Hallowed be Thy App - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Hallowed be Thy App

 

“…that unmistakable English church-going pace…holding, bound in black lamb-skin and white celluloid, the liturgies of a half dozen conflicting sects…”

 

-Waugh, Brideshead Revisited

 

One sees a Bible only occasionally

Even more rarely a Sunday missal

Which, with coat and tie and the mantilla

Are relics of a courtlier, more dignified time

 

The faithful now carry the scriptures as apps

The rosary the same (maybe next to Candy Crush)

An electronic conscience funded by an investment firm

And available at a low introductory price

 

A talking box - it must be Godly and true

And just as eternal as the Apple II

Will CBS Now Broadcast from Fox Studios? - poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

 

Will CBS Now Broadcast from Fox Studios?

 

 

Every morning the editors of the Berlin daily newspapers and the correspondents of those published elsewhere in the Reich gathered at the Propaganda Ministry to be told by Dr. Goebbels or by one of his aides what news to print…

 

-Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 245

 

 

CBS is now as obedient as Fox

Who would have imagined? Who woulda thunk?

Government agitprop on every Orwellian box -

Shoveling deep rund into our funk

Texas Children Die; Texas Authorities Babble - takeaway from a press conference of 5 July 2025

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Texas Children Die; Texas Authorities Babble

 

The governor’s Press Conference

In Which the Press were Shut Down Pretty Quickly

 

I just can’t say enough about our colleagues I just can’t say enough about we are Texans and we come together as one as a family we come together community share quintessential Texas we unite they could have fallen apart double-down relentless when the job is completed 24/ 7 day and night Texans and Americans everyone what I’m going to sign today every asset magnitude process proclamation immediate and ongoing gratitude in advance to President Trump and all his administration his love for Texas I want to thank Governor Abbott absolutely devastating he loves Texas grieving beautiful children all the resources of the federal government walking alongside each other community I’ve visited with the president already he will honor that assets on the ground crisis weather event alerted airframe Coasties Texas assets request customs and border protection skill set resource Department of Homeland Security response flying acronyms entities utilized FEMA standing at an enhanced level plugged in engaged fulfil role amazing you are an example to the nation hearts are with you and walking beside you fixed-wing aircraft airframe helicopters fixed-wing helicopters efforts engaged talking to the president throughout the day families folks number one priority is people process public infrastructure strong you are an example responding helping neighbors hurting grieving God process help prayers are with you President Trump and Melania are praying for you prayer amazing multiple stage agencies partners my thanks to and to and request and thank you for being here an important message I’ve been to a number of disasters impressed with Governor Abbot’s leadership proud grateful for men and women standing behind us here we are all reacquainted rejoined with their family members it’s who your family is we come together as a family as Texas this is who our family is we owe it to them the governor and his team will be relentless family it means a lot we appreciate President Trump and you before I was crazy enough to run for congress ha ha we came down here to blah blah it hits home personally I can’t say enough about extraordinary I can’t say enough I can’t say enough leadership this unfortunate circumstance reached out responding Army corps support and other stuff teamwork collaboration far from finished the job prayerful stuff we’re dealing with finger-pointing and second-guessing and Monday-morning quarterbacking circumstances I understand that parents and media heroic efforts finish the job be with the people pray I’m the only one at this table who lives on the Guadalupe River I barely got home I ushered in a crew fifty-year lawyer I saw first-hand the body bags helicopter ride nobody saw this coming arm in arm hand in hand process time now for recovery toilsome task stay together and we’ll get this done thank you on the behalf of as I look around the room I don’t see differences I see one team working together our community one team those in peril those who are lost sees this day prayer thank God my heart is broken we will not stop Madame Secretary your federal team lifesaving we will our teams FEMA border patrol partners Coast Guard work forward state personnel one last thing most common word prayer prayers are answered in so many ways prayer might be the reason the water stopped rising prayer does work your prayers have made a difference continued prayers pray so much never imagined prayers matter we thank God almighty God has blessed Texas…

 

(A few reporters were then allowed to ask a few questions which were, at best, answered only with vagaries and filler-language.)

