deliberately
mountain trails unfold

[oldhikerQ]

another vote for "First day hike always sucks big"

[sekihiker]

Writing haiku kept me busy during a storm in the Little Five Lakes basin in 1990.
http://www.sierrahiker.com/FiveLakes1990/index.html