Zeitoun Book Giveaway Haiku Contest

Bassam Tariq is a Boing Boing guestblogger who is the co-author of 30 Mosques. A blog that celebrated the NYC mosques during the Islamic month of Ramadan. He lives in Harlem, NY.

UPDATE: We just got word from the Eggers camp that they will be providing us signed copies of Zeitoun! Not sure how many we'll be given for the giveaway, but will tell you all as soon as we know. Also, there's a new deadline - tomorrow, Thursday at 7 AM PST. We'll announce winners this Friday! It'll be hard to top zombie haikus, but let's try!



Zeitoun is a critically acclaimed non-fiction book written by Dave Eggers. Boing Boing has made a post on the book before. I could go on for hours on how great this book is, but have decided instead to giveaway a couple of new copies I have in my apartment. The Boing Boing crowd is an intelligent one, but are they poets?

Write a Haiku in the comments section on why you deserve a copy of Zeitoun. Aman and I will look through them and choose the top ones. We'll package them nicely and mail them out asap.

I'll be the sacrificial lamb to help get this started -

Zeitoun is his name
Rowing a boat is his game
I like arab food. 

Here's another example -

I am a bigot
Who reads Boing Boing everyday
I'm hoping to change

See? It's not that hard. I came up with these in the matter of seconds (and it shows). Let's have some fun!

• [mr.moncrief]

  Who will judge these posts?
  Surely someone glorified
  with time apleanty.

• [fieldofbutter]

  hops, barley and malt
  essential to existence
  the hammock swings slow

• [Sug4rFree]

  I am from Scotland
  Where the hell is New Orleans
  Who is Dave Eggers

• [lasttide]

  The water rises
  The shotgun warm in my hand
  Flood zombie heads ‘plop’

• [Tdawwg]

  The ubiquitous
  waters flood. Citizens drown:
  sad, iniquitous.

• [finalist]

  words evoke pictures
  mind to keys to screen to mind
  something … something … rats.

• [Tdawwg]

  Global warming’s first
  ruined city. A great book:
  cold consolation?

• [Value Pack]

  My therapist said
  This book would be good for me
  But I am flat broke

• [samizdada]

  the books on my shelves
  breed like hangers in closets
  but never enough

• [fieldofbutter]

  somewhat heartbreaking
  the velocity of you
  the leaving of me

• [Anonymous]

  Sir David Eggers
  author of five decent books
  and one masterpiece

• [HMNA (Haiku Master of North America)]

  The H.M.N.A.
  Humbly requests a copy
  Really? He needs one

• [Anonymous]

  Born to Arkansans
  Raised by a television
  Zeitoun Autumn

  -Joe Ford

• [SoyChemist]

  No rights for victims
  FEMA director eats steak
  They treat us like dogs

• [fieldofbutter]

  garden gnome aflame
  glowing fur-clad girls on bikes -
  burning man flashback

• [rvn]

  I hope you’ll read this
  another shitty haiku
  one more drop in sea

• [fieldofbutter]

  Jacques Derrida said
  something very meaningful
  or was it Lacan

• [Billy Gay Cyrus]

  It is late tonight
  This head throbs with discomfort
  Book please be my friend

• [rvn]

  the water is rising
  must go back for my books
  glub glub glub glub glub

• [HMNA (Haiku Master of North America)]

  American Dream
  Anti-American Dream
  Annihilation

• [lee09]

  While in New Orleans
  I saw a vid about this.
  I want to read more.

• [That Neil Guy]

  I have been reading
  Too many Doctor Who books
  I crave quality

• [Anonymous]

  paddle through surface
  reflections break, ripple light
  alone on water

• [HMNA (Haiku Master of North America)]

  Chain link fences bloon
  As putrid water rises
  The autumn mace blows

• [rvn]

  millions of faces
  petals on a wet black bough
  yes i plagiarized

• [Anonymous]

  A lifeboat hero
  Terrorized by Bush Admin
  Zeitoun in Zeittown

• [desipoet]

  Afloat in syllables
  Zeitoun’s woes come ashore
  Good job, Eggers!

• [rvn]

  read this book aloud
  on every street corner
  the truth must be told

• [desipoet]

  One man’s despair
  After the hurricane left
  A nation grieves

• [samizdada]

  as drops fill buckets
  so do refugees return
  to damaged homelands

• [dhelling]

  The pond has no walls
  Zeitoun jumps in his canoe
  Is there an echo?

• [Tdawwg]

  Sci-fi has come true.
  We’re living in the future
  now: dystopian.

• [rvn]

  on Lake Pontchartrain
  the people live hand to mouth
  in silent poverty

• [roryrhorerton]

  I don’t know this book
  But I’m broke and in grad school
  Help me to look smart

• [MrProven3]

  I want to read it
  Send it to my home address
  If not, library

• [james113]

  A poor student, me,
  just wants to read a free book
  about a deluge.

• [G9]

  Woe the funny man
  who becomes
  UnAmerican

• [The Double]

  I will not hold on
  to any book too firmly
  but I will read it

• [rvn]

  haikus don’t make sense
  unless you read them backward
  the hat walks–silence

• [rkimmet]

  Bush said that Brownie
  Did a real “heck of a job.”
  I say Eggers did.

• [desipoet]

  Zeitoun
  ——-

  Camp Greyhound woes
  After saving lives by boat
  Good unfortunate man!

