POETIC ERRORS

The Haiku is a Japanese verse form of strictly disciplined construction.

Here are a few haikus for those of us who live in daily fear of the computer error...

Something you entered
transcended parameters.
So much is unknown.

Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.

There is a chasm
of carbon and silicon
the software can't bridge.

With searching comes loss
and the presence of absence:
"My Novel" not found.

The code was willing,
It considered your request,
But the chips were weak.

A file that big?
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.


Login incorrect.
Only perfect spellers may
enter this system.

Seeing my great fault
Through darkening blue windows
I begin again.

The Web site you seek
cannot be located but
endless others exist

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.

ABORTED effort:
Close all that you have.
You ask way too much.

A crash reduces
your expensive computer
to a simple stone.

First snow, then silence.
This thousand dollar screen
dies so beautifully.

To have no errors
Would be life without meaning
No struggle, no joy.

And my personal favourite...

You step in the stream,
but the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

For more Haiku Error Messages (and for the names of the poets whose work is sampled above), visit 21st: the culture of technology, the technology of culture.