Tuesday, February 13, 2024

There are no Foreign Accents in Texas - poem


Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

There are no Foreign Accents in Texas

 

“For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America.”

 

– John Steinbeck

 

There are no foreign accents here, n'est-ce pas?

Un acento extranjero is for Auslander

And there are no mga dayuhan here

The dat belongs to all of us and to niemand

 

Before even the Pierwsze Narody there was the jord

And les humains have come in successive amaza

Izdao each other with אלימות and кровь

Κατακτήσεις and 背叛 instead of féastaí

 

But 私たち are trying to make it bora now -

There are no foreign accents here, capisci?

 

 

 

I played with Microsoft’s translator ]english to spanish - Search (bing.com)] because to my regret I have no language other than English and puer parvus scholis Latinis.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Dragons for Your New Year - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

 

Dragons for Your New Year

 

For Doris and Anthony

Who have known dragons

 

Eustace had read only the wrong books; they had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and drains, but they were weak on dragons.

 

-C. S. Lewis, Voyage of the Dawn Treader

 

 

The dragons are a polite and ancient race

And very conscious of their dignity

It would not do to neglect their seasons and feasts

Lest they neglect to visit you this year

 

They want to bring good fortune to your house

But first you must make a place for them -

Their breath will warm your room, your hearth, your heart

Their knowledge will make your children worthy and wise

 

Their songs will send your family happy dreams

For dragons are a polite and generous race

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Reader Responses in the U. K. DAILY MAIL

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Reader Responses in the U. K. Daily Mail

 

RepubliCraps. Demoncrats. Repugs. DemoCraps. MAGA. Magats. Maggots. Clown. Orange clown. Clowns. Clown show. Absolute clown show. Absolute commie clown show. Diaper Joe. Dr. Potatohead. Moron. Selected not elected. Deplorables. Trailer trash. Absolute trailer trash. Said no one ever. Oh wait. Lock her up. Lock him up. Throw away the key. Absolutely. Joebama. Drumpf. Dump. Woke. Wokista. Wokerati. Absolutely Woke. Biden’s America. Trump’s America. Mean tweets. No mean tweets. These teachers. These schools. These universities. TDS. Absolute TDS. Liberal idiots. Extremist idiots. Absolute idiots. ROFL. Grab some popcorn. …in 1, 2, 3…  Dumpster fire. Absolute dumpster fire. You can’t make this stuff up. Train wreck. Absolute train wreck. Car crash. Absolute car crash. Total car crash. The jokes write themselves. At its finest. Pure evil. Absolute pure evil. Cue crickets. Of biblical proportions. Of epic proportions. Of absolute epic biblical proportions. Rinse and repeat. Rules for thee but not for me. Two-tier justice system. Absolute two-tier justice system. You could look it up. Follow the science. Full stop. LOL. End of. Absolutely. Fact. FACT!!!!!

Friday, February 9, 2024

The Disinterment of Pablo Neruda - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Disinterment of Neruda

 

Qui sine peccato est vestrum, primus in aliam lapidem mittat

 

This Neruda - the Fascists murdered him

This Neruda - let us murder him again

The people read and love his poems too much

And they ignore ours – let us dig him up

 

This Neruda – we will dig him up

And subject him to our Inquisition

We now will tell you what each fragment means

Each fragment of each word, his flesh, his bone

 

We have our bullhorns and our three-beat chants

His poems will mean what we tell you they mean

 

Shut up

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Poetry and Jazz Stroll into a Smoky Bar

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Poetry and Jazz Stroll into a Smoky Bar

 

Poetry, like jazz, is itself

If you feel a need to explain it

You’ve failed

                      Art sings itself

Wipe That Geographical Expression Off Your Face - quatrain

 Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

 

Wipe That Geographical Expression Off Your Face

 

Alas, poor country! / Almost afraid to know itself

 

-Macbeth IV.iii.164-165

 

We are now a geographical expression

An almost amorphous land mass occupied

By violent tribes of shifting loyalties

And assemblies of squabbling Merovingians

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

A Burning Car in Baghdad - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

A Burning Car in Baghdad

 

 

The delusion that by force you can impose the Millennium on the human race is one of the most dangerous delusions in existence.


― Agatha Christie, They Came to Baghdad

 

 

In the center of Baghdad a burning car

Illuminates long centuries of pain

Inflicted by schemes of improvement upon

A city of scholarship, wisdom, and art

 

Militias, commanders, air-strikes, and bombs

So clever that they can single out one car

Without harming another car at the traffic light -

And somehow this will make the world all better

 

Dullard journalists will type “tit-for-tat”

Because they don’t know anything else to say

 

And neither do I

“Now, Therefore, Write for Yourselves This Song” - poem

  Lawrence Hall Mhall46184@aol.com Dispatches for the Colonial Office   “Now, Therefore, Write for Yourselves This Song”      - Deuteronomy ...