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The appeals court found that a "trial was required to determine if Silverstein had exercised any creativity." haha! KS On 09/11/2007, andrew burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Here's a snippet of an article in 'Money' magazine about a judge's > definition of poetry: > > Keenan's 79-page decision included legal and literary history. He > offered a brief description of [Dorothy] Parker _ "the famous writer > who was a member of the Algonquin Round Table" _ and a detailed > summary of what constitutes a poem. > > "A poem sometimes possesses rhyme or meter, though this is not > necessary," Keenan wrote. "A poem is typically free from the usual > rules of grammar, punctuation and capitalization." In a footnote, he > cited testimony that before "World War Two, a poem almost always had > rhyme or meter." Now, "the popular definition of poem has become much > more lenient." > > Among the factors in Keenan's decision: Whether a 1920 letter from > Parker to fellow wit Robert Benchley, written in rhyming couplets, was > easily defined as a poem. Silverstein testified that it wasn't and > that he had demonstrated creativity by including it in his book. > > On the contrary, Keenan wrote, "where a line does not fit within the > margins, it is indented below and kept apart from the next line in > order to preserve the rhyme scheme. > > "The Letter to Robert Benchley is objectively recognizable as a poem." > > Full article at > http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/4a30b27d0cb6a619f022a61fd51d368a.htm > > -- > Andrew > http://hispirits.blogspot.com/ > http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/ >