HAIKU: Urges and surges

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Burk Ketcham of United for Peace of Pierce County was in the streets of Tacoma the day after George W. Bush's Jan. 10 speech, in which he announced his intention to escalate the war in Iraq, despite the heavy snowfall that hit the Puget Sound region just after the president's speech.  --  He explains why in this haiku (not strictly obedient to the formal requirements of the genre, but Burk, like Jack Kerouac, adapts this Japanese poetic form to the American idiom).[1] ...

1.

          Haiku

          URGES AND SURGES
          By Burk Ketcham

          I feel the urge
          To yell at Bush
          Go shove your surge

                --January 13, 2007 

--Burk Ketcham, an artist, veteran, retired urban planner, and peace activist who lives in Tacoma, WA. Burk is also an active competitor in international rowing.  He participated in the 2006 Masters Worlds in Princeton, and is the author of a petition to the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Aviron (FISA), or International Federation of Rowing Associations, which is the governing body of the sport of rowing, to establish a new category "J" for rowing competitors over 80.  Burk figures prominently in two recent pieces posted on the UFPPC web site, Steve Nebel's "Vigiling in the Snow" and Kristi Nebel's "Adventures of Sam."