![Denise Howell<\/a>\u00a0of](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/deniseMug.gif\"){kind=link}
On July 15, 2006, Denise announced<\/a> her work status, while proclaiming that being Tyler<\/a>‘s mom was her “most important job,” and that her “professional roadmap henceforth will involve only things that are washed through a stringent ‘how much do I really love that?’ filter, and can be comfortably accomplished in the limited, catch-as-catch-can hunks of time that fall serendipitously out of the sky during the course of my other ‘duties’.”<\/p>\n . . . Tyler is job #1 . . . The f\/k\/a<\/em> Gang wishes Denise all the best in her personal, parental,\u00a0and professional (ad)ventures.\u00a0 Instead of opining further, we’re going to post poems from Kobayashi Issa<\/a>, one of Japan’s four Master Haiku Poets.\u00a0 Although he died almost two hundred years ago, we see some familiar themes in Issa’s haiku:\u00a0 what is work?\u00a0 do<\/em> we all have choices?\u00a0 does gender matter?\u00a0\u00a0 who’s the boss?\u00a0\u00a0 what are <\/em>our priorities?<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n gate’s cherry tree \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n looks like boss frog \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n the uproar in the servants’ room \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n harvest moon– \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Mister Toad– \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n my hut\u2019s mosquitoes \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n the defeated wrestler, too \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n if only she were here \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n naughty child– \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n new year\u2019s fog \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n fresh straw for the garden– \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n a laid-off servant at market– \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n children crowded ’round \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n the child snores \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n mother monkey \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n even for washing \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n in the short night \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n the goblins are gone \u00a0<\/p>\n . . . . . by Issa<\/a>, translated by Daniel G. Lanoue<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n the tethered dog \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n . . . by John Stevenson<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n “butterfly” – from Upstate Dim Sum<\/em> (2005\/I) \u00a0<\/p>\n p.s.<\/strong>\u00a0 A trio from Matt Morden<\/a> of Morden Haiku<\/em><\/a>: \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n shortlisting . . . \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n “an old resume” – Snapshots<\/em> #7 (2000); bio page at World Haiku<\/a>.\u00a0 “shortlisting . . .” –\u00a0 the loose thread: rma<\/em> 2001; tundra<\/em> 2; “job interview –” – Morden Haiku<\/em><\/a> (April 11, 2006)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 We’re still eschewing punditry and mostly skirting the blogosphere, but we couldn’t help notice that Denise Howell\u00a0of Bag & Baggage fame — one of\u00a0the most liked, respected and admired lawyer-webloggers (and high-tech mommies) —\u00a0 was recently removed from her part-time post at the giant law firm Reed Smith.\u00a0 [See the reactions, e.g., of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haiku-or-senryu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-1Qv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12638,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099\/revisions\/12638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"tyler](\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2006\/08\/tyler%20swinger.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nsurprising the worker
\nin the field…
\nout-of-season blooms<\/p>\n
\nall this flit-flit flitting
\nis work!<\/p>\n
\na migrating servant
\nlaid off
\nat age sixty<\/p>\n
\nin the high seat
\ncroaking<\/p>\n
\nbeats the frogs…
\ndrinking party<\/p>\n
\nhey big cat
\nshake a leg!
\nthe wife calls<\/p>\n
\nthe wife sowing wheat–
\nit’s that
\nkind of temple<\/p>\n
\nthe sake gone
\ntime to buckle down
\nand moon-gaze
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nwhen my heart\u2019s had its fill
\nit\u2019s dawn<\/p>\n
\nthe wife may be waiting
\nyour children crying<\/p>\n
\ngo out to make a living\u2026
\ndusk moon<\/p>\n
\njoins the crowd\u2026
\nbright moon<\/p>\n
\nfor me to nag\u2026
\ntonight\u2019s moon!<\/p>\n
\ninstead of his chores
\na snow Buddha<\/p>\n
\nshe washes
\nall the windows<\/p>\n
\nabout ten servants
\nat work<\/p>\n
\nhis fifty year-old face
\nexposed<\/p>\n
\nthe flute-playing servant
\nis the village headman!
\nbutterflies dance<\/p>\n
\nhands clapping
\nmother teaches her child
\nthe dance<\/p>\n
\nits mouth open
\nwaiting for mother…
\nbaby bird in the autumn rain<\/p>\n
\nwear her out…
\nmother sparrow<\/p>\n
\nmother cat
\nsteals for her kittens…
\nrun faster!<\/p>\n
\nthe mother pounds straw…
\nsummer moon<\/p>\n
\nbaby on her back points…
\nfireflies!<\/p>\n
\nfour or five radishes…
\nhired help<\/p>\n
\nMum Festival–
\nthe drunk I hired
\ngives me sake<\/p>\n
\nthe dragonfly, too
\nworks late…
\nnight fishing<\/p>\n
\nthe dew works fast…
\nblades of grass<\/p>\n
\nsiesta work
\nfor the stepchild…
\npicking brother’s fleas<\/p>\n
\nthe bees with children
\nare work-a-holics…
\nmaking honey<\/p>\n
\nthe blacksmith basks
\nin the cool air…
\nnight work<\/p>\n
\ngrowing old–
\nby the hearth’s light
\npiecework<\/p>\n
\nso get to work!
\ncuckoo<\/p>\n
\nBONUS<\/strong> from Honored Guest Poet JOHN STEVENSON<\/a>
\n\u00a0
\nbutterfly,
\nI hate
\nmy job<\/p>\n
\nwinter night
\nfiremen coil
\nsmoke-scented rope<\/p>\n
\nwatches the guide dog
\nenter a deli<\/p>\n
\nlate night \u2014
\na waitress repeats
\nthe list of pies\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nMonday morning
\nputting the point
\non a pencil<\/p>\n
\n“winter night” and “the tethered dog” – from Quiet Enough<\/em>
\n“late night –” – from The Heron’s Nest<\/em> (March 2006)
\n“Monday morning” – from Upstate Dim Sum<\/em> (2003\/I)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nan old resume
\nmy son colours in
\nhis rainbow<\/p>\n
\na hint of perfume
\non the resume’<\/p>\n
\njob interview —
\nthe candidate’s cufflinks
\ntap on wood<\/p>\n