Another year of outstanding student poets
Our Annual Poetry Contest is one of the library’s favourite initiatives. We love that it encourages creativity and diversion in an environment that is often very stressful and that students from each of the law school’s programs participate. While we very much appreciate the time and effort it takes to write a poem, we’re most grateful for the mettle required to submit it for others to read and judge.
Once again, we were impressed with all of the poems submitted and selecting the top three was very difficult. This year, first prize goes to Samar Moghal (1L) for Greatness; second prize goes to Abbey Butler (2L) for Untitled; and third prize goes to Emily Chu (1L) for Ode to the Upper Years. Congratulations!
Thank you to all those that entered a poem in the contest. We value your creativity and participation.
Until next year.
Greatness
I have always been told
I am destined for greatness
But what is greatness
if everyone is great
What is greatness
but suppressing
my mistakes
Is there greatness
in failing to learn
Will I find it
while yearning for more
Is greatness a grade
a salary or trade
Is greatness a will
an ethic or fate
Is greatness a quality
of using my days
Or is greatness an existence
of meaningful weight
Is greatness a reality
or just in my head
Is greatness nothing more
then to work myself dead?
By Samar Moghal (1L)
Untitled
Late at the library, the last student there,
Closed up my laptop—I’m free for the night.
More time at the fishbowl I simply can’t bear
But what I saw next gave me a great fright!
A pile of work built up at the door
More pieces were falling, blocking my path.
I tried to leap out but there kept coming more
Law school was showing its might and its wrath.
The pile was made of textbooks and case law,
10am deadlines and readings past due.
I thought, enough!—this is the last straw,
And yet the work continued to accrue.
Law review articles 50 pages long
Racing before study room bookings fill
Threats of getting the Prof’s question wrong
A statute, a treatise, a Parliament bill
Cases about who gets to claim the fox
Contracts about selling oats, old and new
How to convince those in the jury box
Drinks with snails in them for which someone sued
Oh, I’m tired of studying federalism
How I dream of a day off, to go to the spa
Soon I’ll sell out into capitalism
All of this just to get trapped in Big Law
With this mountain of work I will never be free
I can’t stand the thought I’ll never meet perfection.
They’ve taken away the free coffee and tea,
And my schedule’s awful (thanks a lot, course selection!)
Just as I carried too many a worry
I called up my friends to come help dig me out.
They answered my prayer and rushed out in a hurry
They all brought their shovels; told me not to pout
We dug our way out with some group study laughs
Got some free pizza from that club’s law session
Split up our readings to share paragraphs
Went to office hours, answered all my questions
With buckets of coffee to keep us awake,
And sport intramurals to lessen the stress,
It sometimes does feel like there’s so much at stake
It might not be perfect, but we know it’s our best
Exam puzzle tables and word searches too,
We locked eyes over carrels, cozy in the stacks.
Law school is tough but we’ll make it through,
Thank god for my friends, ‘cause they’ve all got my back.
After not so long, the mountain was cleared.
Down Philosopher’s Walk with all my good mates,
We chose to unwind with a couple quick beers.
See you tomorrow—library at 8?
By Abbey Butler (2L)
Ode to the Upper Years
The path is distressingly clear,
I’m petrified at the thought of progress.
Faltering on such a path,
there is no one to blame but me.
Yet footsteps adorn the hallowed ground ahead,
ancient beings have tread this earth before.
Is it too much to ask for Their memories?
What about Their eyes?
For They have seen the stars dance,
the seas part,
the forests kill,
and mountains tear themselves asunder.
A single orb rolls toward me,
my request has been granted.
Perhaps as a gift,
perhaps as a warning.
It is hard not to grow fond of Their ancient eye,
for it fits snug in my socket.
Heaven seems a little closer, the earth a little more stable,
I see the light They once saw, only a little dimmer.
And I can see inside my brain,
when I roll it into the back of my head.
Can wisdom be found,
within this pitiful slumber?
But the path I embark is still a lonely one,
for I remain deaf to Their voices.
And I still keep mine own eye in my pocket just in case,
for the world turns in mysterious ways.
By Emily Chu (1L)
