The search for mementos

 
The man spies something
Gripped in the giant steel claw
Waves his arms and points
They scramble the wreckage for
What remains -- a son’s backpack.

April 22 Tanka

The widening circle

Earthquake, tsunami,
Ionized radiation
Silent decorum
Inspires the compassion
Butterflies fluttering wings

The remembering month

April 11th
Time 2:46 p.m.
The sirens wailed out
Survivors wept their sorrow
Again.  The spawned tsunami.

In the hamlet of Aneyoshi

 
Six hundred years old
The markers dot the coastline
Ancient stone tablets:
“High dwellings are the peace and
harmony of our people.”

Matsuko Ito/7.1

The world feels strange now.

Even the way the clouds move.

Something has changed, is not right.

There's no getting used to it:

awakened by the shaking.

Car owners search in huge 'graveyards'

His car, black Nissan

Couldn’t outrun the tsunami

Abandoned, with keys

Parking ticket and wallet

Dangling Shinto good luck charm

Coast Guard rescue

A little brown dog
Trots on a half-submerged house
Afloat for three weeks
Emptied of heart, voice, and child
The sea is a rocking hand.

Cool fan made KARMA video!

Love the idea of "Where will you take KARMA?" 

Pass the book on! KARMA is meant to be shared!

- Cathy

Libraries after the Japan quake and tsunami (emmdeeaych in reply to CH)

A lost library
is a heartbreaking end too
of what is nearly
a temple to man’s highest
quality -- understanding.