Note of 8 July. Stephania Jiminez says it much better than I ever could:

KSAT anchor goes viral for 'speaking the truth' about Texas leaders

But, Hey, No King Here - poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

But, Hey, No King

 

The most lawless ruler is a Man of the People

Posturing upon some whited balcony

His pouting lips frozen in a perpetual sneer

While his toadies cheer their bondage, and call it freedom

 

The semi-automatic rifle is their Bible

Barbed wire is their semi-automatic law

The Constitution is but the president’s whims

(Let us now pray

for his bowel movements today)

 

Congress and the Supreme Court with feet of clay

Await in fear, in disgrace, in moral decay

For a Murat to come and brush them away:

 

“Citizens, you are dismissed.”

If My Daughter Had Been Present at the Last Supper - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

If My Daughter Had Been Present at the Last Supper

 

And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body…”

 

-Saint Matthew 26:26-29, Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition via Bible Gateway

 

And my daughter said unto our Lord,

“Excuse me…excuse me, Sir, but is this matzoh fresh?

Did you check the expiration date?

Is it really kosher?  Is it from a fair-trade source?”

 

 

(Judas has left the building.)

A Walk Between Worlds - poem about Alzheimer's

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

A Walk Between Worlds

 

Stage 2 Alzheimer’s

 

She walked into our house for lunch today

The puppy gamboled at her feet in welcome

And was treated to doggie-kisses and doggie-hugs

She loves the dog

She is no longer sure about us

Laundry Day - The Solemnity of All Stains: poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Laundry Day - The Solemnity of All Stains

 

The washing machine baptizes our busy days:

A shirt freshly stained with this morning’s coffee

Wrinkledy tees in grimy greens and greys

A child’s blue jeans all sticky with toffee

 

Dish towels we allowed to get old-food smelly

A nice dress sock on which the puppy peed

Blankies from the couch in front of the telly

The terry-cloth that toweled the shaving bleed

 

In the laundry room where all these wreckages convene

There to be made all fresh and bright and clean –

 

Let us give thanks for the washing machine!

 

Tomatoes and Midday Cicadas - poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Tomatoes and Midday Cicadas

 

 

Where are the songs of Spring?

 

-Keats

 

 

The tomatoes are split and discolored in the heat

Like bathing beauties who have beached too long

And gathering up the past totter home at dusk

Surprised to be all burnt and wrinkled with age

 

The sun of April who was a lusty lover

Caressing and warming their soft young skin

Is now a middle-aged man baring his chest

And seeking love in other vegetable beds

 

The cicadas of noon mourn in the withering heat

In remembrance of spring, youthful and sweet

Surgery in Three Parts - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Surgery in Three Parts

 

 

1 - Fear for Tomorrow

 

I don’t know what will happen to her tomorrow -

The anaesthesia and the surgical trauma

Invading all those organs compromised

Compromised by age and failing health

 

There’s a contract coffee bar in the lobby main

One could savour a coffee and a croissant

While waiting for a messenger of life or death

Does anyone know where the chapel is?

 

A marriage should not end in ICU

In the echoing chants of “Code Blue…Code Blue…”

 

2 - Fear for Today

 

Morning is filled with possibilities

But today…

Morning is fraught with possibilities

 

3 – Deo Gratias

 

The surgeon and the RN visit me

In a cold-as-a-morgue fluorescent-lit room

With their masks loose about their necks

To report that all went well

 

 

Bombs on the First Sunday in Summer - poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Bombs – All Sizes

 

-As Jack Kerouac did not say

 

 

If we are all going to be destroyed…let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

 

-C.S. Lewis, “On Living in an Atomic Age,” 1948

 

 

Bombs fall tonight, but then they fall every night

Conceived over single-malt, born of the generals

Suffering not at all as their electronics systems

Guide them in the ways the Bible salesman deems

 

Bombs fall tonight, on a nuclear facility, they say

We can only ask the ashes and winds

While in our triumphalist Ozymandian presumption

We fancy that bombs will never fall on us

 

Bombs fall tonight – and have we been doing

Sensible and human things?

Chopsticks International - Rhyming Couplet

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Chopsticks International

 

Forgive me for any insensitive remarks

But do piano students in China practice “Forks?”

