Look, we know. You’ve read the Harry Potter series 27 times. You’d still be afraid of vampires if it weren’t for the Twilight books, but now you feel like you’re fully prepared to seduce one into not killing you. You have a deep appreciation of the written word in all of its glorious forms.
But of all of the wonderful books you’ve read and posted slightly differing shots of on Instagram alongside your coffee on a sophisticated-looking wooden table, you’ve never seen a book like this. This is Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen’s book of haiku, and it’s the best thing you’ll ever read.
A little background on Raikkonen, if you’ve just stumbled upon this blog with the weird name that you’ll never remember how to spell while searching “best sports poetry to read on an airplane”: He doesn’t talk much. When he does talk, to anyone, it’s usually disgruntled, in a mumbling tone and completely hilarious.
Here’s a great summary of Raikkonen’s personality in a powerful and moving video he did once, that video being for a sponsor helping to fund his F1 team that spent a cool $500 million annually as of 2013:
And here’s what Raikkonen said when asked why he decided to sign with the lesser Sauber F1 team next year after Ferrari announced it would drop him for younger driver Charles Leclerc:
Q: You say it wasn’t your decision to leave Ferrari, but it was your decision to go back to Sauber, so just talk us through why you’re doing that?
KR: Why not.
You get the point, and if you need more examples, you can find them here, here, here, here and here. Now that the introduction is over, back to the haiku book.
The only words needed to describe this book are Raikkonen’s, or the words of somebody who used Raikkonen’s words to write the book. ESPN described it as “a short book featuring some haikus in the style of the 2007 world champion,” so who knows. Either way, enjoy.
And, a revelation:
This is all very inspiring. It has inspired me to write about other inspiring things in this life, of which there are few:
When life makes you sad
Recall Kimi in NASCAR
You will be happy