James Clark, Oblique Verdicts (Holstein, Ontario: Exile Editions, 2017)

Web Resources

James Clarke Reads the Poem "How to Bribe a Judge [video :: 2:13 mins.] A Suicide Opened the Door to Poetry [1:57 mins.] The Human Face of Law [2:29 mins.] Swervings of the Heart Montréal Review, February 2013

James Clarke, Marginal Notes, 40 Legal Stud. F. 35-97 (2016)

Course Anthology (James Clarke poems): pp. 181-205

Frank Pommersheim

Frank Pommersheim’s poems appear in 28 Legal Stud. F. 133-167 (2004); 29 Legal Stud. F. 269-270 (2005); 30 Legal Stud. F. 487 (2006); 41 Legal Stud. F. 309-335 (2017) [Note: a significant number of the poems appear in the LPP Course Anthology, at pp. 309-335.]

Web Resources (Haiku)

Haiku: Poetic Form
Academy of American Poets
[Haiku "focus[es] on a brief moment in time," makes " use of provocative, colorful
images," and provides "a sense of sudden enlightenment and illumination."]

Eastern Philosophy: Matsuo Basho [5:46 mins.] Matsuo Basho [4:56 mins.]

Frank Pommersheim: Haiku Inspired Poetry

Buddha Poems [7:50 mins.] A Reading [9:44 mins.] [begin viewing at 3:22 mins.] Pt2 [9:50 mins.] Pt3 [10:00 mins.]

Week 6: Monday, September 25, 2017: Lawyer Poets & the World of Law

James R. Elkins (ed.), Lawyer Poets and That World We Call Law: An Anthology of Poems about the Practice of Law (New York: Pleasure Boat Studio, 2013)

For this week's assignment please read Tim Nolan's introduction (pp. 15-18), and the poetry at pp. 19-80, skipping the poems at pp. 81-100, and picking up the reading again at p. 101 and continue to finish the collection at p. 212. You may also find of interest my note on the "Compilation of the Anthology," at pp.215-219. [Note: If you despair at the prospect of reading so many lawyer-themed poems, you might want to skip the poems in the section titled, "What Logic There Is" (pp. 129-160).]

In addition, to the poems in the Elkins anthology, you might also want to peruse the lawyer|law related poems in the Course Anthology:

Tom Weston, "Only One Question" (pp. 43-44)

Warren Wolfson, "Oral Argument" (p. 128)

Fiona Tinwei Lam, "Consideration" (pp. 133-134)

George Higgins, "The Book" (p. 136); "No Particular Morning" (p. 137); "Notes" (p. 138)

Thomas J. Ericson, "The Lawyer Who Died in the Courthouse Bathroom" (p. 148); "Chester's Pants" (p. 150), "The Mother" (p. 151); "Speaking in Tongues" (p. 152); "Court Appearances" (p. 154); "Reasonable Doubt" (p. 156); "The Breathing Lesson" (p. 157): "Between Witnesses" (p. 158)

Jacqueline St. Joan, "Just Ice Machine" (pp. 162-163); "Restraining Order" (p. 164)

Charles Hughes, "Lawyer Story: Settlement, 2001" (p. 171)

James Clarke, "The Old Judge Looks Back" (p. 198); "Imagining the Afterlife" (p. 199); "What Haiku Teaches" (p. 200); "The Pragmatist" (p. 204)

Merle Nudelman, "The Practice of Law" (pp. 273-276)

Shivani Mehta, "The Magistrate" (p. 473)

John Glowney, "The Trial Lawyer" (p. 568)

Web Resources
[lawyer poets whose work appears in the anthology,
Lawyer Poets and That World We Call Law]

Ace Boggess
Ace Boggess at Chapters, Huntington, West Virginia
[26:20 mins.]

Lee Robinson
Lee Robinson Opens A Gathering of Poets
[0:47 mins.]

Ann Tweedy
Ann Tweedy at Two Idiots Peddling Poetry
[5:24 mins.]

Richard Krech
In Chambers [9:24 mins.] Travel Poems [7:21 mins.] Poet [5:28 mins.]

Joyce Meyers
100 Poets Reading
[1:51 mins.]

Tim Nolan
Tim Nolan Reading "Old Astronauts"
[1:50 mins.]

Warren Wolfson
Chicago Lawyer Magazine Interviews Warren Wolfson
[4:55 mins.]

Martin Espada
Garrison Keillor Introduces Martin Espada [1:49 mins.] [reading "Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper"] The Writer's Block: A Video Q&A [5:48 mins.] [comments on being a lawyer and a poet, and the relationship of lawyer to poet] Martín Espada on the Power Behind Poetry [14:17 mins.] [Bill Moyers] [longer version :: 30:02 mins.] Martín Espada Discusses Poetry and Activism [28:41 mins.] Martín Espada Reflects on Struggles Past & Present in "Vivas to Those Who Have Failed" [14:35 mins.] [Democracy Now] Martin Espada Reading "How We Could Have Lived or Died This Way [3:28 mins.]

Simon Perchik
Simon Perchik, Poet
[28:18 mins.]

Michael Blumenthal
Michael Blumenthal Reads his Poetry at WVU [3:12 mins.] What is the Value of Art [7:33 mins.] Pt2 [3:46 mins.] The Road Not Taken-Twice: Of Courage and the Choice Between the Literary and the Legal Life [59:49 mins.] [University of Chicago] [Blumental appears at 6:35 mins.]

Lawrence Joseph
2009 Lecture: "Being in the Language of Poetry, Being in the Language of Law" [1:02:25 mins.] [Lawrence Joseph reads the final 26 lines of his poem, "Curriculum Vitae" at 30:10 to 31:31 mins. of his 2009 University of Oregon lecture.] Interview [28:30 mins.] [end class presentation at 13:00 mins.] [relevant Joseph commentary runs from 20:46 mins. to 22:56 mins.] [Lawrence Joseph's poems, "The Game Changed" and ""Curriculum Vitae" appear in James R. Elkins (ed.), Lawyer Poets and That World We Call Law: An Anthology of Poems about the Practice of Law 175-177, 200-202 (Pleasure Boat Studio, 2013).] Lawrence Joseph Reads his Poem "Unyieldingly Present" [3:15 mins.]

Michael Sowder
Michael Sowder Reads at Helicon West [11:13 mins.] Pt2 [8:21 mins.] Michael Sowder Reads "That Drink" [0:48 mins.] Michael Sowder Reading for the Salt Lake Arts Council [25:17 mins.]

Charles Reynard
Judge Charles Reynard: Contemplation in Courtroom 5-C
[36:19 mins.]

Week 7: Monday, October 2, 2017: Steven Richman, Missed Exits, 36 Legal Stud. F. 283-349 (2012)

Web Resources

Steven M. Richman--Law Firm Profile

Week 8: Monday, October 11, 2017: Margaret Hoehn

Margaret J. Hoehn, Trajectories, 33 Legal Stud. F. 1-119 (2009)

Margaret J. Hoehn, Dying Miserably for Lack of What is Found in Poems, 39 Legal Stud. F. 31 (2015) [online text]

Web Resources

Margaret Hoehn Reads "String Bird" [video :: 1:30 mins.] Margaret Hoehn Reads "What Softly Calls Back" [video :: 2:26 mins.]

Shamanic Poetry
[video :: 3:22 mins.]