• [MrProven3]

  Harriet Klausner
  already reviewed this book
  Send to me instead

• [Tdawwg]

  Worse than all of your
  postapocalyptic dreams:
  that’s how bad we’re fucked.

• [showcasejase]

  A heartbreaking work
  deserves to be followed
  with more genius

• [rvn]

  let me have this book
  and i’ll mail it to G-Dub
  when I’m done with it

• [magicmonkeymeat]

  Once I had money
  But sadly I went bankrupt
  Books cheer me up though

• [David Weaver]

  A McSweeneys Fan
  Remembers the time when streets
  became flowing rivers

• [rvn]

  lonely PhD
  swamped with Sartre and Camus
  needs escape canoe

• [Yawp]

  wrathful morning hex
  molten city spleen heaves up
  rapt disavowal

• [lily_reads]

  Haikus existing
  Alongside beauty provide
  Books for hungry worms.

• [Anonymous]

  I enter contests
  on numerous other sites.
  But Boing Boing has taste.

  alt:

  A set of haiku?
  Probably lots of white space.
  Each post speaks silence.

• [rvn]

  i don’t need the book
  still have a rotary phone
  i need an iphone

• [Schuytema]

  Mississippi home
  Rising river claws its levees
  Must learn to paddle

• [misformargaret]

  I’m on a mountain
  deep in the Atacama
  please, send a new book

• [kidflay2]

  Zeitoun:
  A beard, A canoe, dog lover too.
  Literal,(‘cept last one).

• [Anonymous]

  A Dave Eggers book!
  And it has a short title?
  Crazypants. I want one.

• [rvn]

  i teach high school kids
  need i say more?

• [driggs]

  Alliterating

  Begone bankrupt Bush
  Banished by brazen Barack
  Boing Boing brood beaming

• [benbeltran]

  It’s early morning,
  I’m feeling kinda hungry,
  Serve me some eggers.

• [Fatastic]

  My book shelves are bare,
  I am not educated
  Please, make me smarter!

• [Bassam Tariq]

  keep’em coming! this is great.

• [e— p——-]

  In New Orleans, they
  needed so much, and still do.
  Send a book there, please.

• [AlanJ]

  What’s this book about.
  Will I bother to read it?
  Only if it’s free.

• [Tanja Cilia]

  I’d write a haiku…
  But my brain cells have withered;
  Just give me the book.

• [ThisGuyDigi]

  I can’t find Zeitoun
  at B and N in Park Slope.
  Didn’t try too hard.

• [TheHikingStick]

  There once was a man named Zeitoun
  Who paddled around in a canoe
  The…

  Oh, crap! It’s haiku only and not limericks.

• [driggs]

  Another Alliterating haiku

  Erudite Eggers
  Explains egregious error
  Empathetic ear

• [sad dolls]

  paper was a tree
  its all digital for me
  but not if its free

• [wynnj26]

  Hated McSweeneys,
  but adored What is the What?
  Resolve this Boing Boing.

• [zzzing]

  Deep in David’s Mind
  Bizarre creatures luminesce
  Around his ego

  How ironic, the
  Succinct form of the haiku
  and then… Eggers’ prose

  Despite these insults
  I have decided that I
  really want that book

• [jengillespie]

  May I have his book
  Dave Eggers is my hero
  Need this mind canoe

• [cort]

  you, me, dave eggers:
  simple wandr’in bumpkins still
  paddling north-word

• [rrot]

  Amazon click-through
  Leaves surfer unenlightened
  Book’s no use unread

• [lisandro]

  Here in Brazil
  people are so very sad
  We all need Zeitoun

• [DasBub]

  As a canuck kid,
  I saw Mr. Canoe Head.
  Canoe Beard is next.

• [talzaken]

  Oh, Eggers. You saint.
  First a sacrificial lamb,
  Now you serve up truth.

• [Sottises]

  Buy the book, or eat?
  Please don’t make me have to choose.
  … A starving student.

• [harryhood]

  I’m wasting my time
  I know these don’t have to rhyme
  But I want this book.

• [wygit]

  Autumn is soon here
  Time for poetry and change
  If I am lucky

• [Malana]

  One hundredth in line
  at the local library
  Yes, I’m impatient.

• [Tdawwg]

  A man, plan, canoe:
  it’s Abdulrahman Zeitoun!
  (Not a palindrome.)

• [Goorpy]

  Staggering was sad,
  Velocity: crazy fun.
  Zeitoun will be fresh.

• [lisandro]

  Zaitoun? Free? Really?
  Let me read some of that
  So I can be happy

• [valiantiris]

  left america
  because of stories like these
  want to read more please

• [MrSodium]

  Zeitoun book give’way?
  Free books make the world go ’round!
  After, pass it on.

  Eggers, you crafty
  Getting us to read your book
  By giving it free

  Word of mouth is strong
  So you know that I will tell
  And they will buy it

• [infidel castro]

  the skull-cracking cirque,
  a swaggering zombie mess,
  what do we want, braaaains!

• [Anonymous]

  I live abroad.
  If you don’t chose me,
  It’s discrimination.

• [goodpotato]

  
  fond of the Boing Boing,
  lover of non-fiction, and
  greedy smarty pants

• [mitchelka]

  Katrina revealed
  fragility of normal
  we will all soon know.

• [Ronin28]

  The world is cruel
  against the most innocent
  I cry

• [Xeni Jardin]

  Thread brims with
  sheer awesomeness of
  your haikus!

