Dispatches for the Colonial Office

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

A Black-Tie Dinner in Pandaemonium

A dismal universal hiss, the sound

Of public scorn

-Paradise Lost, Book IX.508-509

Submissive and obedient they came to sup

With weak applause for their glowering chief

(Whose courtiers listed those who did not show up)

Each quivered in fear like a trembling leaf

For a Friend on His Pilgrimage - a poor attempt at a senryu

Lawrence Hall

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

US military launches new airstrikes to 'punish' Iran for deaths of US troops | AP News

An attempt at a senryu and an allusion to Basho

For a Friend on His Pilgrimage

As you walk your path

Your Narrow Road to the North

May you find Heiwa

Sunday, July 19, 2026

Schrodinger's Constitution - poem

Lawrence Hall

mhall46184@aol.com

Schrodinger’s Constitution

We cannot know how many of our young,

Our soldiers young, were killed today because

Our president’s words are ashes and lies

Blown about in the desert’s desolation

That mad old man plays with his golden trinkets

While his Secretary for Blood fondles testosterone

Around a reflecting pool that reflects little more

Than immigration officers shooting people in the streets

Benjamin Franklin warned us, “A republic - if you can keep it” –

God forgive us; we did not keep it

Saturday, July 18, 2026

A Back-to-School Shopping Fantasy - poem

Lawrence Hall

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

A Back-to-School Shopping Fantasy

Dialogue Log Log Between Two High School Students

“From my summer job I saved and searched and bought

This Keuffel & Esser 4081-3 Log Log Duplex Decitrig Slide Rule -

Now I control the numbers, touch the numbers

Bend the numbers to my purposes; numbers mind me”

“That is so old school!” He chewing-gummed in scorn

In adolescent scorn

“All I need is a calculator from Shanghai

It tells me what it wants me to know

And, hey, check out my new autograph sneakers!”

Ten Years Later

When she bid the engineering for the next Airbus

She did not hire him

Friday, July 17, 2026

"The Intoxicating Poetry of Belief" - poem

Lawrence Hall

mhall46184@aol.com

“The Intoxicating Poetry of Belief”¹

From an idea by a fellow scrivener

And for the fellowship of these electric pages

Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam

The liturgy is a poem

A hymn of the universe ¹

That was

And is

And forever will be

Spoken and sung

Sometimes we get lost in a volta

But it all comes together in the Consecration

And again in the L’envoi

We are the poem

We don’t have to get it right

Or know all the words

We are loved and sung

All the way to the end

And if we’re sometimes inattentive

Well

That’s okay too

The liturgy is not a got’cha

The liturgy is a gift

¹ cf. Anais Vionet

² Teilhard de Chardin

Is Your Life No More Than a Login Code? - poem

Lawrence Hall

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

Is Your Life No More Than a Login Code?

Login code: 209455 Your login code is 145180 Login code: 653777 Login code: 409641 Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address. 550: 5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try 5.1.1 double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or 5.1.1 unnecessary spaces. For more information, go to

5.1.1 https://support.google.com/mail/?p=NoSuchUser 586e51a60fabf-4044bd73886si3150986fac.144 - gsmtp

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Do I.C.E. Waiting Rooms Feature Coffee Machines and Kitsch? - poem

Lawrence Hall

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