[Crtcalmss]

One of our school's english teachers bound an published a book of some of his student's poetry recently. Max Ahlquist is a senior this year on our team (350, Timberlane HS, Plaistow, NH - "TechnOtus"). Max wrote Haiku about his experiences in FIRST. As a team mentor, having seen what the team has gone through and done over the past several years, and recognizing the common experiences of many FIRST teams, I thought his work could use a more global forum. Enjoy.

Screwdrivers & Laptops

screwdriver in hand
shapeless metal before me
ideas running wild

dinner at school
grease to your elbows and chin
where's that socket wrench?

competititve thought
and engineering know-how
all the tools arranged

motor turning gears
cogs 'n sprockets working links
chain rotating wheels

many concepts formed
continuing ideas flow
hours of debate

code running, lights flash
an electrical fire!
sparks fly, rubber melts

armed with a pencil
ideas set in motion
prototyping starts

code flows from my head
compiling, syntax error!
build hex upload

mock to scale robots
lots of coffee and takeout
nights, dream of robots

Victor 884s
modified drill transmission
Timberlane robots

slight movement forward
screwdrivers, laptops ready
only time matters