f/k/a . . .

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).

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
different

valentine’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.”

“dust of summers: The 2007 Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku,” edited by Jim Kacian and the Red Moon Editorial Staff, Red Moon Press, Winchester, VA, USA, 172 pages, ISBN: 1-978-893959-68-2, $16.95; see cover)

day moon
we windowshop
caskets

…………………….. by Roberta Beary, USA, - dust of summers: RMA 2007; orig. pub. NOON 5

In the haikai community, the annual edition of the Red Moon Anthology is even more anticipated than Groundhog’s Day. Each volume in the much-honored RMA series attempts to collect “the best English-language haiku and related writings from around the world” published in the prior calendar year, as selected by the dozen distinguished members of its editorial board. Seeing which poems are included and savoring/judging them individually and collectively is an addiction for many poets and readers of the genre.

The new volume of RMA is not usually available before February, so when it’s out before Punxsutawney Phil shows his cute, furry head, it’s easy to predict an especially good and timely year for the oft-pokey haiku press. The twelfth volume in the RMA series is “dust of summers: RMA 2007.” My copy should arrive by the weekend, but I wanted to let f/k/a’s readers know they can already get RMA 2007 from Red Moon Press. I also wanted to speculate a little before seeing this edition — wondering if some unaccustomed criticism in 2007 had any effect on this year’s version of 2007, and whether controversy will spur sales, as it does in so many other literary fields.

big sky: rma 2006

As you may recall, I lamented last June that at least 25 of the 165 haiku and senryu chosen for “big sky” by RMA’s editors as “the finest haiku . . . published around the world in English in 2006″ were tell-ems — poems in which the poet “tells” what is on his or her mind (by stating an insight or intellectual conclusion, or naming an emotional state) rather than “showing” us through images based on sensory experiences. My original “psyku” essay last year, and the follow-up anchovie piece at year-end, argue and assert that tell-ems — no matter how interesting the notion presented or how honored their authors — are second-rate representations of the haiku genre, which (as Prof. Yabut might say) deserve rewriting, not rewards. They rarely, if ever, belong in our best journals, much less in contests and anthologies proclaiming to present the very best haiku and senryu. So, I’m hoping that dust of summers will be kind to my haiku psyche, and not inspire an undue amount of agita and anchovy-parodies.

A far more prominent criticism of big sky: rma 2006 came from Robert Wilson, the managing Editor of Simply Haiku, in a book review published in his e-journal’s Summer 2007 edition. Robert’s basic complaint was that — for an anthology purporting to be “the best haiku” — there were simply too many senryu in RMA 2006, and they were not labeled as such to distinguish them from the haiku. Although he found a few excellent senryu, Wilson worried that many readers will be “confused about the difference between the two genres,” and he opines:

“There are some brilliant English language poets, but many are missing from Big Sky in favor of some of the above [senryu] inclusions. Perhaps the anthology’s editors didn’t look hard enough. I hope they dig deeper for next year’s anthology. And will be more up front next time and identify any senryu as such. “

I’m eager to see whether either criticism had any influence on this year’s selection by the RMA Editorial Board. As Red Moon noted when it unveiled big sky, “this most decorated series in haiku history [has been] winner of the Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award for Best Anthology virtually every year since its inception.” For whatever reasons (perhaps those noted above), RMA 2006 did not receive the Merit Book award this year. I hope and expect that dust in summers will be a major contender again for that coveted prize.

  The Red Moon website tells us that dust of summers includes “150 poems, 25 linked pieces and half a dozen critical works which encapsulate the very best writing of the haiku world in English this year.” Despite my personal preferences and concerns, and my knowing how tenuous the “best of” notion can be, I can assure you that the majority of the poems selected for RMA 2007 will indeed — in Robert Wilson’s words from last year — be “wonderful and refreshing” and “deserve a wider audience.”

Since our Honored Guest poets are often among the most-frequently selected poets in RMA, I asked a couple of them yesterday to share their chosen poems for this preview. Here are a few, plus a haibun, to pique your interest. I’ll be presenting many more from the f/k/a haiku family once I have dust of summers in hand.

retreating glacier–
how long since we’ve heard
the black wolf’s song

…………………………. by Billie Wilson USA - dust of summers: RMA 2007 (Red Moon Press, 2008); orig. pub. Modern Haiku 38:1

circle of lamplight–
I complete the baby quilt
begun for me

…………………………. by Carolyn Hall - dust of summers: RMA 2007; orig. pub. Heron’s Nest Award, HN IX:1

magnolias
opening
the moon roof

………………………….. by Peggy Willis Lyles — dust of summers: RMA 2007; orig. pub. Mayfly #43, Summer 2007

full morning moon –
the working girl’s
gauzy blouse

……………….. by David Giacalone — dust of summers: RMA 2007; originally published in Simply Haiku 5:3

