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Volume 29, No. 1 (2005) reprinted by permission Legal Studies Forum WYTHE HOLT *
. . . ever greater fidelity to something
The thing is, neither the words of poets nor the words of lawyers capture human life. The one is too flighty, imprecise, unsure. The other is too staid, too concrete, too sure. Hank Lazer's law-poems exhibit this, interspersing snippets of each in contrast. The only connection between a snippet of law, bordered on both "sides" by snippets of poetry, is this contrast. But does meaning lie somewhere between? . . . grace is the hopeFor Lazer, the answer is at least tentatively "no." Meaning is on the edge. Getting it together is his every-moment thing. Such is the postmodern world, a world I also live only on the edge of, since I disclaim and reject it as best I can. I am a lawyer. I am an unreconstructed child of the Enlightenment. Lazer is always only a child, always abruptly facing what is apparently new. think of the shock when you learned . . . . . . that the storyHank Lazer's shimmering, doubtful, insecure world is frightening to me. What is grace for him is my own every-moment thing. He and I keep sliding apart, sliding past each other, though he is more adroit, since sliding is the condition of his existence. It is a condition arising in part from his Jewishness, but he is ever devoted to serving grace. . . . when moses grew
if it is in the scheme of things thatThank goodness. For here is my world: 13A-6-1 Definitions. (2) PERSON. Such term,Lazer and I have the same progressive concerns. Power and authority mean to take our freedom in the name of freedom. We must care, we must fight tyranny, we must speak out. 16-40-3 (c) The direction of study shall . . .* * * * a new treatment for the mentally ill is* * * * . . . no wait a minute this* * * * i don't like countries that harbor terrorists and that export* * * * [40] as a good american i am compelled to picture* * * * . . . she hasThank goodness. We both also know that it will not be the law which does the fighting, which is useful in the fighting, which wins the battle. My words, my precision, are also only a means, a hope. is there a law between us some pact* * * * it is time now to open up your books* * * * 13A-11-12. Desecration of venerated objects.
that is, whether it is conduct per se,But. Will poetry win the fight? Is there a winning? For me, the lawyer, the Enlightened one, the answer is yes. For Hank Lazer, the answer is more doubtful than the question, and often, pleasingly, degenerates into whimsy, word play-only the pleasure of internalness, of pure escape from the world of suffering, of ridiculing the law's precision. . . . up hold itEven to accomplish anything is achingly difficult, and perhaps we should be satisfied with less than winning, maybe with just fighting the battle. to make some small new order and notHank Lazer and I agree, however, poet and lawyer, that we imperfect word-users will fight. . . . we are |