• [mitchelka]

  Society floats
  in such a fragile canoe.
  Storm clouds gathering.

• [thisisnotatest]

  we all deserve it
  no one deserves anything
  let me sleep now, please

• [NoahApples]

  the wind of McSweeny’s
  You’ve bought for your fans
  a gift for me, no?

• [Anonymous]

  please give it to me
  my mom said it was very good
  let me make her proud

• [Tdawwg]

  Floods of words pour forth,
  unflagging logorrhea:
  not water, thank God.

• [thelittlefluffycat]

  Spent the night before
  Katrina remembering.
  No forgetting now.

• [M Ludlum]

  Is It Non Fiction? Harvard review said Fiction. Dead and drowned is real.

• [Xeni Jardin]

  Hit Wikipedia
  to brush up on the rules of
  composing haiku! D’oh.

• [talzaken]

  I love McSweeny’s,
  But think Eggers is a puff.
  Prove me wrong, Boing Boing.

• [Tdawwg]

  It’s raining haikus,
  hope that BB’s levees hold:
  poetic deluge.

• [jsdavidson]

  wind and water and man
  blows through preconceptions of
  what it is to be

• [ferallon]

  Bigotry, for shame
  Judaism, my culture
  Not my religion

• [dabbondo]

  A
  Haiku
  of
  links…
  
  Book
  links,
  butt
  MORE
  fore
  U
  2
  
  Bee
  at
  ease
  no,
  Traps

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    dabbondo,

    The system holds heavily linked comments for inspection. Resubmitting doesn’t make any difference.

• [mitchelka]

  As the rain drops splat
  we raise our eyes in alarm.
  What will happen next?

• [ikegently]

  Katrina was bad
  Racial profiling is worse
  Natural disaster

• [dnman222]

  Fresh, sealed up package
  Unread book waiting for me–
  Words teach when their free

• [amoulsolo]

  Storm water rising
  Abdulrahman Zeitoun, help!
  Crap, bureaucracy

• [lake placid]

  Floods down your alley.
  Three days, got water? what else?
  A good read for me.

• [PacoBell]

  Number six needs work
  The lotus is aquatic
  Hence no tumbling, right? ;)

• [toddelsann]

  inconsequential
  pseudo-intellectual
  pontification

• [frobnic8]

  I can afford it.
  Do not give me a free book.
  I am not worthy.

• [wildeandcrazy]

  When you smoke so much
  My lungs they hurt more and more
  The price of friendship.

• [Zard0z]

  Slowly pages turn,
  She radiates happiness.
  A gift for my wife.

• [TheForager]

  You Have Lots Of Books
  Why Don’t You Give One To Me
  I’ll Love You Long Time

• [Anonymous]

  thriftiness is key
  my bank balance demands it
  free book make happy :)

• [Jupiter12]

  Wolf Blitzer observes:
  “So hungry, so poor, so black.”
  What did he just say?!

• [Tdawwg]

  @Pacobell

  Corrective haiku:
  most wonderful to see, plus
  nice botanic catch!

• [mister parker]

  I struggle at this
  count syllables on my hand
  workshop accident.

• [driggs]

  Variation on my other one

  Begone bankrupt Brown
  Banished by brazen Barack
  Boing Boing brood beaming

• [JuliaD]

  Swimming through water,
  Drowning in humans. This book
  better make me float.

• [ghostpony]

  Once upon a time
  Chocolate city flood
  I want to know why

• [gstott2009]

  Hard rains gonna fall
  Let me hope to have the book
  To give me shelter

• [cindileper]

  Washed up ‘pon the shore
  His fam in a dry home no more
  Could more trouble await?

• [MichaelM]

  The paddle dips deep
  In the unsettled sentiment
  And rakes up the muck

• [wooden_muffin]

  Let us not forget
  what history always taught,
  the poor have no rights

• [knnygns]

  The flood changed the rules
  We took for granted back then
  Washed away our pride

• [Maghrabi]

  Raised in Bible Belt,
  And just moved to New Orleans.
  Want understanding.

• [Anonymous]

  sneak me a copy
  wrap it in pink panda paper
  to read in the tub

• [ikegently]

  Brown man helping white?
  He must be a terrorist.
  (Or he had a boat)

• [heyomar]

  Something free for me?
  Think outside the butthole please.
  I know how to read.

• [technogeek]

  Since I do not know
  Any reason I should win
  I doubt that I will

• [cindileper]

  Please send me this book
  I do need to be more learned
  Bout this evil world

• [dabbondo]

  Books are expensive
  Sometimes, books cost a hiku
  i can haz now plz?

• [gh]

  abandoned, wasted
  like a breath upon the wind
  hands beseaching sky

• [sparkdale]

  I choose to spend time
  remembering what went wrong
  to prevent repeat.

• [Anonymous]

  What if all books were
  earned for reading by challenge
  how many would languish

• [Tdawwg]

  “Underprivileged
  anyway, so this–this is
  working very well.”

• [holybuzz]

  Roofs now riverbanks
  Kingbirds call from floating trees
  News chopper hovers

• [simonbarsinister]

  A storm is brewing
  We are all terrorists now
  Stuck in wire cages

• [Cosmicamerican]

  Cannot leave the house
  H1N1 threatening
  Bookstore out of reach

• [SWetch]

  Faithfully I read
  Boing Boing, in between books by
  Dave Eggers, et al.

