f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

West Virginia law professor Jim Elkins has done it

again — produced a mammoth collection of poetry by

lawyer-poets and poet-lawyers, in an edition of The

Legal Studies Forum (Vol. XXX, 2006). (see this post, and that post)

 

LSF XXX Cover (2006)

 

Vol. XXX (which should not be confused with Taboo Haiku)

contains more than 700 pages, 500 of which present

poetry from more than sixty living poets, who happen to

have earned law degrees: from New Hampshire public

defender Seth Abramson to Illinois appellate judge Warren

Wolfson. Click here for an image of the cover that lists all

of the contributors.

 

I’ll have more to say about the legal mind and poetry

soon. Until then, you might want to see what Jim

Elkins has said about the topic and about his labor

of obsessive love, Rattle #23 “In Search of the Lawyer

Poets,” 2005. A newer version of the Rattle essay

appears in LSF XXX.

Hint: Find subscription information

for the Legal Studies Forum here. Don’t

forget: it looks like a law review journal

on your desk or book shelf.

For my taste, of course, there are not enough haiku

poets represented, so I hope f/k/a visitors who are in the

legal profession will take up their pens and start writing

haiku or senryu (click for tips). Meanwhile, here are haiku

from LSF XXX, by two of my favorite poet-lawyers:

 

 

 

harvest moon

the long pull

of faraway children

 

 

 

 

 

 

quiet rain

. . . the deeper quiet

of uncut roses

 

 

 

 

 

my daughter’s hands

mend the link

on my earring

the latest skill

I never taught her

 

roberta beary – Legal Studies Forum XXX (2006)

“harvest moon” – The Heron’s Nest

“quiet rain” – Paperclips (Press Here 2001)

“my daughter’s hands” – Tanka Anthology (2005)

 

falling blossoms —

soon

just another tree

 

 

 

 

Adirondack chair

upholstered

with snow

 

 

 

 

frozen river —

snow hides

the elm’s reflection

 

david giacalone – Legal Studies Forum XXX (2006)

“Adirondack chair” – Simply Haiku (Vol. 3, No. 4, Winter 2005)
“frozen river” – Mainichi Daily News No. 669 (March 5, 2005)
“fallen blossoms” – Roadrunner Haiku Journal (V:4, Nov. 2005)

 

“zenJudaismR” “For this you went to Harvard Law School?”

bonus: a bit of Zen Judaism from David M. Bader

“Let go of pride, ego and opinions. Admit your errors
and forgive those of others. Relinquishment will lead
to calm and healing in your relationships. If that
doesn’t work, try small-claims court.”

Legal Studies Forum XXX (2006);
from Zen Judaism : For You, A Little Enlightenment (2002)

When we featured a few of Bader’s Haikus for Jews
at Passover last year (see “haiku schmaiku“), we had
no idea that he was a graduate of Harvard Law School.
Finding him just a couple pages from dagosan‘s work in
LSF XXX was a pleasant surprise.

According to an article, from 2000, in the Harvard Law
Bulletin , Bader disliked the “boredom and adrenaline”
at his two post-degree law firm jobs. “He has heard vari-
ations on the theme of: ‘For this you went to Harvard Law
School?’ . . . Writing humor books was not what he ex-
pected to do when he enrolled at HLS. But he also didn’t
expect that he would not like his job practicing law. So
he plans to continue writing professionally. Because even
though ‘you can make a bad living out of it,’ he said, ‘the
hours are much better’.”

You can find samples from Zen Judaism at Amazon.com
and at the Random House website, including:

If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?

Bader’s latest best-seller is Haiku U.100 Great Books in 17
Syllables (2005). I hope David wouldn’t mind my saying that
they’re fun and funny, but they ain’t haiku (except perhaps
by accident).