Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Hecho en China
New hiking shoes from Wal-Mart say what?
They say, “Cubierta de Cuero y Sintetico”
Does that mean
“Made by Prisoner X7741?”
Or
“Made of Prisoner X7741?”
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
January – Soup and Peace for All
As the winter winds flail, soup on the stove
Blessing the kitchen with all its summery scents
An all-morning bouquet of comfort and peace
Simmering against the grey and dreary cold
Sleet rattles against the window panes
Sharp ice metastasizes on the skeletal trees
But inside we ladle up happiness and love
With Momma’s prayers over each comforting bowl
Veggies and beef – could I have a little more, please?
As the old gag goes, visualize whirled peas!
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
It’s All Anne Frank’s Fault
Imagine escaping the brick-pits of Goshen
Trekking the deserts with Joshua and Moses
Learning the Commandments, feeding on Mannah
Crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land
Imagine chanting the Psalms, learning from Isaiah
Teaching Proverbs and Wisdom to your children
Telling the ancient stories while working the fields
Braving the adventures God has given us
Imagine stepping outside after Mass
After sharing the body and blood of the Christ
And complaining that all the world’s problems
Are caused by “th’ Jews”
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Thank
You for Your Attention to This Matter
Both sides waving American flags
Bodies in the streets like bundles
of rags
Lawrence Hall
mhall 46184@aol.com
Laundry on a Snowy Day
Little fluffs of white floating through the air
Swirling and drifting and dancing merrily
Falling upon us as gently as a prayer
One landing on your nose momentarily
But this is not from the January snow
This puffy white stuff all over the floor
Because it has nowhere else to go
Except for Hoovering it up (a tiresome chore)
It flies from the dryer much like a rocket
Because
Someone always leaves Kleenex in her pocket!
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
The
Coming Ice Storm
Wood for the fireplace stacked
inside and out
Sterno for the camp stove, bottled
water everywhere
Batteries, portable radios, toilet
paper, lanterns
The outside faucets covered with plastic
and old towels
Bedding for the pets in the laundry
room
Mothball-scented blankets disposed
here and there
The questions come as quickly as the
wind:
What if…? What about…? What if…?
What about…?
The day is grey and darkens even
more
As strange blue light falls upon us
from the north
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Can You Describe This?
-Anna Ahkmatova, Requiem
Supplicants waiting in long lines in the snow
Hoping to give their children some sense of truth
Among the gassings of electronic screens
Protestors and federals bellowing in turn
The news blows in as Siberian flurries
Some flailing this way, and some trailing that
Footprints disappear among the drifts
Rasputin’s body might float up in the spring
Describe each human as a number, as a stat
“Truth?” sneered Pontius Pilate, “now what is that?”
“Can you describe this?” a woman asked Ahkmatova
“Yes, I can,” she spoke, she wrote, she lived