• [WizenedSage]

  I am really nice
  Or at least so says my wife
  I deserve a book

• [Anonymous]

  If Zen is nothing
  How Can You Charge For this book
  We should all have it

• [nosehat]

  Eggers’ book looks good.
  But for haiku I’ll stay here.
  Zombie haiku rocks!

• [aislefive]

  Beggars for Eggers
  Did Twain have such marketing?
  Nor Hemingway; no

• [scaryskeleton]

  Water floods the page
  Your fair eyes save drowning thoughts
  Letters float in white

• [SamLL]

  The lotus blossom
  Tumbles from the highest branch
  Send me a book please.

• [B.S.C.]

  In a boat rowing
  He saved a lot of people
  He was arrested

• [simonbarsinister]

  Muddy reflections
  The familiar looks foreign
  In dirty water

• [Tdawwg]

  “Brownie, you’re doing
  a heck of a job,” George Bush
  said. Meanwhile, we drowned.

• [MrXeno]

  scared, helpless waiting
  homes and lives washed away now
  calm muddy water

• [MinorThreat]

  god damn it i didnt know i wazs posting anon.. that last one is mine

• [ultraswank]

  Row row row your boat
  I’m sure this is a work of
  staggering genius

• [Jupiter12]

  Kanye West was wrong.
  George Bush hates brown people too.
  Well, ANY non-whites.

• [chris2u]

  If you think you can
  Write better haiku than me
  You are mistaken

• [wooden_muffin]

  Left for dead for days
  Then imprisonment and now
  Gentrification

• [JMike]

  This was not the world
  My fiction promised to me
  Where are my jetpacks?

• [DeadWriter]

  books, ideas, life-
  are no good if held too tight
  spring growth yields seeds

• [LeilaLeila]

  It’s just a flood, guys –
  I eat zeitouns for breakfast,
  and watch some Fox news.

• [Anonymous]

  I just saw this book
  but was stuck on a sex and
  the city tour. BLAH

• [FoetusNail]

  Coldness descended
  In the heat of the moment
  Frost in the garden

• [podalien]

  In a quest for truth,
  learning the true story of
  our nation today.

• [improvgreg]

  Flooded New Orleans
  I’d rather read about it
  Than live it again

• [charlotte.]

  reading more eggers
  would educate me more than
  my life now without

• [bed]

  who is this eggers?
  please, can you ship it to me?
  i live in china.

• [Pickle]

  he who helps fellows
  is powerful, dangerous
  give and you get back

• [Tdawwg]

  The waters rise, the
  cities drown: the dead afloat.
  Homeland insecure.

• [cooperjohn]

  BoingBoing is chock full
  of Creative Commons news.
  Send me a book, please.

• [runwithskizzers]

  Dave won’t give up print
  I love Eggers for this and
  Other things called words

• [bed]

  i must block google
  to post haiku. like i said,
  i live in china.

• [Tdawwg]

  Antinous @307 in haiku form:

  Links will slow you down:
  “resubmitting doesn’t make
  any difference.”

• [crazyMoppo]

  Hiding from the news
  out from ignorance, the wind
  blows a book my way

• [cooperjohn]

  I prepare to write
  a nice haiku book review,
  but I have no book.

• [nitinraghunath]

  This man on the boat
  Evocative of monsoons in my town
  I want this real bad

• [simonbarsinister]

  Mission accomplished!
  A heck of a job, Brownie…
  What didn’t go right?

• [Anonymous]

  i am a muslim
  i helped after katrina
  they put me in jail

• [JoshP]

  575 R
  books, our are writ gifted
  milkweed fuzz in hand

  haiku takes me back to middle school, and ms. whats her name, and ms. whats her names haiku…

• [droldham]

  the roof is on fire
  cops dont need no water no
  let the M F burn

• [ccrighto]

  one haiku you say?
  in return, a book for free?
  sign me up, Bassam.

• [jnm]

  Unscramble the name!
  “Zeitoun” equals “Unite Oz.”
  What else does it hide?

• [simonbarsinister]

  Eggers saves people
  Eggers is a terrorist
  Eggers in a cage

• [dhighman]

  a heart-breaking work
  of staggering genius is
  my favorite book

• [DasBub]

  New Dan Brown novel,
  “Templar Summer Canoe Trip”
  all time best seller

• [Anonymous]

  Lunchbreaks are good times
  for haikus to awake
  and emerge on screen

• [Anonymous]

  Eggers is not funny.
  Maybe nonfiction different?
  I could laugh at him.

• [Legless_Marine]

  Olive the rhymes left
  Can’t prevent my reading right
  Because they’re the pits

• [slemmy g]

  Bush: Miserable
  Failure. Katrina AND 9/
  11? I shake my head.

• [ProjectMcG]

  Boing Boing, free Zeitoun
  and Bassam Tariq – fantastic,
  but missing zombies.

• [simonbarsinister]

  Old city, old growth
  Deep waters pour down the streets
  Revealing foul roots

• [simonbarsinister]

  No, better:

  Old city, old growth
  Deep waters pour down the streets
  Tearing roots away

• [Tdawwg]

  Louis Quinze once said,
  “Après moi le déluge.” He
  never met George Bush.

• [sad dolls]

  The future of print
  lying in his two big hands
  Eggers is the man

• [itsvern]

  Zeitoun? Amazing!
  Loaned forward, so others learn
  Now waits for movie

• [mwilliamrice]

  Hurting makes me laugh
  Not really sometimes I gaffe
  A free book for me?

