Such sophistry
\nFirmly on the bench
\nBut
\nWhat if
\nEverybody did that
\nJudging propriety
\nSmudging property
\nAn intolerable act
\nMy conscience
\nHe decreed
\nMust fall
\nInto line
\nWith Kant
\nWhere every reason
\nReduced to rant
\nIt’s the leash they can do
\nIn such a fine whirled
\nOf ethical confinement
\nAnd duly deputized
\nMight be right
\nAs I thought
\nWith unparalleled infection
\nOf making love to my wife
\nOnly to arrest my life
\nAt the notion
\nWhat if
\nEvery body did that
\nAnd the orgy in suing
\nAs just us
\nEndures a courtly rendition
\nSow evident
\nOut of the question
\nAs signs everywhere
\nOf legal violation<\/p>\n
This poem was inspired by my encounter this mourning with a Toledo Municipal Court judge.\u00a0 I appeared in court to address putting address labels on light poles.\u00a0 The labels called for justice for Danny Brown, a local man who has endured 32 years of legal violation, including 19 years in prison for a crime he did not commit [see Justice for Danny Brown].\u00a0 Also not having committed that crime, I feel as a kindred spirit to Danny.\u00a0 Putting labels on light poles incited a criminal mischief charge, a third degree misdemeanor.\u00a0 I was definitely more guilty than Danny Brown for this crime.\u00a0 I made a statement that whatever cost may be associated with label residue on poles, it pales in comparison to the outstanding injustice Danny brown endures.\u00a0 In simply monetary terms, compensation for his wrongful imprisonment would be over $900,000.\u00a0 Interest alone, at 3%, would be $27,000 each year.\u00a0 However, since Lucas County Persecutor Julia Bates continues to hold Danny on a person of interest list, linking him to an “active” (sic) case, he cannot apply for due compensation.\u00a0 Danny is living in this legal, yet immoral, limbo indefinitely.\u00a0 I consider my stickering a simple act of civic responsibility, working for justice for Danny brown as a person of interest<\/em> in this case.<\/p>\n In a stunningly predictable statement, the judge asked the rhetorical question, “What if everybody did what you did?”\u00a0 My poem is one answer to this question.\u00a0 I can sleep well at night meditating on the question: what if everybody took risks for one another in working to ensure justice for all?<\/p>\n The judge’s Kant do attitude, whether knowingly or unknowingly, is a reference to the German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s best known contribution, that of the moral imperative, of universalizing a proposition to see what would happen, and making a judgment informed by that perspective.\u00a0 Of course, if everybody fined me for a low level misdemeanor, then I would be in financial ruin — hardly proportional to the so-called crime.\u00a0 I am not mocking Kant so much as the poor application of such logic by the judge.\u00a0 In any case, and there will probably be more, while the judge is firmly on the bench dispensing with justice, I’ll be in the streets addressing justice for Danny Brown.<\/p>\n P.S. the reference to “my wife” represents poetic license, not a marriage license.\u00a0 My sweetheart of 17 years is still my official muse, though unofficial “wife.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Such sophistry Firmly on the bench But What if Everybody did that Judging propriety Smudging property An intolerable act My conscience He decreed Must fall Into line With Kant Where every reason Reduced to rant It’s the leash they can … Continue reading