This book is based on user submissions received by Walter F. Kern while he was the Motorcycles Guide at About.com and also during his current assignment as Editor of Motorcycle Views, which he founded. The book is an anthology of motorcycle haiku poems including seven original poems written by Walter. The other authors are motorcyclists from all walks of life. They have created short 3-line, 17-syllable haiku poems that reflect their love of riding motorcycles. Haiku is a three-line unrhymed verse with the first line containing five syllables, the second line containing seven syllables and the last line containing five syllables. Sometimes the verse has a seasonal theme. Haiku is an old literary, poetic form. Motorcyclists seem to like motorcycle haiku poems. That is evident as you read the 17-syllable haiku poems contained in this book. You will be amazed to find out that the feelings of motorcycle riders can be so succinctly expressed in just three short lines. Here's an example: Fresh wind in my face On an early morning ride Biking therapy Each haiku poem has been titled and then paired up either with a motorcycle picture or a motorcycle tattoo. Each bike or tattoo picture is described, and then Walter offers his own thoughts to link together the poem and the bike or tattoo picture. Some safety or riding tips and philosophy may also be included in the narrative. If you've never read haiku before, you're in for a treat. Sit back and enjoy this book of Motorcycle Haiku Poetry.

Mark Fargo is a solo motorcycle rider. He didn't start riding until he was sixty years old, avoiding all the traps of being a younger rider, seeking thrills through speed, large gatherings, alcohol and riding in large groups. His travels take him all over the United States seeking those great two lane roads or less traveled highways and byways. His photographer, especially his latest book, Motorcycle Haiku 4, Noir et Blanc, has captured some startling images of Yosemite and California and many other states.His Haiku poetry matches the moment perfectly and his travel log additions to those pictures and poetry is revealing to his attention for detail. Mark is very aware of the dangers on the road with its careless drivers, those addicted to tech and having to constantly adjust to weather conditions.He has decided to forgo the usual mindset of not messing with your rides appearance by plastering his windshield with yellow reflective tape and with his amber running lights, is keeping people on notice he's in the neighborhood. Not having a car for the past six years makes him realize that motorcycling is a privilege not an entitlement. It's why he also chooses to wear a helmet in EVERY state not just his native California, which created the law that all motorcycle riders must wear a helmet in 1992. This law has saved thousands of lives over the years but you can't control poor behavior and actions of some riders. Averaging over 20,000 miles a year on his reliable Yamaha Super Tenere, a 1200 cc dual sport bike, has made his travels safe and practically maintenance free. Please enjoy this fourth book in an ongoing Motorcycle Haiku series. Enjoy the ride.

On the Trail of Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Zen and Now is the story of a story that will appeal to the 5 million readers of the original and serve as an initiation to a whole new generation. Since its original publication in 1968, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values has touched whole generations of readers with its serious attempt to define “quality” in a world that seems indifferent to the responsibilities that quality brings. Mark Richardson expands that journey with an investigation of his own – to find the enigmatic author of Zen and the Art, ask him a few questions, and place his classic book in context. The result manages to be a biography of Pirsig himself – in the discovery of an unknown life of madness, murder and eventual resolution – and a splendid meditation on creativity and problem-solving, sanity and insanity.

The Essential Haiku brings together Robert Hass's beautifully fresh translations of the three great masters of the Japanese haiku tradition: Matsuo Basho (1644-94), the ascetic and seeker, and the haiku poet most familiar to English readers; Yosa Buson (1716-83), the artist, a painter renowned for his visually expressive poetry; and Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), the humanist, whose haiku are known for their poignant or ironic wit. Each haiku master's section of the book is prefaced with an eloquent and informative introduction by Robert Hass, followed by a selection of over 100 poems and then by other poetry or prose by the poet, including journals and nature writing. Opening with Hass's superb introductory essay on haiku, the book concludes with a section devoted to Basho's writings and conversations on poetry. The seventeen-syllable haiku form is rooted in a Japanese tradition of close observation of nature, of making poetry from subtle suggestion. Each haiku is a meditation, a centring, a crystalline moment of realisation. Reading them has a way of bringing about calm and peace within the reader. The symbolism of the seasons and the Japanese habit of mind blend together in these poems to create an alchemy of reflection that is unsurpassed in literature. Infused by its great practitioners with the spirit of Zen Buddhism, the haiku served as an example of the power of direct observation to the first generation of American modernist poets like Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams as well as an example of spontaneity and Zen alertness to the new poets of post-war America and Britain. Universal in its appeal, Robert Hass's The Essential Haiku is the definitive introduction to haiku and its greatest poets, and has been a bestseller in America for twenty years. 'I know that for years I didn't see how deeply personal these poems were or, to say it another way, how much they have the flavour - Basho might have said "the scent" - of particular human life, because I had been told and wanted to believe that haiku were never subjective. I think it was D.H. Lawrence who said the soul can get to heaven in one leap but that, if it does, it leaves a demon in its place. Better to sink down through the level of these poems - their attention to the year, their ideas about it, the particular human consciousness the poems reflect, Basho's profound loneliness and sense of suffering, Buson's evenness of temper, his love for the materials of art and for the colour and shape of things, Issa's pathos and comedy and anger' - Robert Hass

A child reflects on the meaning of being Black in this moving and powerful anthem about a people, a culture, a history, and a legacy that lives on. Red is a rainbow color. Green sits next to blue. Yellow, orange, violet, indigo, They are rainbow colors, too, but My color is black . . . And there’s no BLACK in rainbows. From the wheels of a bicycle to the robe on Thurgood Marshall's back, Black surrounds our lives. It is a color to simply describe some of our favorite things, but it also evokes a deeper sentiment about the incredible people who helped change the world and a community that continues to grow and thrive. Stunningly illustrated by Caldecott Honoree and Coretta Scott King Award winner Ekua Holmes, Black Is a Rainbow Color is a sweeping celebration told through debut author Angela Joy’s rhythmically captivating and unforgettable words. An ALSC Notable Children's Book 2021 An NCTE 2021 Notable Poetry Book A 2021 Notable Social Studies Trade Book of the NCSS/CBC A New York Public Library Best Book of 2020 A Washington Post Best Book of 2020 A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year A 2020 Jane Addams Children's Book Award Honoree

In this memoir, Walter Kern traces his own life path from wanting to be a mechanic to gaining a master's degree at MIT and working at a famous research laboratory. Along the way, he uncoveres secrets hidden in his family's past.

Moving to America turns H&à's life inside out. For all the 10 years of her life, H&à has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, the warmth of her friends close by, and the beauty of her very own papaya tree. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. H&à and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, H&à discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food, the strange shape of its landscape, and the strength of her very own family. This is the moving story of one girl's year of change, dreams, grief, and healing as she journeys from one country to another, one life to the next.