• [complicity]

  This haiku is a
  heartbreaking work of stagger-
  ing genius. Wins!

• [DasBub]

  Homophony makes
  “Zeitoun” a greek comic.
  Plato would be proud.

• [Cashmerio]

  Used to row to work
  That’s when I worked at Fox News
  When I was a crab.

• [DasBub]

  I deserve the book.
  I’m a Nigerian prince
  living in London.

• [JamesMedley]

  have not been able
  to buy any eggers
  broke college student

• [dmalcolm]

  Our Velocity
  is Staggeringly Genius
  when What is the What

• [amalgraafstra]

  I created this one because everyone was constantly coming to the back door of my office, far away from my desk, and complaining that I was never in:

  This is not our door
  Our door is on the west side
  Your knocks go unheard

• [Tdawwg]

  “Zeitoun” also says
  “Untie Oz,” but what this might
  mean I just don’t know.

• [Dwokoneseus]

  The sun is a sin
  On the sky-mouth’s bleeding tongue
  which speaks us in two

• [wooden_muffin]

  Just spent sixteen months
  Rebuilding, still there in heart
  And mind, but broke now.

• [cort]

  red-eyed wading through
  unanswered rages, and still
  four years later: drowned

• [bankshot]

  Zweitoun is lovely
  now you must read the prequel
  it is called Einstoun

• [failix]

  I cannot believe
  I took the time to write this
  thinking I could win

• [adam560]

  I don’t deserve it
  but life isn’t always fair.
  so how about it?

• [simonbarsinister]

  Lolcat in your boat
  Katrina took my capnip
  Can I haz book now?

• [EEEE]

  In a large book club
  Free book for me could result
  In sale of dozens?

• [JordanF83]

  Who dat say she dead?
  My sweet N’awlins bouncin’ back!
  But we ne’er forget.

• [dstrut]

  Derelict and poor,
  Living on freebie pizza,
  I don’t shun handouts.

• [BookGuy]

  Damn, I just ordered
  my copy from Powell’s Books.
  Nothing free for me.

• [DasBub]

  ORPHANS SINKING. STOP.
  BOOK-SIZE HOLE IN CANOE. STOP.
  GOOD HEALTHCARE, THOUGH. STOP.

• [SoItGoes]

  Boat and water crest
  coupled with their reflection
  looks like vagina.

• [michael13]

  Talbot Mundy wrote
  THE EYE OF ZEITOON long ago
  I want the whole thing

• [mooch]

  Read Heartbreaking Work
  And saw in the heavy book
  Somebody I knew

• [Paperbagwriter79]

  I write. Eggers helps.
  He’s pompous yes, but takes risks.
  We learn by doing.

• [crankarms]

  My grandpa just passed
  He left me an old canoe
  Teach me to paddle

• [Kelly Coyle]

  “An awesome writer,
  Eggers is,” says Yoda. “My
  Children he can have.”

• [ManageWA]

  Can I afford this?
  school, car, bills, rent, food and net?
  I win, or I pass

• [jonbrenner]

  Prep the Superdome,
  It’s time for swine flu season.
  Here we go again.

• [grimc]

  “What Is The What” is
  what Eggers asked the last time
  Now it is just “Why?”

• [Anonymous]

  habeas corpus
  what’s that? i don’t speak Arab
  produce the book, the body

• [Anonymous]

  I knew a Zeitoun
  He was French Cute and Lovely
  I should read this book

• [gramsci13]

  His precocity
  I shall otherwise not know.
  Splash! Nor the frog’s, now.

• [Anonymous]

  No money to fix
  Bad engineering design
  Fodder for Eggers

  EK from ABQ

• [janusnode]

  I love Egger’s books-
  I’ve read them all, except one.
  That lacuna hurts.

• [Anonymous]

  I don’t want your book.
  Who the heck is Dave Eggers?
  Send money instead.

• [nath]

  A new winter beard
  hides my frequent bookworm smirks.
  I’d rather not shave.

• [Jack Daniel]

  And the waters rose,
  The slick veil now washed away,
  But the band plays on.

• [jonathanbruder]

  The road takes a bath,
  inconsiderate primates,
  and you all complain.

• [Anonymous]

  Dave Eggers is like
  David Foster Wallace but
  for the dumb people

• [cryptique]

  There once was a man
  Named Dave Eggers who – wait – what?
  Oh … you said “haiku”

• [dmone]

  I ache for new reads
  My girl does ‘not love Eggers’
  I am contrary

• [kez]

  your mouth is moving,
  up and down, emitting noise….
  I’ve lost interest.

• [FoetusNail]

  Brook runs full in spring
  Thawing freeing hardened thoughts
  Names remain etched pain

• [sumi]

  with broken ankle
  walk to library not fun
  need new books to read

• [Ella]

  I’m from the U.S.
  But I forgot my English
  Maybe this will help?

• [VoiceUXGuy]

  voracious reader
  in search of new horizons
  embraces the new

• [babybull]

  I have no Kindle
  When reading my signed “Zeitoun”
  Paper suits my needs

• [Moriarty]

  There is more to Hai-
  ku than just writing seven-
  teen syllables, guys.

• [Anonymous]

  No jazz music but
  Lots of good water skiing.
  That what it’s about?