In the Night Kitchen

the boyfriend’s in her room and i can hear sounds coming from up there i don’t know if they are giggles or groans or what i just want him to leave want to hear those boots coming heavy down the stairs and i know she has been away two years which means she has done all sorts of things she hasn’t told me the same way i never told mother only different because now i know what mother knew and what all mothers come to know in time

midnight
above a cluster of stars
one star

……………………… by Roberta Beary - dust of summers: RMA 2007; orig. pub. Modern Haiku 38.1 (Spring 2007)

He’s always styled himself the family’s raconteur. Around the holiday table, where food, weather and health reports tend to be the primary topics of the elder generation, he would spice the conversation with odd tales from the internet, barbs for politicians and celebrities in the news, and opinions on new movies and recently-read books.

the pretty one?
not even
on the tip of my tongue

……………………… by dagosan

This year, though, he’s driving to Thanksgiving Dinner with a suitcase overstuffed with self-doubt. After years of joking about his “peri-dementia,” the joke is getting stale and the reality far from funny.  That damn tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon seems to happen all day, every day. And, frankly, the lost name or word sometimes is nowhere near the tip of his tongue.

“All the wrong synapses seem to be broken,” he said a few weeks ago, after flawlessly singing all the words to “Off My Cloud” and “Angie” on a Halloween party dance floor, but forgetting the name of the lovely, recently-divorced judge who convincingly exchanged her black robe for a cheerleader costume that night.

Heading down the Thruway, he can’t seem to recall the title (nor the plot) of either of those films he watched on dvd and really enjoyed earlier this week — much less the names of their Generation X leading men.  And, he can only picture the face of that annoying Senator from, um, that Rocky Mountain Red State, who wants to round up all the aliens at the meat-packing plants in one of those primary states.  He wonders if he’ll get a chance to see that new movie while home; the one based on the novel he praised so much a year or two ago, by — you know — that guy who wrote that trilogy and won the Pulitzer (or was it a Nobel)?

Uncle Vito’s scratchy voice returns from four decades ago, saying the pudgy 10-year-old “tells jokes like a girl” — restarting twice and forgetting the punchline. He wonders whether Vito’s widow will be bringing her infamous jello salad concoction, and if her hip operation was a success.

the octagenarian
fills in my blank ………….
again

………………………………. by dagosan, a/k/a david giacalone

“The Joy of a Peanuts Christmas” by Charles Schulz (Hallmark Books, 2000; cartoon originally published, Nov. 21, 1990)

mountain village–
the old man doesn’t know
the dance

cuckoo
what did you forget?
retracing steps

……… by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

early Alzheimer’s
she says she’ll have . . .
the usual

………………… by John Stevenson from Quiet Enough

mid-argument
the senior partner
has a senior minute

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by dagosan

update (3 PM): Forty poems from our Honored Guest Poets can be found in the brand new f/k/a’s Mother’s Day Haiku Collection.  

 It seems that mothers don’t just shape our identity, these days, they steal it, too.  My hometown newspaper has a story today about a mother who stole her 2-year-old’s identity in order to set up utility and phone accounts, and then skipped out, ruining the child’s credit rating.  (The [Schenectady, NY] Daily Gazette, “Mom accused of toddler ID theft,” May 11, 2007, p. B1, $ub.)  At the time of the arrest, the child had already been taken from the mother, Hope C. Maxwell (27 years old), by our county Child Protective Services, for unrelated reasons.  It never occurred to me that parental ID theft would be a widespread problem.  Apparently, it is.  For example, see:

1.       “Identity Thieves’ Newest Target Children: Targeted Kids Often Learn of Destroyed Credit Years Later,” ABC World News, Feb. 7, 2006, where you will learn of a woman whose mother ran up $150,000 in debt on a credit care taken out in the child’s name, when the girl was 8 years old.  The daughter only found out when she tried to buy a car at the age of 20.
2.       “Child Identity Theft,”  Inside Edition, May 10, 2005, where you’ll meet Shiloh Puckett of Rockwall, Texas.  Shiloh is ten, but is already listed on credit reports as being $14,000, thanks to her Mother, who served six months in prison on forgery and fraud charges after running up the bad debt on at least 17 credit cards. Note: “Puckett insists she only used her daughter’s credit to pay for necessities.”
3.        Young Entrepeneurs of America: The same Inside Edition episode focused on Bryce Dalton, whose father got Bryce a business license for a contracting company called “Dalton & Sons”, when he was only three.  Of course, daddy ran up unpaid debts related to the business, and to a few credit cards in Bryce’s name.

