A Pocketful of Poetry and Prose

Lines on the Road – Diary of a Motorcycle Poet is a collection of wordplay that I self–published in the summer of 2008. Most of these were written from 15–20 years ago. It’s a weathered cache of poetry and prose that slipped from bloody fingertips as I attempted to plug the holes of my heart, stillettoed by an indifferent muse, while I criss–crossed the country eight times on my steel pony.

The happy author holds his first copy

There is a Zen saying: “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”

O’er many years of turning these and similar thoughts ‘round and ‘round in my mind, like fuzzy socks tumbling in a dryer, I can’t claim enlightenment, but I do feel warm contentment rising from my confusion. I’m also missing a few socks, and I don’t know what the hell that means.

I love words. I love the images they create and the sounds they make in my head, rolling around in my mouth as they attempt to trip off my tongue with poise and grace, yet tend, at times, to fumble and fall flat, like a fat ballerina lumbering to jeté in Swan Lake.

From the Preface to the poetry collection
Lines on the Road – Diary of a Motorcycle Poet
by H. Scott Hackney

Not everyone is a biker poet and the open road may not call out to every heart, but when it does and goes unanswered, those souls who dare stay inside where it’s safe and warm could live to regret it. Turning a deaf ear to your muse can cause worse pain than cheating on your wife, abandoning your children or flipping your bike on a hot summer night and slamming into California concrete at 40 mph.

In Lines on the Road, the author follows his heart along the road of love for a few miles — and then some. One thing he discovers is that you must understand your past and learn from it, before you can ever move forward to reach your destination.

Through miles of pain, sweeping vistas and moments that take your breath away, his heart makes the journey to hell and back, and keeps track of time in rhyme with a few lines on the road that whispered to him, night and day. Care to climb aboard and hear what this traveling bard has to say?

Into every life a little rain must fall...

Lines on the Road is also available from Barnes & Noble and other major online bookstores in both paperback and ebook formats. Visit my Buy the Book page for complete product details about this heartfelt collection of prose and poetry.

weeping willows whispered low
the waning minstrel’s melody
baby fawn’s lullaby
o’er treetops drifted hauntingly
pure as golden hoop
it tugged the lovely maiden’s ear
luring, coaxing, enticing, charming
the damsel strained to hear
more of this bard’s strange
and woeful, scintillating tale
a captain’s recklessness
in stormy weather he set sail
pirate’s ship o’ plunder, faraway lands
yea, virgin shores
searching for true love
and great treasures to settle old scores

This is the beginning of a beautiful ballad of romantic love, called One Good Knight, that captures the author’s journey through mile after mile of heartache while seeking his ever elusive muse. Care to follow along the path of the poet and see where this sojourn of love leads the hopeful romantic?

From his epic self-portrait, plus many other poems and pieces of prose, Scott captures the solitary self-reflecting moments of a wandering heart like shimmering moonlight on a midnight pool of tranquil water. This perfect pocketful of poetry and prose makes a great gift!

a pocketful of poetry and prose

You’ll enjoy the rhythms of the open road in verse, feeling the writer’s beating heart as though you were riding with him along the road of love a mile. The Lines on the Road ebook features a special color version of Twin Peaks, a 17-mile hike of ever-increasing awareness that yin and yang are present in every breath and step we take, even if it’s far off the beaten path.

From romance — reciprocated or unrequited — to his eastern philosophical leanings and a humorous approach to spirituality, Scott will keep the bike upright, no matter how bumpy the backroads may become. And isn’t becoming the reason we started this journey?

A chuckle here, a tear there or a different perspective to ponder just might smack you in the head like heaven-sent hail, during an Arizona August monsoon, as you discover new vistas, reach distant horizons and find a few subtle meanings hidden between the Lines on the Road.

Remember, as his good friend Screamer would say:

“Never outrun your light, wear protection and keep the rubber side down.”

And with a name like Screamer, those words of wisdom sound like they come from personal experience, which is always the best teacher, if you survive the lesson.

The Kat