Roses Are Red, Violets Are Negligent...

If you had to brief a case in 15 syllables, could you do it? Neil L*vy can.

After reading Palsgraf v. The Long Island Railroad Co. for Torts last week, Supermod 4,5,6 was pleasantly surprised to find a haiku written by Professor L*vy published in the notes of the casebook. While discussing the case in class, L*vy made no mention of his poem and began to move to the next case when a brave student requested that he recite the haiku. He obliged and it was nothing short of fantastic. It reads:

A man, a package,

push, bang, the scales are falling.

Poor Helen Palsgraf.

After a few drinks at bar review, some 1Ls were feeling inspired and attempted to haiku-ify some other cases we’ve read. Even with the benefit of a beer to get the creative juices flowing, I have no problem admitting I’m no good. The others displayed more poetic flair. Regarding a case about a man (Crankshaw) who slipped in vomit and sued the restaurant that served bad shrimp to the hurler, a friend versed:

Bad shrimp, guy gets sick.

Uh oh here comes Crankshaw, SLIP.

No proximate cause.

Could Lexis and Westlaw include a haiku along with key cites, head notes and case summaries? I’d really appreciate it.

So my question is, who’s the Boaltie with the most poetic prowess? Who can versify my reading for the coming week? The most creative case haiku in comments wins… the title of N&B Haiku Master. I just made that up but I’ll work on getting some sort of sash/tiara/trophy. I have connections from my pageant days. KIDDING.

Get out those syllable counting fingers!