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

Because he is 78 years old, a lot of commentators seem to think that the new Pope, Benedict XVI, is likely to have a very short term, in a placeholder or interim papacy.

Norm Pattis at Crime & Federalism even penned a post calling him “Pope Rigor Mortis I,” and offering a long-distance, photographically-based, negative assessment of Benedict’s “intellectual vigor.” [Norm, there are a lot of octagenarians with intellectual vigor and a lot of brash younger folk without it.  I’ve seen no sign that Joseph Ratzinger’s much-praised and prolific brain has been in decline.]

growing old–
by the hearth’s light
piecework

… ISSA , translated by David G. Lanoue

Although I’m hoping RiskProf Martin Grace will use his expertise and/or contacts to come up with more specific LE numbers for Benedict XVI, I’ve decided to do some quick research.   I discovered:

• The average life expectancy of a male in the U.S. who lives to be
  78 is 8.7 additional years. (National Vital Statistics Reports,Vol. 53, No.6, Nov. 10,2004, p. 16, Table 5).

• However, based on nationality, we might expect Benedict XVI to
  have a slightly longer life expectancy, since the mortality tables show that the overall life expectancy in Germany, Joseph Ratzinger’s birthplace, is 77.4 years; and, in his most recent country of residency, Italy, it’s 79.0 years.  The life expectancy in U.S.A. is lower — 77.1 years. [from U.S. Census Bureau’s International Data Base, via About.com geography page].

Of course, there are other factors that might further prolong Benedict’s life expectancy and/or active lifespan:

– education level

– clean living

– access to the very best health care (at no cost)

– prayers of hundreds of millions of the faithful

– divine intervention

So, as he has a job with no mandatory retirement age, those expecting Benedict XVI to be just a shooting star should probably choose a simile featuring a more-permanent heavenly body — and react, plan, celebrate, worry, etc., accordingly.

update (April 22, 2005):  The gracious RiskProf has responded to our request for his expert opinion — giving his own musings on eternal life expectancies and ancient Romans.  Martin also linked to an AP story that discusses the state of Pope Benedict’s health.

the old priest

dressed like a dandy —

spring mountain

nowhere, nowhere
can a young scarecrow
be found

my old age–
even facing a scarecrow
ashamed

… … ISSA , translated by David G. Lanoue

by dagosan:

my long-lived elders —

a couple extra decades

of dementia

[April 20, 2005]

The book The Scare Crow: A Collection of Haiku & Senryu (Leroy Kanterman, Ed., Hiroake Sato, translator, Red Moon Press, 1999), has dozens of wonderful haiku featuring the scarecrow, along with an essay “The Scarecrow and Our Haiku” by John Stevenson.

Here are three of the poems, written by a trio of f/k/a’s Honored Guests:

a cricket
lending the scarecrow
a voice

John Stevenson

seeding time
the farmer dresses the same
as the scarecrow

Jim Kacian

tthe scarecrow
moving backwards —
autumn rain

Gary Hotham

For more, see scarecrow: yes, strawman: no (Aug. 26, 2005), and click for over 50 scarecrow haiku by Kobayashi Issa translated by David G. Lanoue

 

shadow

among shadow–

the day begins cold

 

 

 

 

huge trees in the park —
a different dog
chasing the stick

 

 

 

 

sun & moon

in the same sky

the small hand of my wife

 

 

 Gary Hotham 

“huge trees in the park–”  the heron’s nest (April 2001)     

“shadow” – breathmarks: haiku to read in the dark  

“sun & moon” Global Haiku: Twenty-Five Poets World-Wide

                                  

 

 

 

by dagosan:  

cursing last year’s

unraked leaves —

the dogwood blossoms

                                                       [April 19, 2005]

 

Ron Baker, who has been described as “an amazing visionary” by Matt Homann, responded this morning to my piece “ethics aside”, where I caution lawyers against blindly adopting Baker’s notion of “value billing.”   Ron, who complains that “The problem with these blogs is they are a mile wide and half-inch deep,” wants me to “commit some serious intellectual capital to this debate,” by reading his [$149.00] book. Well, I decided to respond right away, any way, and at some length. You can read the entire thread — the original post, Ron’s Comment, etc. — by clicking here, and you’re encouraged to add your comments.

 

Here’s a key excerpt from my response to Mr. Baker

I continue to believe, however, that clients want alternative billing methods in order to have lower overall fees, not because they believe their lawyer is worth more than his or her hourly fee.