 If you want to be ID-theft savvy, and your mama didn’t teach you, go to the Federal Trade Commission’s Identity Theft Website , which has lots of information on how to DETER identity thieves by safeguarding your information; DETECT suspicious activity by routinely monitoring your financial accounts and billing statements; and DEFEND against ID theft as soon as you suspect a problem.  You might want to take the OnGuard Online ID Theft Quiz (maybe with your kids).  Also, shlep has links to materials on identify theft and security fraud information.  Meanwhile, kids, be careful who gets to see your Social Security Number.  
 

Mother’s Day

the florist adds kisses

to my card

mother’s day  
a nurse unties
the restraints

…………………………… by roberta beary - The Heron’s Nest VII:2
and Big Sky: Red Moon Anthology 2006

_________________________________________________________

                                                       untitled
pity the daughters of beautiful mothers the years spent waiting to
grow into a beauty that never comes the sympathetic looks finally
understood at the moment when childhood ends

mother’s visit
side by side we outline
our lips

 

- haibun [prose with poem] by roberta beary, Modern Haiku Vol. 37:1 (Spring 2006) -

_________________________________________________________

that spanking she gave      Mama G.
the wrong twin —
all the other days

…………….. by dagosan

           Believe me, there is no connection between Mama G. and such financial hanky-panky.  But, with Mother’s Day only two days away, I want to send her my love and to remind you that we posted “a few haiku for mother’s day“ In May 2005. In addition, later today, I will put up a much larger Mother’s Day Haiku Collection.  Check back here for the link.

[note: because we’ve gone into hiatus status, as of June 4. 2006, the “Haibun Pundit” concept and weblog name are being put on hold.]

Welcome to the very premature unveiling of the haibun pundit. Due to recent chronic problems at the old Harvard-weblog webserver, the Editor of f/k/a has decided to rush this very imperfect version of his “next stage” weblog into online publication on the new, improved Harvard webserver. If you travel down this Home Page, you will find a few sample posts featuring the new theme and haibun format.

The f/k/a Gang has been searching for something a bit less stressful (and maybe even more effective) than sermons or commentary on the legal profession and its ethics. Frankly, being judgmental has become a physical and psychic drain on all of us here. We’d also like to become a bit more creative and “literary”.

Although we are going to continue to feature haiku and senryu from some of the very best haiku poets around — see our Guest Poet Archive — we are also going to experiment with the “haibun” genre, twisting it a bit to fit into a weblog format that focuses on current events and issues of interest to its Editor (and his alter egoes), and contains relevant links and blurbs.

“Haibun” is a literary and poetic genre with origins in 17th Century Japan and the writings of Master Haiku poet Bashō. It is a “linked form” — and, as the haibun editor of Simply Haiku magazine tells us, “The link is between narrative, prose sections and one or more haiku.” We will be presenting our brand of “haibun punditry” using prose and poems written by the Editor (aka “dagosan“), as well as published haibun written by our Honored Guest Poets.

winding road –

under the influence

of a strawberry moon

- by dagosan - The Heron’s Nest (VII: 4, Winter 2005)

Disclaimer: It is novel, and rather unorthodox, to try to use haibun in a “punditry” context, since haibun usually steers clear of drawing conclusions. Our hope is that it is the punditry rather than the haibun aspect if this union that will be influenced most by the linkage. In addition, please bear in mind that your Editor has never attempted to write “real” haibun before this week. This is, then, a bit of brash experimentation and perhaps a neophyte’s folly. It’s hoped that those who already appreciate the haibun genre will forgive my taking the name in vain. I hope to quickly get the hang of writing passable haibun, while figuring out how to do it in a weblog-commentary context.

We’re going to try to present “non-judgmental” commentary, using a haibun sensitivity — meaning “showing rather than telling,” and using imagery and narrative rather than conclusions, with as much brevity as is possible, given the DNA of the Editor. Most of our home-grown haibun will be followed by links to online news articles and other resources that are (more or less) relevant to the topic. Please let us know how this new approach to our weblog is working for you — and don’t forget that this website will continue to contain the Archives of both ethicalEsq and f/k/a.

full tummies

and empty bladders –

soon, vice-versa

…………………. dagosan from  simply senryu

p.s. Please bear with us on the formatting of this weblog. We have much work to do with the SideBar, as well as learning some of the basics, like spacing and font use, not too mention images. It’s like starting all over again, after getting too used to the prior weblogging software and architecture..