update/lowdown (Feb. 15, 2008):
Feb. 15
he buys himself
a half-priced heart………………… by dagosan
Afterthought (9 PM; Feb. 13): An article in today’s New York Times has helped me understand that there are far worse things in life than dining alone on Valentine’s Day. See “I Love You, but You Love Meat” (by Kate Murphy, Feb. 13, 2008). This excerpt may or may not whet your appetite and open your heart to the Diety of Dietary Differences:
“Sharing meals has always been an important courtship ritual and a metaphor for love. But in an age when many people define themselves by what they will eat and what they won’t, dietary differences can put a strain on a romantic relationship. The culinary camps have become so balkanized that some factions consider interdietary dating taboo.
“No-holds-barred carnivores, for example, may share the view of Anthony Bourdain, who wrote in his book “Kitchen Confidential” that “vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans … are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit.”
“Returning the compliment, many vegetarians say they cannot date anyone who eats meat. Vegans, who avoid eating not just animals but animal-derived products, take it further, shivering at the thought of kissing someone who has even sipped honey-sweetened tea.”
a single
mimosa
– hold the toast………………. by dagosan
Another ya-ya-less Valentine’s Day. Sigh. Regular readers of this weblog will recall our love-hate relationship with the holiday made for lovers. See
- “(Old) Lawyers in Love” (Feb. 14, 2004) – musing over Jackson’s Browne’s 1983 song
- “off-peak romance” (Feb. 13, 2005) – riffing on the quote “Love is so delicate, you can’t afford to risk it on fake holiday,” by Emma Forrest.
- “valentine quickies“(Feb. 14, 2006) — inspired by the WaPo reporter Joe Heim and his “Anti-Valentine Play List”
- “valentine quickies (cont.)” (Feb. 14, 2006) – home alone and looking for love
- “valentine matchmaking” (Feb. 14, 2007) – finding love or romance virtually anywhere
- and over at SHLEP, “post-valentine divorce self-help” (Feb. 15, 2007; in response to LegalMatch.com’s finding that there is a large increase in the number of people looking for divorce lawyers in the days surrounding Valentine’s Day).
- update: “cur-mudgeonly Valentine” (Feb. 11, 2009)
Valentine’s Day –
I forget to get
the garbage out…………..……. by Tom Clausen – Upstate Dim Sum (2005/II)
Heimliched out of me
pink candy heart
wordless now…………… by Randy Brooks from School’s Out
At our postings linked above, we’ve presented an assortment of Valentine-related haiku and senryu, and you will surely find something to fit almost every V-Day perspective. Of course, when it comes to mixed feelings about love and romance, nobody says it better than lawyer-poet Roberta Beary. Sometimes referred to as “Cheery Beary” by her habitually-romantic husband Frank Stella, Roberta came through for Valentine’s Day 2008, with this little haibun [short prose with a linked poem] from the brand new edition of Modern Haiku (Vol. 39:1, Winter 2008):
What I Mean Is
everyone knows everything old people know only the good die young and kids know parents don’t know it all and teachers know students wait until the day before the project is due and you and i both know that love doesn’t conquer anything in fact it doesn’t even come close
as if it mattered
i pocket
a red leaf………………………………… by Roberta Beary, Modern Haiku 39:1 (2008)
This might be a good time to remind husbands of Joshua Foer’s 2006 Valentine op/ed piece, “A kiss isn’t just a kiss,” in the International Herald Tribune (Feb. 13, 2006), where he points out:
“A study conducted during the 1980’s found that men who kiss their wives before leaving for work live longer, get into fewer car accidents and have a higher income than married men who don’t.
“So put down this newspaper and pucker up. It does a body good.”
valentine’s day
we do nothing
differentvalentine’s day
the sensous curves
of a snow drift…………. by ed markowski
Valentine’s Day —
the new sign says
“Thin Ice”
February 14
a handful of cards
from relatives
alone at home –
the hermit counts
his Valentine savings………………………… by dagosan
As I said in 2005, George Swede’s quiet moments of romance are more my style (even when I am home alone on Valentine’s Day):
at the height
of the argument the old couple
pour each other tea
almost unseen 
among the tangled driftwood
naked lovers
on the face
that last night called me names
morning sunbeam
sunrise
I forget my side
of the argument
…………………… by George Swede from Almost Unseen: Selected Haiku of George Swede
p.s. On the other hand, an article in today’s New York Times makes me glad I’m no longer representing children in custody disputes in family and divorce court. See “Religion Joins Custody Cases, to Judges’ Unease” (NYT, Feb. 13, 2008)
custody hearing
seeing his arms cross
i uncross mine…………………………………. by roberta beary – pocket change; and New Resonance 2
update (Feb. 14, 2008): It’s shocking for regular folks, but — as I learned in law school and Family Court — some lawyers can’t distinguish between “unfun” and “unfair.”