A Small-Minded Man - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

A Small-Minded Man

 

Oh, yes, I am a very small-minded man

Whose horizon stops at the apple trees

Whose vision is much upon the little things:

A tiny snail upon a pepper-plant leaf

 

A placid rabbit nibbling at the lawn

A squirrel feasting on his daily grains and seeds

A bluebird shyly hiding among the oaks

A mockingbird mocking all the rest of us

 

No grand visions for me; I will not leave

Small villages of dead bodies and wicked smoke

The rotting bodies of children and animals

Cratered cities of bomb-blackened ruins and stench

 

I promote no world-changing master plan -

Deo Gratias, I am a very small-minded man

Playing the Hitler Card - poem

  

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Playing the Hitler Card

 

We say we would never play that card

But we see that it has been played

It lies upon the table before us -

And whose febrile hand placed it there?

A Mildly Amusing Repudiation of the Concept of Entropy - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

A Mildly Amusing Repudiation of the Concept of Entropy

 

For poetry too is a little incarnation.

 

-C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms

 

All that ever was, that is, that ever will be -

All is from God, and will return to God

As elegant iambic pentameter

 

(Okay, maybe tetrameter)

The Olympics as Imagined by John Milton - couplet

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Olympics as Imagined by John Milton

 

On the anniversary of the martyrdom of

 

Father Jacques Hamel

 

The Olympics this year seem demon-haunted -

Christians, Jews, and amateur sports not wanted

On Being a Still Life Today - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

On Being a Still Life Today

 

No outside duties have called me away today

And so I have become a still life entitled “Ennui”

Or perhaps “Weltschmerz with a Pet Dog”

Two dogs, actually, and they have napped the hours

 

The rain has fallen day after day after day

A parallel to the Ancient Mariner’s sun

Tree frogs cling to the algae-green window panes

As if they too have lost interest in life

 

Even so

 

With my little world all rainy and grey

I am happy to be a still life today

 

In Memoriam - Ayden Rose

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

In Memoriam – Ayden Rose

 

 

 

Eternal rest, O Lord, grant unto your daughter

 

Ayden Rose

 

and make perpetual Light to shine upon her

 

 

 

Ayden was a neat, funny kid in my 9:00 o’clock class

Hard-working and smart, and more than a little bit saucy

As eighteen-year-olds are supposed to be

She grew up to be a triple-threat teacher and coach

 

And on Monday night some hero shot her in the back

 

Upon an Abomination in Paris - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Upon an Abomination in Paris

 

Opening Ceremony at the Paris Olympics

 

All are welcome at the Table of the Lord

But first

It’s always good manners to wash your face and hands