Death is so near

and simple. What makes our lives

surge forth so strongly?

From the diary of Vietnam War surgeon Đặng Thùy Trâm, 24 January 1970.

Time after time

Sijo

She connects directly to the source of time, the moon that pulls
the tides around the world pulls the hormone tide within her.
She carries her months, her years, her spring and winter within herself.

Haiku

She carries her months
her years, her spring and winter
within herself.

(From Otis Kidwell Burger’s diary, 1949)

a southbound Amtrak

a southbound Amtrak
passenger and mail train gone
when the windows clear

(From an early 1990s NPR news story, heard on the car radio. Submitted by John Maruskin)

Mundesley

We may come to the
sands through pathways cut in the
cliff, and the tide leaves

on these priceless shores
long lagoons which are
the delight of children’s hearts.

(From Every Woman’s Enquire Within: A Complete Library and Household Knowledge for all Home-Loving Women, 1930s. Submitted by H L Foster)

January

January. The days
are short but dramatic scenes
await the hardy.

(From the Great British Year poster. Submitted by Uschi Gatward)

Watched the Tour de France then went for a walk on Cotswold Edge

Cinnabar Moths as
exuberantly coloured
as cycling jerseys.

(Tweet by @DomForestry. Submitted by Ailsa Holland)

What it sounds like to be without windows

Sabayon Haiku
Bodhi Saluki Fusion
Dragonfly Hybryde

Peppermint Chakra
Absolute Vine Vyatta
Cinnamon Zenwalk

Ultimate Pinguy
Arios Porteus Fedora
Damn Small Manjaro

Quirky Aurora
YellowDog Deepin Redo
Puppy Tails Antix

Elementary Kwort
Calculate Zorin Vector
Backtrack Mandriva

From a list of the most popular free software offerings (mostly operating systems) that provide alternatives to Microsoft Windows. Submitted by Geoff Blanchard.

25-5-12

Please could you park
in the student car park if
you are in again.

The student car park
is on the opposite side
of the building.

A handwritten note found on the street near to my house in the UK, signed “Traffic Controller”. The title is the date written on the note. Submitted by Steve Clement-Large.

Weather Girl’s Haiku

A wet and cold start
This morning windy. Later
rain dying away.

The BBC Breakfast weather forecast, as delivered by Carol Kirkwood, March 2012. ‘The’ removed from the start of line 3. Submitted by Fran Isherwood.

Breaking up

What am I supposed
to do now? I’ve got your face
tattooed on my arm.

From a most incredible exchange on Facebook, in which a young man finds out that his girlfriend of one week has had his face inked permanently on her body. Sadly, for us, a hoax. Submitted by Gabriel Smy.