Lawrence Hall, HSG
Why Are the Presidential Candidates Yelling at Us?
The candidates bluster and
scream on TV
But I will never vote for
anyone, you see,
Whose concept of leadership
is yelling at me
Saturday, August 10, 2024
Why Are the Presidential Candidates Yelling at Us? - doggerel
Thursday, August 8, 2024
And Suddenly My Feet Were Splashed with Conoco Gasoline
While fueling at a Conoco station this morning my feet were suddenly splashed with gasoline. I was standing by the filler but not looking at it.
I was only slightly annoyed (old shoes, so no biggie) and went inside to advise the clerk so that she could be aware of this safety matter. However, she only paused long enough from eating her sandwich to ask which pump and to say that she would tell her boss. No apology, no thank-you, no nothing except the chewing of a sandwich
Given the indifference, I went ahead and reported the matter, which was not my original intent. I asked corporate for credit for that gallon or so of gas on the ground.
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
The Boy in White - prison poem
Lawrence Hall, HSG
The Boy in White
He paused in the sun, unsure where to go
His uniform was new and neatly pressed
He carried a new blue mattress and two plastic bags
Containing his prison issue for the next three years
No guards were near so I talked with him
I didn’t ask him, but he freely spoke
He told me his story; it might be true
And then
Authority told me to move. I wished him well
He was paused in life, unsure what to do
A frightened teenager in his new prison whites
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
The British Army Pocket Knife - poem
Lawrence Hall, HSG
The British Army Pocket Knife
A great big chunk of
folded Sheffield steel
For pocket, backpack,
toolbox, or workbench
Rope work, leather work,
awning work, rifle repair
Gutting a rabbit for dinner
if it comes to that
No plastic-y Swiss
gimcrackery for us
One tightens the blade by taking
a hammer to the rivets
And sharpens it hastily on
a handy rock
Wash off the mud and the
blood and it’s good to go
It’s clanky, clunky, and
out-of-date – it’s British
As British as can be - and
so are we
I’m not
British, but I needed a voice and a rhyme. My Hall ancestors were transported
from Northern England to the New World for being bad, and the same for my
deBeauville / Beauville / Beville / Bevil ancestors from Chesterton and my
McQueen ancestors from Scotland.
I love my
nifty British Army knife.
Sunday, August 4, 2024
A Garden is a Department of Metaphysics - poem
Lawrence Hall, HSG
A Garden is a Department of Metaphysics
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
-Rumi
A garden is a Department of Metaphysics
Promethean fire and shadows in a cave of light
Leaves of trees falling upon more leaves
The leaves of books left open to the sun
The lecture lawn is furnished with old chairs
Old garden chairs rusty with wisdom and age
From duty to weather and men, the several cathedrae
Of the learned Order of Gaffer Swanthold
Athena’s owl calls from the nearby wood
Calling all men to silence and reflection
Rumi, untitled poem, trans. Coleman Barks and John Moyne
A Book of Luminous Things, ed. Czeslaw Milosz
In this context “men” is gender-neutral. Wrecking an iambic foot in obedience to the moods of an external authority is not poetry; it is weaknessssssssssssss.
About That Reed Shaken with the Wind - poem
Lawrence Hall, HSG
About That Reed Shaken with the Wind
What went ye out into the wilderness
to see?
A reed shaken with the wind?
-Saint Matthew 11:8
A swaying riverside reed
is a marvelous thing
In its proper service to our
gracious Lord
A stalk of grass honoring its
Creator
In quiet, unassuming
dignity
Symbolisms are laid upon
the reed
In power-point sermons and
learned texts
But first of all it is but
a nice little reed
Joining its labors with those
of the whispering wind
Until Our Lord Himself calls
upon that reed
Even as He calls upon us for
some small deed
Friday, August 2, 2024
Teaching a Bible in Public Schools
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Teaching a Bible in Public Schools
For Miz Grundy and Reverend Gantry
Surely a teacher could choose his own Bible
This shouldn’t be as difficult as it seems
It couldn’t possibly be forbidden or liable
To teach the children from the Douay-Rheims
2 August 2024
I confess to you and to almighty God that I long earned my daily bread as an English teacher in high school and as a part-time adjunct faculty instructor of no status whatsoever in several nice little community colleges and universities.
English literature obtains in a Christian milieu even from Anglo-Saxon / Old English times. From the earliest known pieces until 1535 the culture is exclusively Catholic; from then on the culture tends to be within the Reformation usages. This is a reality to be understood, not a point of propaganda.
Dr. David Hadas, of happy memory, was my professor at an NEH program at Bread Loaf years ago. He was brilliant, generous, open, challenging, joyful, and indulgent to a lot of high school teachers in a summer class sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Several of us figured out that Dr. Hadas was Jewish, and I was chosen (no pun) to ask him why he always carried a King James Bible to his lectures. We noted that he almost never referred to it because he knew it deeply. His response was, and this remembered quote is probably almost exact, "I teach English literature, and if you don't know the King James Bible you don't know English literature."
His intellectual openness and honesty are quite at variance with the unhappy Elmer Gantrys demanding that the Bible (presumably not the Hebrew Bible or the Vulgate) be force-fitted in inappropriate contexts in public schools. He well knew the difference between teaching and "preaching at."
Beloved professor passes away after long illness - Student Life Archives (studlife.com)
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