Now that some hot air has dissipated from the industry, we asked readers in this challenge to meditate on the present moment -- and to do so in haiku form. Once again, we're delighted with the results.

THE WINNER

Ten thousand stock shares
Papers collecting dust now
Me doing drywall
-- Noble Smith

HONORABLE MENTIONS

When profit is nil,
wealth fades faster than the sun.
What would Bezos do?
-- Heather L. Barnes

I heard your dot-com
laid you off. That's too bad. Send
me your résumé?
-- Dave Stagner

Fuck your damn options.
This surly civil servant
Won't get burned like you.
-- Curtis Linderman

Cool summer: pink slips
blossoming in Mountain View;
dot-coms bear bitter fruit.
-- Nick Sweeney

We will get rich quick.
No real ideas, just Web page.
Whoops! Buyers catch on.
-- Josiah Madigan

Foolish to plan to
retire at twenty-seven.
Twenty-nine is fine.
-- David Nett

Sixty thousand shares.
Multiply by price per share.
Sixty thousand cents.
-- Gence Soysal

Who are these strangers?
A wife? a daughter? a son?
We're so very rich!
-- Paul Mohr

Twenty-four years old,
I'm better off than Dad is.
Wait -- not anymore.
-- Jennifer Rose Hale

Your valuation?
Price soars. Price tanks. But always
infinite p/e.
-- Jim Lambright

Order online now
free shipping mousepad shirt mug
package sent to Mars
-- Bernard Chen

millionaire.com
riversofredink.com
bankrupt.com
-- David

I will change your world.
B to B me all night long.
Yessss -- oh, it's over.
-- Shelly Cohen

The hours worked each day --
Seventeen. Same number of
Flaws in business plan.
-- James Crossley

Paper millionaire:
Yesterday it was money;
Today it's Charmin.
-- Ernie Jurick

Hurry go public.
They forgot about profits.
Darn, they remember.
-- James W. Black

Dot-coms soar too high.
Their wings are nothing but wax.
They melt in the sun.
-- James W. Black

The wind is howling
through the empty cubicles
A dot-com wasteland
-- Susan Lewis

Stock options for you
Millions in VC funding
Just don't drop your soap
-- Joshua Sibelman

My nest egg money:
Where is it? Falling tech stocks.
Rotten dot-commies.
-- Jeff Taylor

Dot dot dot com
Dash dash dash dot dot dot com
SOS! Send cash!
-- Lynn Perry

The Free Software Project
Read Andrew Leonard's book-in-progress on Linux and open source -- and post your comments.