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Crash.
Olga Hooper, USA

Late afternoon. I am sitting at the computer, minding my own business -- writing, reading, scanning, printing... not bothering anybody... At one moment, I click at the folder where all my works are stored -- and all of a sudden, the screen turns into a half black one, and computer freezes... Then, a clickety sound comes from the hard drive ...

computer crash...
moonlight gleaming
on the dark screen

At first, I didn't fully realized what has happened. Denny tries to restart computer as he has done more than once before, but it doesn't work this time. Next day, he takes it to the best computer recovering firm in the city, and the diagnosis was final. I lost everything that had been stored in my Outlook Express for four years. Almost a thousand haiku, two dozens haibuns, all files with scanned pictures, drawings, haiga, photos, links, addresses, submissions... all my mail for the four years... all articles, essay, manuscripts, translations... everything. Four years of my spiritual journey...

what a thicket!
in my own garden
abandoned corner

For two days I cry, send "SOS" notes to friends, sit for hours next to the dead computer while Denny is trying to fix it. Then I begin to recover -- and to write new haiku. This was a lesson learned the hard way. I now believe I will survive as a writer... even without any computer.

dark computer screen ...
warblers in the bird-bath
in sunny splashes