I attended a meeting at the HERA chapter here in Kansas City last Saturday.  It was a fun time to visit with other writers from the Kansas City area.  One of the other guests bemoaned some of the writing programs she had some interaction with and she mentioned a haiku she remembered.  I thought I’d dust off a pair of pieces I wrote sometime in the last two years on my favorite topic.  One is a Haiku and the other a short essay I took great pleasure in writing at the time.  They have a theme in common.  

The  humble trebuchet.

Today I hung a sign in my front yard that read “Trebuchet Rides Fifty-Cents”.  This was not some pre-halloween fund raiser or practical joke. 

I was dead serious.  You see I had already mailed five dollars worth of tickets to my boss the ninja-turtle (Portabello, Mortadello, bowl of jello I can’t exactly remember his name) in hopes that he would be the first in line. I realize five-dollars would be “overkill” because I had faith that first fifty-cents would take care of the problem, but you never know with trebuchets. In my experience it’s always the hardware that is the weakest link.

I double checked the counter-weight to make certain the ride would be long and satisfying.  Because, you know that a too short amusement ride spoils all the fun. 

At the other end of the trajectory alternating concentric rings painted stark white and a delicate pastel rosy shade, like some kind of stretched-out-untwisted-fifties-throwback-barber pole, could be found on a wall.  A brick wall.  A wall with reinforced steel rebar, I - beams and and a very pleasant border of pansies arranged in yellows and blues. 

In the center of the bull’s eye carefully printed in 8 point “happy-birthday-come-to-my-party-font” were the words “I quit – thank you and have a nice day.” I hoped he would wear his glasses.

Haiku - The trebuchet

The trebuchet waits

Kinetic energy leashed

Is your seat comfy