Dispatches for the Colonial Office

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Dragon in July

A fallen dragon

Collapses on burning fields

Children breathe its heat

You are Now Leaving the ******** Sector - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

You are Now Leaving the ******** Sector

Please have your passport ready

Your proof of return

Your proof of financial responsibility

Your testimony of undying loyalty to the regime

Take off your shoes

Empty your pockets and place the contents in the plastic

tray

Don’t make any jokes

What is the purpose of your trip?

When were you last out of the country?

For what purpose?

Have you ever traveled to any of the following countries…?

Are you related to anyone in your country of destination?

How?

Are you carrying more than $100,000 in currency or negotiable securities?

Step into the curious machine

Step out of the curious machine

Please take off your belt and step back into the machine

Please step out of the machine and hold your arms high

Do you have a pacemaker or other electronic medical device?

Do you have a heart?

The wand is not intrusive

Stand on one foot

Now stand on the other foot

The patdown is not intrusive

You may proceed

When we stepped outside the ******** sector

We looked back and realized how small it is

If a Senryu Goes Bad - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

If a Senryu Goes Bad

Would a poem about

Committing an injustice

Be a SINryu?

(Apologies. I blame the heat. And fluoride. And jabs. And mysterious lights from Mars.)

Goodwill is my Couturier - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Goodwill is my Bond Street

Joe Bidens for $2.50 at Goodwill

1950s happenin’ Foster Grants

I’m as cool as the former president

Hey, chicks and babes, check out my Subaru

A nautical blazer with buttons of brass

I’m as svelte as Patrick McGoohan

Okay, I’m twice the man he ever was

My secret agent waist is a danger, man

My couturier’s a thrill not on Blueberry Hill

But ‘way downtown, at the good old Goodwill

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

A Red Card? - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

A Red Card?

We will never give each other red cards

But how about a red maple leaf from Canada?

We could walk through Bowring Park in St. John’s

And watch the children play around Peter Pan

We will never give each other red cards

But like monarchs under bright red parasols

We could be the sovereigns of each other’s hearts

Along the Chao Phraya, the River of Kings

We will never give each other red cards –

But would you like a mischievous red balloon

And a morning in Paris?

Music: “Le Ballon Rouge,” Maurice Leroux

Monday, July 6, 2026

Humans - They're What's for Dinner! - doggerel

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Humans – They’re What’s for Dinner!

I lay me down to sleep tonight

I pray the Lord that mosquitoes won’t bite

I fear that my brand new bug light

Will draw them near without harm or fright

They’re free to dance and mock and buzz –

A live-and-let-live attitude

Is all that my new bug light does!

Saturday, July 4, 2026

A Complicated Affair of the Heart - a poem for Independence Day

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love