You are Civilization's Quiet Contemplative - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

You are Civilization’s Quiet Contemplative

 

 

I send Love’s name into the world with wings

 

-Thomas Merton, “A Psalm”

 

 

Into your pocket you slip a volume of verse

To feel and smell and breathe the words of others

And paper and pen are ready to your hand

To limn an errant dream as it whispers by

 

You take a roadside turning known only to you

Recusing yourself from busy-ness for awhile

To sigh upon a grassy bank and simply be

And rescue civilization from itself

 

With words you embrace the entirety of life

(But don’t forget your British Army Knife)

Still Listening to the Warm - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Still Listening to the Warm

 

Rod McKuen was the coolest of the cool

And now he’s not

Which makes him warmer than ever

On the pencil-marked pages of our youth

 

“Listen to the Warm” is still good advice

Politics and the Public Square - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Politics and the Public Square

 

Oh, yes, we know about the public square -

That’s where the Enlightenment works the guillotine

That’s where sensitive progressives murder Jews

And constitutionalists rubbish the Constitution

 

Oh, yes, we know about the public square -

That’s where those who kiss dictators deny the King

That’s where individualists join in mobs

And the last few children are hunted down and killed

 

Oh, yes, we know about the public square –

Where the screams of the dying poison the air

I'm Gonna Tell Santa Claus on You! - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

I’m Gonna Tell Santa Claus on You!

 

Nora and Theo

 

The children scamper across my grassy lawn

And bring me wiggly worms to identify

Big acorns to admire, lemons fallen weeks before

Sticks and leaves, pinecones, flowers, and bits of bark

 

They lose their shoes and socks beneath the oak

They drink from the water hose and don’t turn it off

They chase the dog and the dog chases them

They shriek out joyfully because they can

 

I growl that if I mow another bit of brick

I’m gonna tell ol’ Santa Claus on them

 

They laugh at me, and bring me another worm

When She Sold Her Old Ford Mustang - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

When She Sold Her Old Ford Mustang

 

Y’all need some more coffee? I got some fresh

 

That car was my dream; had it since I was twenty

When I got married it was our honeymoon ride

When I got divorced it was all I had

After me and my baby got away from the beatings

 

Your breakfast okay? We got a new cook

 

We sometimes had to live in it, y’know?

So like I had to tell my son I’m selling it

I promised it to him for his graduation

That car was our life. But it ain’t safe

 

Did I tell you we got a new cook? He’s pretty good

 

I’m been waitin’ tables in this old café for years

Watchin’ the world go by on th’ highway

Schrodinger's Turtle - rhyming doggerel

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Schrodinger’s Turtle

 

Don’t let a quantum mechanic work on your car

 

A cat on a fence post probably got there himself

And may be observed to be alive or dead

A turtle in a box is not on a shelf

“And I don’t know why,” the scientist said

 

“Meow,” the poor little cat cried out in dread

Dump Metaphors into the Mixmaster and Stir-Whir-into-a-Blur - poem (of a sort...)

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Dump ‘Em into the Mixmaster and Stir-Whir-into-a Blur

 

Americans

iconic

cannot

icon

write

bombshell

without

axe to grind

employing

the knives are out

tiresome

gunning for

old

fwiw

metaphors

business-as-usual

 

 

Battleground states

Eye-watering

scores to settle

Cringe

Bloodthirsty

Guru

Meltdown

Woke

Wardrobe malfunction

Green light

Eviscerate

Breaks cover

Breaks silence

Jaw-dropping

 

Dump ‘em into the magical metaphorical Mixmaster® and stir, stir, whirrrrr…