 

p.s. Thanks go out to Ron Coleman of Likelihood of Confusion for including the post “ethics aside” in Blawg Review #2 yesterday. Ron even tried his hand at writing haiku, proving — on Clarence Darrow’s birthday — Darrow’s adage that “Inside every lawyer is the wreck of a poet.”

this world today–
for one chrysanthemum
a gold coin

spring rain–
in the window they haggle
over fish

spring rain–
in the wife’s sleeve
coins jingle

– by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

After quickly polling the various editors of this weblog, I’ve

concluded that you do not have to be a baseball fan to enjoy

haiku about baseball.   So, you’ll be finding the topic fairly often

here at f/k/a. 

 

Here’s a pair from our clean-up hitter, George Swede:

 

 

crack of the bat

the outfielder circles

under the full moon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

abandoned ballpark

    gopher mound covers

         home plate

 

 

 

 

George Swede from Almost Unseen (Brooks Books, 2000) 

 

 

 

– plus, a benchwarmer’s contribution:

 

 

perfect line-drive

over second base —

coach says I swang late

 

                     dagosan [April 18, 2005]

 

 

 

“baseballg”  As I discover them, I’ll be collecting

the baseball haiku of our Honored Guests at

f/k/a‘s baseball haiku page.

 

 

Sufflolk Law School Professor Andrew Perlman sent me off on quite 

a tangent last week, with his guest posting at Legal Ethics Forum 

on “Misleading Law School Promotional Materials” (April 13, 2005)  

So, I thought I better at least get a posting out of it. 

 

It seems Andy is worried that shady law school promotional tactics are  

misleading and unfairly enticing the nation’s law school applicants. To avoid

hypocrisy and unpleasantly surprised students or graduates, Andy wants to apply

the same “strict” advertising criteria to schools that are applied to lawyers (although

he thinks the restrictions should be lifted from lawyers).  I wasn’t sure that the

crisis was as big as Andy suggested, or that we should worry too much about

law school applicants (since they can and should protect themselves); check out

our conversation at LEF.

 

After doing a bit of research and reflection, I came to the following conclusions: 

 

Naturally, it’s absolutely improper for law schools to be using deceptive

tactics in the admissions process  [unless used to weed out particularly credulous

or lazy applicants!]

 

  Standards for ABA-approved law schools already exist . . .

 

                                      – click to read the entire post which opines:

“Given the existence and accessibility of this

information, the importance of the decisions,

and the kinds of skills and attitudes a good

lawyer needs, I cannot agree with Andy Perlman

that we should feel a lot of sympathy for “naive”

or ignorant law school applicants-turned-student.” 

 

 

prairie twilight…

the glow of the cattleman’s

branding iron

 

                Ed Markowski

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

during discussion

on the meaning of life . . . the crunch

of a student’s apple

 

 

                         George Swede

                                   from Almost Unseen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pencil shavings

the student’s tongue

curls and uncurls

 

                  DeVar Dahl

                          from A New Resonance 3

Word for the Wise just had a great entry to honor the birthday

of Clarence Darrow (b. April 18, 1857), quoting him saying: “Inside

every lawyer is the wreck of a poet,”  and presenting a poem by his

onetime law partner, poet Edgar Lee Masters entitled “Clarence Darrow.”

 

 

by dagosan:  

a young man’s

erotic dream —

the old man’s bladder wakes him

                                                                    [April 18, 2005]

 

 

 

 

 

admissions week —

two fat envelopes

and two skinny ones

 

                              [April 16, 2005]

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of Albert Einstein’s death (April 18, 1955).         

I was five years old when he died, and have had no professional nor dilettante interest in physics

or mathematics.  Nonetheless, I’ve always been very fond of Old Albert and have never quite

known why.   Perhaps this quote from Sunday’s newspaper  (Associated Press, April 15, 2005,

“100 Years Ago, Einstein Changed Everything,”) helps explain it:

“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is

something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.”

“einsteinTime”  I can picture it now:  Little Tyke David proudly dresses himself one morning in

a color-and-design combination that provokes from his mother (and big sister) that phrase every

male in the universe hears, from every significant woman in his life (and quite a few insignificant

ones):

“That doesn’t go!”  You can’t wear stripes with plaids!  And, never mix green

with orange!”

Then, Mama Giacalone probaby added: “Do you want to look as silly as Albert Einstein?”  Thus,

the bond was formed across the ages and the cosmos — like time, taste is relative.

