Lawrence Hall, HSG
The Cold Kept Me in
Today
The cold kept me in today
With a book, my dog, and the fire
The slanting sun, each mote-dusted ray –
It was all very like dear Tolkien’s Shire
Thursday, December 12, 2024
The Cold Kept Me in Today - short poem
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
I Met a Man in Saint Elizabeth's Hospital Parking Lot - poem
Lawrence Hall, HSG
I Met a Man in Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital Parking Lot
He looked at my brand-new knock-off boonie hat
Pointed to himself, and said “1970”
He rattled on about “Come and Take It” flags
And the “stupid mother******s” who fly them
“The mother****ing VC wanted to do that
And so I shot them d**n’ mother******s”
His wife was waiting for him, impatiently
Sadly, sadly, heard-it-all-before-ly
For he had been no closer to Viet-Nam
Than to some John Wayne movie
Monday, December 9, 2024
The Holy Eucharist and Then Apple Butter - short poem
Lawrence Hall, HSG
The Holy Eucharist
and Then Apple Butter
Church is where someone you don’t even know
Gives you a jar of homemade apple butter
And wishes you a happy Christmas
Sunday, December 8, 2024
Somewhere in Syria There is a You - poem
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Somewhere in Syria There is a You
Somewhere in Syria there is a you
Pondering all the existential questions:
What is the meaning of life? Is God real?
Can you get to your job without getting shot?
Your notebooks were hidden from the old regime
Your notebooks are now hidden from the new
Is there enough food for today, for tomorrow -
Rough men with guns are beating on your door
Somewhere in Syria there is a you
In the next few seconds – what will you do?
Saturday, December 7, 2024
The Bond Girls are Grannies Now - poem
Lawrence Hall, HSG
The Bond Girls are
Grannies Now
James Bond’s girlfriends are mostly grannies now
Sweatpants and sneaks instead of bikinis
The school run with the grandchildren, the grocery store
Volunteering at the public library
If one of them mentions she once kissed Roger Moore
No one knows who he was – the Lone Ranger, maybe?
Adolescent hippie-color fantasies
Budgeting for the grandchildren’s new shoes
Didn’t you used to be somebody?
Well, yes, and you?
The United States Postal Service is Holding my Mail Hostage in Exchange for my Credit Card Number
Lawrence Hall, HSG
The United States Postal Service is Holding my Mail Hostage
in Exchange for my Credit Card Number
The Postal Service claims that my zip code is not my zip code
They want confirmation and three cents to redeliver
They want my credit card number for those three cents
As if anyone can trust the USPS
They can’t even get mail delivery right:
They place other people’s letters in my mailbox
And the packages I receive have often been penetrated
By busy little postal workers’ hands
And for this they want my credit card
As the old cliché says, what could possibly go wrong?
Thursday, December 5, 2024
Show Me Who You Read - poem
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Show Me Who You
Read
Show me who you read
You love Thoreau’s hut on Walden Pond
You fly with Wendy and Peter to Neverland
You pet Mary Oliver’s marvelous dogs
And tell Yevtushenko not to be so full of himself
Show me who you read
You stand at an angle with Cavafy
You ask Frankl how he found meaning after all
You gaze into Tolkien’s palantir
And at bedtime say good night to the moon
Show me who you read
But I already know
You read by the light of a dreaming star
And everyone loves the starlight you are
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