  EK from ABQ

• [inter_baltic]

  Levees are broken
  Foundations washed away
  A book preserves

• [jcartan]

  The waters recede
  Deeper problems are revealed
  Please paddle faster

• [lizzi15]

  Librarians need
  so many good books to feed
  please give me one free

• [mypalmike]

  I am not a poet.
  I guess I’ll just buy the book.
  And not bother entering this haiku-writing contest.

• [watman]

  You there, and you, too.
  Can you not read instructions?
  That’s a SenryÅ«.

  (Mine too.)

• [The Vidiot]

  Living in New York
  My heart wanted to return
  to save my NOLA

• [Amsterdaam]

  One, Two, Three, Four, Five
  One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six… oops
  One, Two, Three Four, Five

• [ManageWA]

  The Syllables in
  Zweitoun? Three, I believe
  Makes competing hard

• [rollinmike]

  I don’t understand
  How’s this on BoingBoing without
  Steampunk nanobots?

• [Sukeu]

  My canoe rock’d with
  Giggles when I heard it: “Heck
  Of a job, Brownie.”

• [ashleynorth//thewanderous]

  all the day online
  now lacking inspiration
  unlike this haiku

• [leslie999]

  Value of values
  A reader yearns for knowlege.
  Gift book, worthy deed

• [das memsen]

  what if i happen
  to bump into eggers in
  park slope, unread? shame!

• [oboefae]

  Hopefully this is right…

  احصل شهادة
  في اللغة العربية
  كتب يساعدون

  Now I sit waiting,
  wondering about grammar,
  hoping for a book.

• [davidmarcillo]

  Zeitoun and Kathy
  Stayed strong throughout Katrina
  Now fight for a cause.

• [The Vidiot]

  Living in New York
  My heart wanted to return
  to save my NOLA

• [Anonymous]

  A Zeitoun for free…
  A Zeitgeist developing?
  One can always hope.

  EK from ABQ

• [Anonymous]

  3 lines at a time
  my heart beats through this lens
  you know that book is mine

• [JPW]

  Bet bucks to beignets

  Those armed squads would not have known

  ‘Camelback’ means ‘house.’

• [Noelia]

  if time loops through time
  consecrate the dearly dead
  the surf left behind

• [The Tonic]

  I feel like asking
  Negates one’s entitlement.
  It’s a paradox.

• [dubthach]

  to float is to be
  leaves in the reflected clouds
  of rising water

• [HiTek LoLife]

  When the levy broke
  the chief said to his yes men,
  “Now let them eat shit…”

• [jqpublick]

  Zeitoun? Don’t know him.
  But is not knowing the best?
  This Egg-ers me on.

  Pun-o-rific, I know, but there you have it.

• [stanleyk]

  What case can I make?
  I’ve read nothing else he wrote.
  I don’t deserve it.

• [mbrowlla]

  The goat up my ass
  I do not know why it’s there
  It hurts very much

• [Ant-honey]

  Egyt New Orleans
  Mother Mary came to us
  Where the wild things are

• [emmie]

  New muslimah needs
  U.S islamic heroes
  Not freedom from cloth.

• [Anonymous]

  Hi, I’m a hero
  If I read Dave Egger’s book
  It will be of use

• [Anonymous]

  Good literature
  Should not just be limited
  To the poetic

• [djsuflay]

  We float through this world
  It is all so heartbreaking
  When one feels so small.

• [Anonymous]

  starships and swordfish sing in the rain
  reactive ants wend their way too
  sometimes mean & forever
  with lust
  I

• [waieez]

  Writing Your Haiku,
  I’m gonna let you finish.
  LoLcats are watching.

• [Anonymous]

  Good literature
  Should not just be limited
  To the poetic

• [TheAlexandrian]

  Muslims on boingboing?
  Yay! We are integrating!
  Apple pie and fireworks.

• [blackcatespresso]

  The pulpy smell of
  McSweeney’s books lures one to
  their creativeness.

• [elliotharmon]

  I used to work at
  Dave Eggers’ nonprofit. I
  think I saw him once.

• [The Vidiot]

  oops, i posted twice
  it was that damn flash plug-in
  crashing my browser!

• [rrot]

  Winners determined
  By invisible duo
  Judges’ decision’s final

• [UnrealMamaCass]

  Sat on the highway
  Saw a dead man down the road
  Just wanted out, bad.

• [Day Vexx]

  1, 2, 3, 4, 5
  I ain’t much of a poet
  at least I can count

• [ThomDowting]

  LITTLE DUTCH BOY:

  Fingers lick at dyke
  water, water, everywhere
  No mans hands do hold

  THE RHYME OF TOMORROW’S MARINER:

  loos’d lips siren song
  muddy water’s weight sunk ship
  bodies float

• [UnrealMamaCass]

  This was the event
  that woke me up. In despair
  I watched from the roof.

• [seven]

  almost all haiku
  are about water, trees, sky
  this one cannot be

• [Ant-honey]

  Make that Egypt

• [rvn]

  Bush still not in jail
  Ray Nagin reelected
  We never do learn

• [improvgreg]

  As a proud winner, I can’t figure out how to get my address to Boing Boing. Is there a way to even get my e-mail address to you without giving it to the whole world?

  improvgreg

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    I’ll forward it.

• [Mishal]

  Water is paddled
  and with bail rises. The aid,
  its weak and arrests.