 

That certainly explains my wearing stripes to visit the Einstein Monument in D.C. (1980)   “Einstein head small”  

                                                                                                                                          orig photo by A.J. Giacalone here

 

 

Of course, there is much more to know, respect and like about the complex man chosen by

Time Magazine as Person of the Century (by Eric Golden, Jan. 3, 2005) — famous for his

genius and profundity, his charm and humor.  Over the decades, as I have come to know some

very smart people who take themselves far too seriously, I’ve come to appreciate greatly Einstein’s

playfulness in public and his willingness to let the world see him being silly.  His biographer

Juergen Neffe recently said,  “He was the first global pop star of science at a time when world

stars were first emerging.”   And:

 “He was always fun to be with, always joking. Sometimes when he was supposed

to give a speech he would just play his violin instead.” (keralanext.com, April 14, 2005)

  I think Albert would shake his shaggy head at Rolf Sinclair, the stuffy physicist who is

quoted in an AP article saying he despises the Einstein monument in D.C., because “It makes him

look like one of the Three Stooges reading his horoscope.”   The 12-foot bronze depicts Einstein

gazing at his famous energy formula.  Like myself, tourists of all ages climb on his lap for snapshots

and to peer at the map of the universe that is at his feet. 

 

a cool breeze–
the katydid brims
with energy

                      Kobayshi Issa

 

Lately, as more and more “believers” assert that only “peope of faith” can have a strong moral

code and sense of social responsibility (see my post, e.g., on religious law schools), Einstein the

humanist has been an inspiration for me.   As Rabbi Sherwin Wine explains:

    “Albert Einstein was an ardent humanist who believed that human power

and human responsibility were the foundations of the moral life.  Einstein
maintained that ethical rules flowed from human experience and from the
requirements of human survival.  While he stood in awe of the wonders of the
universe, he refused to worship them.  He firmly believed that reality was no
more than the natural universe and that neither chance nor supernatural
intervention governed its events.” 

Michael Dobkowski,  professor of religious studies, Hobart and William Smith Colleges in

Geneva, NY. captured the feelings of myself and millions of others in America and around

the world (“Still today Albert Einstein models power of human spirit,” Rochester [NY]

Democrat & Chronicle, April 15, 2005):

“Einstein carried an unprecedented moral weight, and he took carefully

considered, courageous and even original stands on a host of issues. Great

social ideas and great science come from the ability to question the obvious,

and Einstein had an abiding incapacity for self-deception and evasion. So he

was willing to modify his positions to meet new realities.

 

                                                                                             – see Time for orig.   

 

“His face, with its unruly, white hair and soft dreamy eyes has become, in many   

ways, the human face of humanity and a reminder of the limitless potential of the

human spirit and intellect to overcome ignorance, prejudice, parochialism and the

dogma of uncontested assumptions.”

Let’s close with a few Einstein qutotations (from dailycelebrations.com):

• 
  
  Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value.

• 
  
  
  

  The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.

  
  

  We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. 

• 
  
  Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts
  
  
  can be counted.

• 
  
  Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.

    One final quote suggests that Einstein and Kobayashi Issa — two

wise, compassionate, and silly souls — would have enjoyed meeting over

a cup or two of tea or sake. 

“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part

limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and

feelings as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion

of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting

us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle

of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its

beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such

achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.”

 [quoted in H Eves Mathematical Circles Adieu (Boston 1977)]

 

 

 

frogs sing, roosters sing
the east
turns light

 

 

the mountain moon              
gives the blossom thief
light

 

 

 

 

to a massive rock
grow quickly my pebble…
Ishitaro

 

 

 

the round patches
the square patches…
snow floats away!

 

 

 

  from Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

“ ‘>frogs sing,” “the mountain moon,” “a massive rock,” “the round patches“

Amish country

the deer beside the road

stare at us

 

 

 

 

 

 

a child’s art–

the tulips tower

over everything

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

leaves budding

a little girl

spinning in her dress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

seeing it her way

it must have been lonely

living with me

 

 

“stevensonQuietN” John Stevenson from Quiet Enough

(Red Moon Press, 2004)

 

 

 

 

 

by dagosan:  

 

just another

Sunday stroll — until

the flower box pansies

                           [April 17, 2005]

 

Until Alaska Alice graces the haiku world with more of her haiku, here’s an

encore from last June:

 

 

from Mom‘s to Dad’s

the clickity-clack

of suitcase wheels

 

 

 

 

 

moving day–

warm rain

on cardboard

 

 

 

 

 

 

new recipe . . .

the scent

of ink

 

 

“newRes3 neg” by Alice Frampton, from New Resonance 3: Emerging Voices

in English-Language Haiku  (Edited by Jim Kacian and Dee Evetts, Red Moon Press, 2003) . 

 

 

 

 

 

by dagosan:  

spring’s first mosquito

on my cheek —

the neighbor waives back

 

 

 

 

admissions week —

two fat envelopes

and two skinny ones

 

                              [April 16, 2005]

 

 

Despite your Editor’s skepticism about giant urban revitalization projects,  

such as major league sports stadiums (see local schmocal), I can’t help but

be excited that my former hometown, Washington, D.C., now has a new

baseball team — which won the franchise’s first home game last night (see

“Nationals grab glory on DC debut,” bbc.com; “Powerbrokers see more

than a game: opener mixes business, pleasure ,” WashPost, April 15, 2005).

