Saturday, June 8, 2024

The God of Children and Blueberries - poem

 

Lawrence Hall HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The God of Children and Blueberries

 

For Theo (who is three today) and Nora (who is more than three)

 

“It is eaten, and renewed, every day.”

 

-Ramandu’s daughter in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

 

God is prodigal with his seasons and feasts -

This is the season of blueberries, each day a feast

Great clouds of fat blue globes hang upon the little trees

Water and sky shading into Prussian blue

 

This is a table-tree, all are invited

To stand with buckets and thirsty lips

To pick and take, to take and eat, each day

The feast magically renewed each dawn

 

Mockingbirds, robins, sparrows, rabbits, and squirrels

 

And children

 

Picking, pecking, plucking, nibbling, biting

 

All at Aslan’s Table, and all at peace

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

A D-Day Reminder to Every Neo-Nazi Oaf, Including Members of Congress and Justices of the Supreme Court

  

Lawrence Hall HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

A D-Day Reminder to Every Neo-Nazi Oaf

 

Including Members of Congress

And Justices of the Supreme Court

 

There is poetry in this:

Our flag was not flown upside-down at Normandy

Monday, June 3, 2024

Shakespeare: Behold a Man - poem

 

Lawrence Hall HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Behold a Man

 

Cf. Shakespeare’s Sonnets 67 & 68

 

He is a man who needs no oils or scents

The arts of makeup, filters on a lens

A touch of blush upon his honest chin

A photographer’s vanity lights placed just so

 

He is a man who is his own manly self

Washed, shaved, and combed by his own rugged hands

Hands that know shovel, hammer, ax, and saw

A businessman’s hands, a protective father’s hands

 

He is a man who needs no frippery

For he is clean and honest and just, you see

The Doorkeeper of Notre Dame - doggerel

  

Lawrence Hall HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Doorkeeper of Notre Dame

 

“I pray you remember the porter”

 

-Macbeth II.iii.22

 

“‘Tis my limited service” on Sundays to mind the door

To open it to the faithful with cheerful greetings

This is pretty much my skill-level, this modest chore

Such is the ancient custom for Sunday meetings

 

A family of long acquaintance approached, almost late

They live some miles away and had a long drive

Their youngest son held his hand out at the holy gate

I thought his intent was a youthful high five

 

But with only one finger he greeted me!

And that was my lesson in humility

 

As for the boy

 

While the servers rang the welcoming bell

His momma yanked him outside and gave him (peace)

Thursday, May 30, 2024

A Pharmacy Aisle Marked INDEPENDENT LIVING - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

A Pharmacy Aisle Marked INDEPENDENT LIVING

 

“We shall never surrender”

 

-Churchill, 1940

 

Bed and bath grip bars, universal crutches

Quadrupedal crutch tips, raised toilet seats

Cleaning wipes, reaching tools, bedside commodes

Walking sticks (but not one with an Elvis theme)

 

Sitz baths and universal urinals

Transport chairs, folding walkers, rolling walkers

Commode liner bags, inflatable cushions

Walker ski glides, walker tennis balls

 

None of this is depressing; it is inspiring:

“We shall never surrender”

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Cataract Surgery (I'll keep an eye out for you) - poem

 


 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Cataract Surgery (I’ll Keep an Eye Out for You)

 

Cataract surgery, the left eye today

Which means I that while I can see through the right

The left side of the world is an iridescent pinkish blue

Through which only a few shapes can be perceived

 

And that’s fine (altho’ I keep tapping the wrong keys)

Sometimes we should look at the world differently

Think of Ransom on Lewis’ Malacandra

Or John Carter on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars

 

When you can see through only one lonely eye

Our home planet too is strange and wild

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Groooving in Area 52 - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Grooving in Area 52

 

Maybe…

 

The Beatles got it wrong back-then-ago

When groovy discs through grooves grooved out our songs -

For we now groove in an Area 52

Not in a groovy screen-door submarine  

 

Certainly…

 

We groove and grok in bondage behind chain links

Where elderly men fondle their guitars

And middle-aged women dressed as majorettes

Jiggle duct tape and weight-loss medications

 

Maybe…

 

The Beatles grooved it right ago-back-then -

Old grooves, dull mediocrity still lock us in

Reading the Room - doggerel

   Lawrence Hall Mhall46184@aol.com Dispatches for the Colonial Office   Reading the Room   I don’t know to read a room, but look – I’m stil...