A Hundred Years of History

For Harley Davidson's 100th annivrsary

 

 

The fuel valve gets opened first

Next the key’s turned on

The choke is set exactly right 

And then the gloves slip on

The neutral light reconfirms 

Soon thunder’s gonna roll 

The leather jacket’s zipped by now 

This Hog is good to go

 

The starter strains a little

But it cranks that 96 twin

At 9.2-to-1 times two

Life roars from deep within

A snarl, a grunt, two puffs of smoke

Both cylinders ignite

Ya gotta crack the throttle some

If ya don’t, it just ain’t right

 

It’s runs a little rough at first

Let it warm up just a touch

Then push the choke in easy

Don’t lean it out too much

Now the big V’s hummin’

Well… more like a nasty growl 

With dual straights on this machine

The neighbors cast a scowl

 

You gently slip it into first

Then ease out on the clutch 

A hundred years of history 

But right now you don’t care much

You run the gears to sixty-five 

Then settle back to cruise

You thank the Lord for Harley’s

And America’s right to choose!

Reviews

[James Horsley]

This is really cool. I love the way that you portray the being of a Harley without actually sounding like a disgruntled old biker. At first run I thought some of the language was a little rough cut, but I then I realized the voice and speech you're using here works perfectly for the piece.

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Felt that throaty growl.
Lived for a time in No. California where there was towns
of Harley folk.
Rolling thunder!
Great piece of Americana!
History the way it should be written.
Love,
Jack

[DeAn]

ride to live, live to ride lil lady. bro's and ho's. :) j/k

loved this.

great work.

l8r g8r
-Tao

[Tennessee Phil]

When you "cracked the throttle some," I could feel it in the base of my throat.

[Sara Searchefield (The ..]

That was so wonderful! My dad loves Motorcycles so he got me into it some, too!
And this makes the best motorcycles seem even better!

Sara Seay

[Zane Mathias]

i like this peice. very well done.

[Solst Rapture]

A very entertaining poem. I loved the imagery and mood it stimulated.

One constructive criticism:


'...It's runs a little rough at first...'

It was lively and thoroughly enjoyed.

[R J Askew]

Makes me want to watch 'Easy Rider' again. I like history and I like motion and the poem has both. It, the poem, is also a well engineered piece of writing that exudes love for the machine and the romance and dreams of freedom it offers. But it is also as much a poem about a slice of America's soul as a poem about a classic motorbike. I enjoyed it for all these reasons.

[James K. Blaylock]

Wow, I really dug this piece. I truly think you did them justice! Thanks to Emily for sharing it with me. And thanks to you for writing it.

[Raef C. Boylan]

You've done justice to your passion [or someone elses's passion that you're depicting] here; the rhyming helps the flow, and romanticises the beginning of this ride - romanticising is often bland and overdone, but something about this piece makes it work and feel just right.
Nice descriptions and narrative voice.

Overall, good job and thanks to Emily Burns for sharing this with me.

[A.T.B.]

Harley's is a legend. To hard corps bikers, it's a dream come true. I respect that. This is a beautiful tribute.