October 16, 2002

...fivetwenty...

The Chicago Bloggers are meeting this weekend to discuss No-east.com v2.0; our theme is public transportation (ie, trains and buses) in Chicago.
Last night as I lay in bed, I found myself writing haiku about the El. Here's a sample:

Attention passengers:
do not lean against the doors
(the recording says.)

Thorndale stop stairwells
smell like urine all the time.
will it ever fade?

Purple Line
thunders past stations:
express train

on underground platforms
workers wait for delayed trains
while violin plays

Posted by Andrew Huff at October 16, 2002 11:25 AM
Comments

purple line
windows flash by
getting home before you

Posted by: paul at October 16, 2002 01:49 PM

Aren't you kind of cheating on the syllable counts?

A haiku by Bob:

Drat! I've just begun
And already it seems I've
Run out of syllab

Posted by: sourbob at October 18, 2002 11:22 AM

english haiku don't necessarily have to be 5-7-5, it's just important to keep the ratio, and try to have the shift between the second and third lines. i wrote this one on the purple line a few weeks ago:

long box shadows
cross an empty parking lot -
train at rush hour.

what is it about the el that makes haiku flow? i love trains :) i also love tanka, which is like haiku but 5 lines: 5-7-5-7-7, and allows for emotion to be shown.

perhaps the next no-east should have a section of el haiku!

Posted by: j3s at October 18, 2002 11:59 AM