Sayonara, Two-Wheeled Friend

Kawasaki Eliminator ZL750A (b. 1987- d. July 29, 2008)

Background: I was involved in a minor traffic accident while driving my motorcycle home after work one recent summer evening. Suffice it to say, I suffered no serious injuries and the other person involved accepted all responsibility for the collision. However, my great two-wheeled friend, the Kawasaki Eliminator ZL750A, suffered terminal damage and is now no more, having gone on to bigger transcendental journeys. Naomi and I took many remarkable trips throughout western Japan, Kyushu and Shikoku on her over the years, and leaving her behind is truly hard to do. To celebrate my venerable touring buddy, I crafted six haiku in her honor, one for each of the six years she served me faithfully on my journeys brief or long. Fair winds and full sails!

Motorvating tranquility
blurred screeches of contrition
tasting pavement.

Crunch of metal
sordid humidity of summer
you are but wind.

Front forks contorted
soaring paradigms of providence
too steep to mend.

Bravado on cellphone
focus elusive, wind lulling
you screwed the pooch.

Fortune’s cackle
blue skies betrayal, sneering
engine silenced now.

Young coltish gasp
midlife loyalty through the tempest
73,795 yelps of freedom.