• [Subdrill]

  I like Dave Eggers
  Cute girls see this on my shelf
  Everybody wins

• [Anonymous]

  please give me a book
  a starving college kid that
  cant count real well

• [David Voss]

  Sweet sharp smell of death.
  Your vortex of fear pulls me
  under a calm wave.

• [grokstar]

  Love to read good books
  Let Boing Boing recommend one
  Up too late reading

• [Marsha Keeffer]

  The man in the mosque.
  The woman breaking her fast.
  I am just like them.

• [dfjacobson]

  My feet are soaked but
  cuffs are bone dry. Ev’rything’s
  coming up Milhouse!

• [sobreiro]

  Send me the book, man
  Need it more
  I live in Brazil

• [Marsha Keeffer]

  We abandon those
  thought “not US” – be they from the
  9th Ward or Muslim.

• [andresfelipesv]

  The sand-coloured page
  Sees my young, curious pupils
  Maybe I’m a book

• [rvn]

  Evacuation
  Eating a bag of Zapps
  The slow wait begins

• [Leicentious]

  A story that floats
  On the tears of a nation –
  Buoyant and truthful.

• [jcartan]

  Don’t pick my haiku.
  Don’t send me your canoe book.
  I’m just having fun.

• [Anonymous]

  As I write these words
  The smell of jasmine arrives
  An olfactory omen

• [mimisurprise]

  Hi, I’m a hero
  If I read Dave Egger’s book
  It will be of use

• [DasBub]

  “Bacon and Eggers”
  A guide to canoeing and
  pork, apparently.

• [sobreiro]

  That’s a 5/3/5
  Did you see?
  a true haiku, sir

• [asplund]

  That book isn’t mine
  Yet, I know it longs to be,
  In my library.

• [shadie]

  Fat woman doesn’t see me
  tells me I’m too small
  Want to punch her in the jeans

• [Zagrobelny]

  According to the editorial review on Amazon, a guard accused Zeitoun of being a member of Al Qaeda.

  I need to read this
  to know why Al Qaeda would
  strike in a canoe

• [Chris Evo]

  a conspiracy?
  Doesn’t matter any more
  don’t do it again

• [Elistar]

  I’m not a bigot!
  Well, maybe I am, but then…
  Maybe we all are

• [timmer]

  Eggers I know not.
  But if BoingBoing so choose,
  We’ll meet in my bed.

• [Von Haus]

  Metaphysical
  Existentiality
  Can I have a book?

• [DasBub]

  Guy in the canoe
  isn’t steam punk enough for
  Cory Doctorow

• [seadigs]

  One little poem
  an entire book in exchange
  sounds like a good deal

• [shahnaz]

  What is this you say?
  I thought Zeitoun was just food
  Now it is a book?

• [DasBub]

  Stuck in Chinese jail.
  No canoe novel in sight.
  Portage my heart, yo.

• [Sunny Fong]

  Away we go as
  I am an Eggers slut so
  Dave, what is the what?

• [mixonic]

  Pixels pour in eyes
  Today in dust my brother fights
  I stare and wait, alive.

• [hoffboy]

  Many people think
  Eggers is underrated,
  But that is changing

• [Branching]

  Fourteen dollars saved
  I will donate to Oxfam
  Benefiting all.

  http://www.oxfam.org/en/about

• [Itismemc]

  Siting on the Pot
  My job to make something float
  Like the covers boat.

• [Jupiter12]

  Ths mst b th frst
  dsmvwlld hk tht
  hs bn n bngbng

• [phosphorious]

  But does anyone

  Really, truly deserve a

  Book? Hell yes, I do.

• [shahnaz]

  (I take my hats off to #51!)

  Zeitoun I will read
  Like a butterfly in need
  Of sweet spring honey

• [DasBub]

  My solemn promise:
  If I win a lovely book,
  I will give you half

• [nath]

  Living in Asia.
  Valid in US only
  haiku contests suck.

• [Diana]

  Crabgrass eating

  At my yard like Gizmo

  Fed after midnight!

• [Talia]

  I have juggled knives
  while riding atop a yeti.
  That’s worth a book, no?

• [doctor_light]

  zeitoun, a hero
  illuminating the past
  helping the present

• [Anonymous]

  it rains on a boat
  there is a man with no hands
  one umbrella

• [Lindsay]

  I can’t seem to figure out which Haiku won this contest?

• [DasBub]

  Marzipan canoe
  will be made for you, my friend
  if I win a book

• [martin g l]

  On the first fall day,
  My paper reviewed Zeitoun –
  the praise fell like leaves.

• [lazybuttons]

  Some books rot on shelves,
  but were made for many reads.
  We practice sharing

• [TheHikingStick]

  The paddle dips low
  Nation’s promise defiled
  A book I must read

• [khanson]

  Dave Eggers is My Man
  and I want this book badly.
  Will you help sad girl?

• [kevins213]

  Would read Egger’s book
  but cannot seem to finish
  damn Infinite Jest

• [paboo]

  Home sweet home no more
  Mother nature prison guard
  Weary hungry void

• [bed]

  President Bush hates
  black people, an’ I’m ‘onna
  let you finish but…

• [Anonymous]

  There once was a writer named Eggers.
  Who met a verbose group of beggars.
  In exchange for His book,
  To Haiku they took,
  In turn they received their free ledgers.

  Crap! I think I did it wrong…
  -Suds-

• [jsw]

  no good at writing
  but excellent at reading
  (insert last line here)

• [secular]

  sex is my weapon
  i’ll sheath it for this battle
  to save my keyboard

• [actualchad]

  what is a haiku?
  can’t i just have a book please?
  i mean… WTF!

