{"product_id":"high-coup-a-highway-575-odyssey-9781662947407","title":"High Coup: A Highway 575 Odyssey","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHigh Coup\u003c\/em\u003e is a quiet rebellion from the author's otherwise technical life-a poetic breakwater against decades of scientific education, Naval service, and Medical practice. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePoetry has long been his secret escape route, a tether to beauty and sanity, a connection to an elevated form of humanity. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe never let his peers in on the secret. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot even his brother suspected he was the one reading all those old books Mom refused to throw out. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs time passes and miles accumulate, his quiet reading gives way to furtive writing. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eScribbled fragments get stuffed into burgeoning notebooks that travel with him for decades. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen he finally sorts through them, an unlikely treasure is revealed: Haiku.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMany emerge unintentionally, tucked within longer drafts, waiting to be drawn out and honored in their own right.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book is both a collection and an experiment-an irreverent twist on a centuries-old form, with some original invention (\"Bri-Ku\") thrown in for good measure. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's also a first leap into publishing, a foray outside the author's familiar world of Engineering and Medicine. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile he's never actually purchased a book of Haiku before, he's created one anyway-tongue in cheek, fully aware of the irony, hopeful it lands with readers who, like him, never saw it coming. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHigh Coup\u003c\/em\u003e: All original. Nothing artificial. Let's see if you can read just one. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSmith, Brice T.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eAs a young denizen of the American Southwest, the author lived for several formative years next door to his Uncle Thomas-\"Unk\"-an Army combat veteran of both World War I and II. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA curious synchronicity began to unfold, unnoticed by the rest of the family. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn scorching summer afternoons, Unk becomes the de facto babysitter while the boy waits for the desert heat to abate. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile reading Unk's magazines, he plots his next bout of mischief, and absorbs something deeper.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne day, Unk falls into a quiet trance and recites \"In Flanders Fields,\" start to finish, entirely from memory. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe young listener is transfixed: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHow could these words spring from this battle-hardened old man? \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA few months later, it happens again! This time, it's Longfellow's \"My Lost Youth.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn these moments, poetry takes hold.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf Unk reveres it, after all he's done and seen, then poetry must be the real deal. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Unk gifts him an LP by The Doors-his first rock record-that deal is sealed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTen years later, the sunburnt Arizona boy ships off to endure Plebe Summer at the United States Naval Academy, earn a degree in Electrical Engineering, and serve in the Nuclear Navy aboard a fast attack submarine. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfterward comes Medical School, courtesy of the United Stated Army. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter decades of service, thousands of poems, and a lifetime of travel-including remote wanderings aboard a sailboat-he is now convinced: Wherever you go, Poetry is always near. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Third Rail Ritin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51890648252690,"sku":"9781662947407","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3d991dd9-0679-49f7-ae41-b4c126a75e8b.jpg?v=1768312939","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/high-coup-a-highway-575-odyssey-9781662947407","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}