I Believe in Love, NOW STAY AWAY - poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

I Believe in Love, NOW STAY AWAY

 

In the tiny coffee shop all the tables were full

A man kept his table to himself

And would not acknowledge anyone

Defensive behind his deep-thoughts book

 

The rest of us shared our tables and space

Exchanging greetings, pleasantries, and thanks

Passing the cream and sweeteners and napkins around

All

Except for that one poor sullen man

 

On the cover was a drawing of a Christian dove -

His book was entitled I Believe in Love

Graveside Service on a Blustery Day - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Graveside Service on a Blustery Day

 

“The old order changeth, yielding place to new”

 

Tennyson, Idylls of the King

 

The widower assisted to his place

Mourners in unaccustomed dresses and suits

A bible, leaflets fluttering in the wind

And gangly teens unsure what they should do

 

February clouds roiling and boiling

Even the officiant’s words are blown away

Prayers lifted into silence by the wind

They may have fallen by the gravediggers’ tractor

 

Or were blown through the leaning chain-link fence

Into the deeply darkening Grendel-woods

 

But still – in back –

                                a boy and a girl shyly touch hands

The Problems with Self-Publishing - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

The Problems with Self-Publishing

 

The problems with self-publishing are self-publishers:

“Everyone just loves my book; tell me what you think

It’s about my cousin who was a Navy SEAL

And then became a millionaire and then a priest

 

“He saved the nation from nuclear warfare

In a mission so classified that we can’t talk about it

(But he told me all about it, of course)

And then he saved souls and counseled with popes

 

“My book is inspired by the Holy Spirit

So read it tonight and tell me what you think”

Has All the Gold Been Stolen from Fort Knox? - doggerel

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Has All the Gold Been Stolen from Fort Knox?

 

Elon Musk encouraged to crack open Fort Knox and audit the gold reserves

-New York Post, 16 February 2025

 

President Musk will now make an audit

Of the gold in Fort Knox, down to the dime

But all he will find (he may have already caught it)

Is the missing TP from the covid time!

Go Ask Your Father - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Go Ask Your Father

 

“Go ask your father.”

 

“Go ask your mother.”

 

“She said to ask you.”

 

“Go ask her anyway.”

 

“Go ask your father again.”

 

“He said to ask you.”

 

“Well I told you to ask him.”

 

“It’s your mother’s decision.”

 

“He says it’s your decision.”

 

“It’s okay with me if it’s okay with your mother.”

 

“It’s okay with me if it’s okay with your father.”

 

 

That was always soooooooooooooooo annoying.

 

 

I wish I could be that annoyed again.

Portrait of Monsieur Gaudry and His Daughter - a poem based on the painting

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Portrait of Monsieur Gaudry and His Daughter

 

For all Daughters and Their Fathers

 

Monsieur is dressed for a quiet evening at home

As is his daughter in her cozy white wrap

Leaning dutifully upon his shoulder as he predicts

With globe and maps the empires of her mind

 

The empires of her mind which she will rule

With subtle wit and work instead of war

With armies of thought and beauty and art and truth

To conquer chaos and set the world aright

 

This guardian of goodness in a little girl’s guise

(But inwardly, I think, she’s rolling her eyes)

 

 

“The Geography Lesson,” Louis-Leopold Boilly, 1812, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Each Kiss is a Distraction - a poor attempt at a senryu

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Each Kiss is a Distraction

 

While we weren’t watching

They might have declared war on Canada

We’d better check around