haiku 29 Dec 2017

Tall, swaying palm trees
Green coconuts freshly cracked
Hot and sweaty nights

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] 

haiku 27 Dec 2017

An endless sandscape
Dunes marching infinitely
Is there water, near?

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 25 Dec 2017

The early riser
Up before everyone else
Witnesses life first

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

a symmetrical octopus

sticker graffiti street art found 2016 in Boston, MA, that depicts an octopus with thorny tentacles, two shells, and these decipherable alphanumerics: octopus
[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

decks grip shipping by @worshipskateboards

sticker graffiti street art [by artists @worshipskateboards] found 2016 in Boston, MA, that depicts a man wearing a gas mask, an aiming reticle, and these decipherable alphanumerics: worship skateboards dot com decks free grip free shipping
[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

cook thugless

sticker graffiti street art found 2016 in Boston, MA, that depicts a pixelated man with a round haircut wearing a white jacket and these decipherable alphanumerics: cook thugless
[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

raiyi kma saft

Reflecting upon habits that have helped me survive the act of bicycling many hundreds of miles through various cities, I have settled upon three basic rules, which are provided below (next to their corresponding acronyms):

raiyi (ride as if you’re invisible) Motor vehicle operators - especially ones who are in a hurry or looking at their mobile devices whilst driving - are not looking out for and don’t give a fuck about cyclists. Persons who move themselves across the phaltscape balanced atop a few tubes of metal, skin-to-sky, would do well to ride in the center of the lane, stay out of blind-spots, and always wear brightly flashing lights - day and night.

kma (keep moving, always) Bicyclists who stop within a lane to check a map or ask a passerby for directions are liable to get struck by a passing car. When you’re riding a bicycle, keep moving, always. If you come across a traffic jam, don’t sit there waiting for it to unfuck itself - mount the curb or seek out a side route, even if this adds distance to your journey. Bicycles were invented to let people move themselves around swiftly, not as a wheeled seat upon which to wait around for others to get their shit together.

saft (stay away from traffic) Prefer side routes, alleys, bicycle paths, empty lots, sidewalks &c. to roads frequented by cars. If motor vehicle operators in your city tend to cut in just behind you, missing your rear tire by inches as they slot into your lane, avoid them like the plague. Even slight contact can send a velocipedist sprawling onto the road - and under the wheels of the tailgating two-ton slave’s chariot.

This is not an exhaustive list; it covers the most fundamental rules for surviving whilst bicycling in an urban environment, only. Always wear a helmet, especially around moving cars. Unless you have no soul, yield to pedestrians. And slow down, for the love of love - death awaits us all.

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 20 Dec 2017

From a distant star
A fast scout arriving first
Ice and hard-baked gunk

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 18 Dec 2017

A boiling ocean
Waves crashing against cold rocks
Great peril abounds

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 15 Dec 2017

Frozen, biting wind
Snowdrifts gathered here and there
Warmth beckons, inside

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 13 Dec 2017

Incense lit, hands clasped
Quiet words to greet the dawn
A grand beginning

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

five seven five

This author is changing his usual daily writing efforts, preferring haiku to prose in an effort to avoid speaking divisively. He finds that there is enough vituperation being posted online and appearing on paper, these days. Laboring to point out the faults and shortcomings of politicians and society at large is exhausting work; unless there are radical shifts in income and wealth distribution, a rekindling of compassion for the less fortunate, and an adjustment of the public mindset away from ego-driven materialism, trying to come up with feasible solutions to common problems faced by all Americans is akin to flogging a dead horse.

Hence haiku, the five seven five, which allows him to say something meaningful without saying anything concrete. Shadowed hints and subtle nudges are more likely than brute-force tactics to succeed in sewing useful doubt and shattering inflated egos. Among the primary purposes of the LieSmith and Americanifesto writing projects is to play the tenth man, to look at the world from non-habitual and irregular points of view. The ends he strives for are democracy, happiness, liberty, and prosperity; only his means are different.

To make weak butter
Skim off the layer of cream
Blandness remains, then

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] 

haiku 8 Dec 2017

Santa Ana’s curse
Whips wildfires into frenzy
Cleansing the parched land

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 6 Dec 2017

A secret chamber
Filled with smiles and joyful glee
Ruins all worry

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 4 Dec 2017

Crunching frozen leaves
North wind blowing swiftly cruel
Jackets, gloves, and scarves

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 1 Dec 2017

One room’s for laughter
Others hold space for mankind
Bound loosely in Wu

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]