• [That Neil Guy]

  I spend all my cash
  On diapers, food and clothing
  I could use a book

• [Casey Ryback]

  Unemployed Man
  Infinite Jest too verbose
  Dave Eggers owes me

• [Anonymous]

  ‘the what is the what’
  oh, the heartbreak! the tears!
  sign me up for more!

• [PeteLit]

  Water everywhere,
  But nary a drop to drink.
  Zeitoun navigates.

• [FoetusNail]

  Looking for bigots
  Spring’s flowers were forever lost
  Changing minds never

• [ChicoLaw]

  Dave and I both write
  after losing a city
  Our words’ aim – “Zeitoun”

• [luketheobscure]

  Dave Eggers, you say?
  Went to the Pirate Store once.
  Best. Pirate. Store. Ever.*

  * With apologies to David Byrne.

• [geiger_counting]

  I ♥ W
  And get all my news through Fox.
  Care to convert me?

• [ZTurpin]

  ZEITOUN, A SUMMARY:

  Incarcerated.
  Floccinaucinihili-
  pilificated.

• [talloulahspoons]

  Eggers non-fiction:
  bleaching out made-up tales
  with his true bold beams

• [joelbass]

  A kind, courageous
  man, Abdulrahman Zeitoun.
  And where is he now?

• [gabius]

  I will not waffle:
  Zeitoun defrosted my heart.
  Leggo My Eggers!

• [Erin]

  I hate Dave Eggers
  and adore at the same time
  jealous perfection.

• [mikealt]

  I am so dirt poor
  Don’t own a library card
  please support the broke

• [45Visigoth]

  Flooding and prison
  Not as bad as office life
  Try and prove me wrong

• [Anonymous]

  Let us not forget
  What history always taught,
  The poor have no rights

• [cheezelady]

  tuesday: i found my
  velocity just after
  breakfast. now, my keys.

• [xian]

  Bassam has gotten
  way more comments on Boing Boing
  than anyone else

• [Anonymous]

  Much goes on outside;
  tsunamis, town halls, unicorns …
  A book? Respite. bliss.

• [cheezelady]

  internal ramble.
  makes me feel better that i’m
  not the only one.

• [Anonymous]

  Anonymous post.
  Does it have a chance to win?
  Eggers’s camp decides.

• [wooden_muffin]

  oops! I just posted an anonymous haiku I like:

  Let us not forget
  what history always taught,
  that the poor have no rights

• [BeccaScott]

  Zeiton means olive.
  It’s also Zaynab’s bird’s name.
  Zaynab is my girl.

• [DasBub]

  “My canoe is fight,”
  I cry all day and all night.
  This book is my proof.

• [whiskeypony]

  i believe eggers deserves many more

  syllables than seventeen; he’ll get twice that ’cause i’ve seen

  his stapler drawings. genius.

• [understep]

  I have been sheltered
  Never seen true misery
  So I must learn

• [Tdawwg]

  Eggers has surpassed
  his youthful precociousness:
  congrats, a great book!

• [shnikes]

  One summer, Hell came.
  Hurricane counciousness reigns,
  dead humanity.

• [treeflower]

  i should get a book
  a broke college kid who cant
  count very well

• [grikdog]

  when you’re hot you’re hot –
  when you’re not you’re not –
  but not hot and not not hot
  is a bit of a stretch

• [kmoser]

  Flooding waters rise
  While my fingers turn pages.
  Damn, I want that book.

• [timelyhandclaps]

  compulsive reader
  but new to mr. eggers
  ready to start here

• [Plenihimun]

  Hey, moderators!
  Signature, spam, astroturf
  and copypasta.

• [optuser]

  No phone call he got
  several days with no shot
  at justice for all

• [DeadWriter]

  words flow as water
  pooled in books we share and drink
  thirst never quenched

• [talzaken]

  We may craft haikus,
  Bring beauty to Boing Boing. But–
  We have crap on Eggers.

• [okalready]

  They all felt the rain.
  It rose back to the heavens.
  Some folks swim there still.

• [JHawk24821]

  winter coming soon
  I have fire, coffee, wool socks
  now I need a book

  Thanks for the opportunity, BoingBoing is full of win.

• [kswilsonesq]

  levees broke but there was

  no break in the man no break

  he canoed can you?

• [lemonkid]

  just waded to work
  in scummy thigh-deep water
  A green frog swam by.

• [burlveneer]

  Heartbreaking genius
  with a staggering workload:
  that’s me. Give me book.

• [Anonymous]

  Where the Wild Things Are?
  Turns out, Louisiana
  Zeitoun equals Max

• [fieldofbutter]

  a leaf turns to gold
  stronger breezes blow cold rain
  give me the damn book

• [celandry]

  Where they used to say
  laissez les bons temps rouler?
  On your knees, n*****.

• [nerdberger]

  the blight of flood or
  the blight of unemployment.
  help me to decide.

• [fieldofbutter]

  I do not frighten
  at the prospect of Zeitoun
  gracing my bookshelf

• [yood]

  I just student teach
  (I don’t have a salary),
  So I’d love free books!

• [Tdawwg]

  Die, you fucking pigs:
  drown quick, drown slow, I don’t care.
  Yours truly, George Bush.

• [Frenk Melk]

  to enter contest
  been too long-boingboing had to
  reset my password