Sunday, April 29, 2007

Haiku

When I was 11 years old, I received honorable mention in a regional poetry contest for a morose haiku I wrote. It goes like this:

Gently falling down
The rain spatters all my dreams
Dotting all my thoughts.

While skimming through my email account that tends to get the most junk mail, I read the online newsletter, Kicking Asphalt, of the Better World Club. (Quick sidebar: This is an alternative to Triple AAA, the travel club. They provide the same services, but instead of directing lobby efforts towards increasing the number and quality of highways, they direct lobby efforts towards environmental protection. One of their best features - they offer not only roadside assistance for cars, but also for bikes. I've never used this feature, so I'm not sure how it works in practice, but I love the idea of it. Now, back to our story.)

In the newsletter, they unveiled a series of haiku written by Better World members, focused on the apparent fight to get an auto emissions waiver designed to let the state set even tougher limits than the U.S. A quick google search will reveal myriad stories about the emissions waiver effort -- supported by the Governor, who has threatened to sue the EPA if they don't grant the waiver. Do your own research into the issue, if you need to. Click here to read the haiku. Here is my favorite, from Chris in Ithaca:

Tundra's, desert's oil,
Pumped madly into the sky:
Oops! No more seasons.

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