Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
What Did He Say?
She sat on the porch with her
big orange cat
All cuddled up happily in her
lap
When we arrived to drive her
to an appointment
In a large building in the
center of town
The doctor said something
about stage 2
She had little to say as we
drove away
And when we left her at her
home again
She sat on the porch with her
big orange cat
All cuddled up happily in her
lap
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
The New Poets of England and America
Young poetry is the breath of parted lips.
-Robert Frost, introduction
The New Poets of England and America
They’re no longer new; they’re not even alive
Those post-war young voices of strength and hope
Working through the wastelands after men of destiny
Blitzed beauty with bullets, bombers, and barbed wire
Some of them soldiers, and war-weary all
They were worn out, but determined and young
Digging out the words they had hidden away
Cleaning them up for service to humanity
They were young; they were very much like you
Doing their duty as artists and poets must do
The New Poets of England and America
Ed. Donald Hall et al
Introduction by Robert Frost
New York: Meridian Books, 1957
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
The Texas Sanhedrin
Sponsored by Sen. Phil King, a Republican from Weatherford, the bill requires every classroom to visibly display a poster [of The Ten Commandments] sized at least 16 by 20 inches. The poster can’t include any text other than the language laid out in the bill, and no other similar posters may be displayed.
-Ten Commandments in every classroom:
Texas bill nearing law | The Texas Tribune
Our legislature suppresses the
pilgrims’ way
They’ve established a government
church; we must obey
And from its edicts free
Texans dare not stray
(Though the lawmakers work on
the Sabbath day!)
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
When Teachers Fold Their Leathery Wings and Sleep
“This is the day the Lord hath made…”
When teachers fold their leathery wings and sleep
Hidden away in their bat-cave deep
In the darkness where foul things lurk and creep -
Only then may children freely laugh and leap
No more tiresome lessons about “lie” and “lay’
A child may lie in the glass or lay in the hay
Run out to the lawns and fields to play
And joy in the freedom of each summer day
The 20th of June? A fallacious rule -
Summer begins on the last day of school!
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
I Miss Kosher Sam’s
Wish I could remember what
street it was on
It’s been so long ago, when
Kosher Sam’s
Was my coffee shop, and I was
young
One day I also ordered a
slice of cake
The cheerful waitress asked
me how it tasted
I suggested that maybe it was
a little bit dry
She grabbed it up and rushed
it to the kitchen
She and another waitress and
The Sam Himself
They took clean forks and
tasted and talked about it
They took more forks and
tasted and talked again
And appeared to come to a mishpat
at last
Sam brought to me what was
left of the cake
“There’s nothing wrong with
this,” he firmly ruled
I took and ate (tho’ it
really was a little dry)
On an evil day I left San
Diego
I wish I’d stopped to say
goodbye to Kosher Sam’s
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
At the Barracks Gate
“Underneath the lantern by the barracks gate”
-Lili Marlene
There were two lanterns at our barracks gate
After standing inspection for Cinderella Liberty
We passed beneath them to catch the Number 7 bus
Past Balboa’s eucalyptus trees, into downtown
Where sins of the flesh awaited our E-1 fantasies
But instead we went to Mass, found a coffee shop
Nervously walked along Lower Broadway
Tried desperately to look like old salts
Carefully stayed away from Lili Marlene
And ‘phoned our parents from the lobby of the U. S. Grant
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
“And the Moonbeams Kiss the Sea”
For A.V on the Happy Occasion of Her Graduation
I hope and believe
that at Harvard still
In the springtime
of their golden youth
Lovers sit upon the
lawn’s green morning grass
Before class
and read Shelley to each other