I had just graduated from Georgetown U. when the last DC team fled for

Texas.

 

I’ve enlisted two basebase-loving haijin, Ed Markowski

and Tom Painting to help celebrate the occasion:

 

 

distant thunder

the home run hitter

drops a bunt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lightning…

i lose jeter’s pop-up

in a blaze of static

 

 

 

 

 

 

rainy night

a hole in the radio

where a ballgame should be

 

 

 

 

  Ed Markwoski

“distant thunder” & “lightning…” – from games (pawEprint 78, Nov. 2004)

“spring rain” –  Haiku Sun  (Issue X, Jan. 2004) 

 

 

moths circle

the stadium lights

seventh inning stretch

 

 

 

 

all day rain

on the playing field

a stray dog

 

 

 

 

 

 

the toddler

runs to third base

first

 

 

Tom Painting 

“moths circle” from A New Resonance 2: Emerging Voices

“the toddler” & “all day rain” – from the haiku chapbook piano practice      

 

 

   by dagosan:  

 

squinting to see him —

another generation

sent to right field

 

                              [April 15, 2005]

 

 

p.s.  Thanks to Paul David Mena, who contributed the following

haiku to this baseball lineup, as a Comment:

 

 

April chill —

Wakefield’s knuckleball

unhittable

 

bonus (April 17, 2005):

 

extra innings

a runner’s shadow

down the third base line

 

                               John Stevenson from Quiet Enough

 

 

Like last year, I hereby declare this website a tax-whiner-free zone today.  By coincidence, 

while reading last night, I came upon the following brief description of the way they

“paid for Democracy” in ancient Athens, in Paul Woodruff’s little gem, First Democracy:

The Challenge of an Ancient Idea (Oxford Press, 2005):

 

                                                                                                              “TaxDayN” 

 

“The hard labor of slaves paid for just about everything in the ancient Mediterranean, 

including democracy.”

      “Throughout the period of democracy, wealthy residents of Athens

were subject to special levies, depending on their wealth and the needs

of the city.  The richest 2 or 3 percent were expected to pay for the

religious festivals that gave Athens both a civic life and a public education.

These included dramatic performances.  Citizens only, most often the super

rich, were expected to pay for the ships in the navy of Athens.  Both military

and religious financial duties were known as liturgies; they were a source of

pride and fame to the rich.  After performing a liturgy, you would be exempt

from further demands for a year, or, in the case of paying for ships, two years.

How were the donors selected?  It was an honor to be asked to perform a

liturgy, but if you thought someone else was richer, and that he therefore should

be ahead of you in line to pay for a ship or a festival, you could challenge him in

court, either to exchange his wealth for yours or to take on the liturgy.”

• Clearly, this is not the kind of “liturgy” of which Prof. Bainbridge is fond.

    I wonder what Walter Olson and Evan Schaeffer (or even Judge

Preska) think of the Popular Court of Athens, as described  in First Democracy (at 50):

     “The right to bring charges now emerges [circa 462 B.C.] as an important

democratic principle.  Ordinary citizens could bring charges against leaders

of the government, and thereby make powerful people accountable to the

popular courts for their actions.  Penalties for frivolous lawsuits were heavy,

however.  If a prosecutor won less than one-fifth of the votes on his jury, he

would be punished by a heavy fine (1,000 drachmas).

 

       “The right to bring charges had an unwanted consequence– easy blackmail.

Sycophants made a living by theatening law suits against people who could afford

to pay them off.  Popular juries were unpredictable, and could be hostile to

aristocrats.  To many aristocrats, and evn to ordinary people, sycophants were the

worse consequence of democracy.”  

An interesting wrinkle that might please a lot of Americans: “There were no professionals

in the law.  Any citizen could prosecute, and anyone who was brought to trial had to

defend himself.”

 

p.s.  Woodruff’s call to get back to the original meaning of democracy — of the people and for

all the people (not just the majority) — is an important message.  Woodruff admires the democratic

ideal “because it takes human imperfections into account better than any other ideal of government.”

His suggestions for making America more democratic in spirit and reality are worthy of discussion

in another post.

 

 

where there’s people
there’s flies
and Buddhas

 

 

people of the capital
in parasol shade
drinking sake

 

 

 

 

pure mountain water–
people coming and going
muddy it

       –  from Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

 

 

 

 

spring wind
he pedals
faster

 

 

 

 

 

 

spring-like day
the cat grapples
with a catnip bird

 

 

 

 

 

 

last of the sunlight
cows bounding
downhill

 

Carolyn Hall from The Heron’s Nest (Vo. VI, 2004)

 

by dagosan:  

snowman’s hat

in the muddy field —

the hatless scarecrow

 

                              [April 14, 2005]