Will He Borrow Augusto Pinochet's Old Uniform? - poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Will He Borrow Augusto Pinochet’s Old Uniform?

 

While reviewing his troops from his high platform

          Hup! Toop! Threep! Fourp!

Will Our Leader stand tall in uniform

          Right shoulder HARMS!

Glittery with medals and a shiny firearm

          Boom! Tiddy! Boom! Tiddy! Boom-Boom-Boom!

Swelling with pride in his goosestepping swarm

          Ta-ra-ra-BOOM-dee-ay!

Let Us Celebrate NO TYRANTS DAY - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Let Us Celebrate No Tyrants Day

 

 

“We have no king but Caesar!”

 

-A long-ago mob as written in St. John 19:15

 

 

Even the King of Kings is under the Law

And too, since Magna Carta, our earthly King -

From the people and their voices he can only draw

Such powers as their assemblies vote to bring

 

But may God protect us from a Common Man

Slithering to supremacy through serpentine speech

Emboldened by the power of cabal, club, and clan

Mobs chanting for their master, a soul-sucking leech

 

God gives us His grace in a King and Queen

Republics just give us the guillotine

Pushing the Envelope - poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Pushing the Envelope

 

What envelope is being pushed?

From whom to whom – across the room?

And why should it be pushed at all?

Is the envelope an English A-1?

An American business-size?

A birthday check for someone to steal?

Pushing a broom, pushing a sale

Pushing a pen – some sense in those

But what is the purpose in pushing

An envelope?

                             And did you stamp it?

Blueberry Portal - poem

 

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Blueberry Portal

 

 

“In dreams the fool is free from scorning voices”

 

-C. S. Lewis, “Dymer”

 

 

In the drowsy, bee-sy afternoon

Picking blueberries in the white-sun heat

Voices. Conversation. But it’s only the bees

While the blueberries dance and spin and whirl

 

What do bees talk about? They don’t tell me

And I don’t need to know – but we’re all friends

And the dancing blueberries – they’re having fun

They welcome me into another world

 

The leaves write me little love-letters that say

How happy to have you home for an hour today!

They’ll Be Kissing Someone Else’s Boots Next Year - rhyming couplet

 Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

They’ll Be Kissing Someone Else’s Boots Next Year

 

I saw a cleaner landscape as I traveled today:

All the TRUMP flags have mysteriously gone away

Garish On-Your-Face In-Your-Face Makeup at Twenty Paces - a poem of sorts

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Garish On-Your-Face In-Your-Face Makeup at Twenty Paces

 

There are several forms of government:

 

Monarchy

Kakistocracy

Oligarchy

Autocracy

Democracy

Anarchy

 

But Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk have given us

A new form of government via online spat

We’re ruled by cheerleader moms who shriek and cuss

So what is the scholarly Greek word for that?

 

 

Hey, red-caps, don’t start all-capping “WE’RE A REPUBLIC”; there is no pure democracy and no pure republic, and in common usage they are synonymous. Don’t just chant stuff you hear on the InterGossip. Read an ordinary high school textbook on government (maybe not an Oklahoma adoption, though).

Pushkin the Poetic Cat - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Pushkin-Cat

 

Long, lean, and lanky, he slithers like a snake

With blue-grey fur; he makes the mousies quake

 

But I haven’t seen him in several days

He roams the woods and fields, he hunts, he strays

 

He’s proud and brave, my handsome Russian Blue -

Did he cross claws with a treacherous Chartreux?

 

Did they exchange hisses at just ten paces

Does his little corpse lie in wild snowy spaces?

 

I hope his life hasn’t ended like that

For I very much miss my dear little cat

Bishops Who Roar Like Lions - poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Bishops Who Roar Like Lions

 

Your Grace:

 

There have been bishops who have roared like lions

But your demeanor is that of a house pet

Please rise from your couch in Caesar’s triclinium

And return to the streets to serve God’s people

What Did He Say? - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

What Did He Say?

 

She sat on the porch with her big orange cat

All cuddled up happily in her lap

When we arrived to drive her to an appointment

In a large building in the center of town

 

 

The doctor said something about stage 2

 

 

She had little to say as we drove away

And when we left her at her home again

She sat on the porch with her big orange cat

All cuddled up happily in her lap