Lawrence Hall, HSG
The Mostest
Magicalist Familiestest Christmas Ever
She will make this the most magical family Christmas ever
With the perfect tree
The perfect gifts
The perfect table
The perfect meal
The perfect ambience
The perfect decorations
A memory worthy of inclusion in a Hallmark movie
She will make this the most magical family Christmas ever
No matter how many children she reduces to tears for it
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Algebra is not in the Bible
Jesus never said unto us, “Solve for X”
If algebra were real, the apostolic succession
Of bishops would have told us about it
(After 2,000 years of committee meetings)
I miss Bob Newhart
Lawrence
Hall, HSG
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)
Lawrence Hall, HSG
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
Lawrence Hall, HSG
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
Lawrence Hall, HSG
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
Lawrence Hall, HSG
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
