Death Falls Apart in White - poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Death Falls Apart in White

 

Snow does not fall in July, and yet there is white

White falling like large snowflakes or small flower petals

White scatterings across the summer lawn

Ghostly among the leafy sheltering oaks

 

The hawks are back

 

An egret about her business of bugs and snakes

Sudden violence high up in the gentle air

Flesh and life claw-ripped, torn, and devoured

Unheard below, only feathers falling like snow

 

The hawks are back

 

This artificial paradise of feeders and seeders

And flower-bordered lawn is a scape of death

From which the gentle rabbits, birds, and squirrels

Withdraw in silent fear

 

The hawks are back

The Last Nights of Club Ozymandias - poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

The Last Nights of Club Ozymandias in San Diego

 

 

Shelley always makes one think

(often about how to pronounce his middle name)

 

 

I met a tout along a darkening street

Who said – “two trunkless legs of neon dance

There, upon that wall, on neon feet

An electromechanical contrivance to prance

 

In remnants, but wiggling hips and pouty lips

Tell that the artisan well caught the lust

Of lonely sailors as a pretty girl strips -

In time those young men and the dancer will be dust

 

These letters appear, written in cold fire:

I am the Queen of Club Ozymandias

Look upon me with your hot desire

Look upon me, and imagine us…

 

Tomorrow all will be leveled

 

A housing estate will arise, a planner’s scar

Nothing will remain of laughter and drinks

Of sailors flinging their pay upon the bar

For a dancing girl now silent as the Sphinx”

Highway Patrol - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Highway Patrol

 

An episode of Highway Patrol appears -

(With Broderick Crawford it should be widescreen)

Iron-jawed Bill Boyette as his sergeant

Today’s show features a passenger train

 

A man in a coat and tie, smoking a cigarette

Stops his DeSoto at a telephone booth

Wildly high fins (the DeSoto, not the telephone booth)

Inserts a dime and, turning a dial, he places a call

 

And Grandpa takes some time to explain

To his grandchild

The telephone, the tie, the passenger train

I Have the Epstein Files - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

I Have the Epstein Files

 

I carry the Epstein files in my pocket

A paperback edition from City Lights

You said you were going to hitchhike to Big Sur

With a dude named Gautama. I have the files

 

I thought you’d like to know

Hallowed be Thy App - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Hallowed be Thy App

 

“…that unmistakable English church-going pace…holding, bound in black lamb-skin and white celluloid, the liturgies of a half dozen conflicting sects…”

 

-Waugh, Brideshead Revisited

 

One sees a Bible only occasionally

Even more rarely a Sunday missal

Which, with coat and tie and the mantilla

Are relics of a courtlier, more dignified time

 

The faithful now carry the scriptures as apps

The rosary the same (maybe next to Candy Crush)

An electronic conscience funded by an investment firm

And available at a low introductory price

 

A talking box - it must be Godly and true

And just as eternal as the Apple II

Will CBS Now Broadcast from Fox Studios? - poem

  

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

 

Will CBS Now Broadcast from Fox Studios?

 

 

Every morning the editors of the Berlin daily newspapers and the correspondents of those published elsewhere in the Reich gathered at the Propaganda Ministry to be told by Dr. Goebbels or by one of his aides what news to print…

 

-Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 245

 

 

CBS is now as obedient as Fox

Who would have imagined? Who woulda thunk?

Government agitprop on every Orwellian box -

Shoveling deep rund into our funk

Texas Children Die; Texas Authorities Babble - takeaway from a press conference of 5 July 2025

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

Dispatches for the Colonial Office

 

Texas Children Die; Texas Authorities Babble

 

The governor’s Press Conference

In Which the Press were Shut Down Pretty Quickly

 

I just can’t say enough about our colleagues I just can’t say enough about we are Texans and we come together as one as a family we come together community share quintessential Texas we unite they could have fallen apart double-down relentless when the job is completed 24/ 7 day and night Texans and Americans everyone what I’m going to sign today every asset magnitude process proclamation immediate and ongoing gratitude in advance to President Trump and all his administration his love for Texas I want to thank Governor Abbott absolutely devastating he loves Texas grieving beautiful children all the resources of the federal government walking alongside each other community I’ve visited with the president already he will honor that assets on the ground crisis weather event alerted airframe Coasties Texas assets request customs and border protection skill set resource Department of Homeland Security response flying acronyms entities utilized FEMA standing at an enhanced level plugged in engaged fulfil role amazing you are an example to the nation hearts are with you and walking beside you fixed-wing aircraft airframe helicopters fixed-wing helicopters efforts engaged talking to the president throughout the day families folks number one priority is people process public infrastructure strong you are an example responding helping neighbors hurting grieving God process help prayers are with you President Trump and Melania are praying for you prayer amazing multiple stage agencies partners my thanks to and to and request and thank you for being here an important message I’ve been to a number of disasters impressed with Governor Abbot’s leadership proud grateful for men and women standing behind us here we are all reacquainted rejoined with their family members it’s who your family is we come together as a family as Texas this is who our family is we owe it to them the governor and his team will be relentless family it means a lot we appreciate President Trump and you before I was crazy enough to run for congress ha ha we came down here to blah blah it hits home personally I can’t say enough about extraordinary I can’t say enough I can’t say enough leadership this unfortunate circumstance reached out responding Army corps support and other stuff teamwork collaboration far from finished the job prayerful stuff we’re dealing with finger-pointing and second-guessing and Monday-morning quarterbacking circumstances I understand that parents and media heroic efforts finish the job be with the people pray I’m the only one at this table who lives on the Guadalupe River I barely got home I ushered in a crew fifty-year lawyer I saw first-hand the body bags helicopter ride nobody saw this coming arm in arm hand in hand process time now for recovery toilsome task stay together and we’ll get this done thank you on the behalf of as I look around the room I don’t see differences I see one team working together our community one team those in peril those who are lost sees this day prayer thank God my heart is broken we will not stop Madame Secretary your federal team lifesaving we will our teams FEMA border patrol partners Coast Guard work forward state personnel one last thing most common word prayer prayers are answered in so many ways prayer might be the reason the water stopped rising prayer does work your prayers have made a difference continued prayers pray so much never imagined prayers matter we thank God almighty God has blessed Texas…

 

(A few reporters were then allowed to ask a few questions which were, at best, answered only with vagaries and filler-language.)

Note of 8 July. Stephania Jiminez says it much better than I ever could:

KSAT anchor goes viral for 'speaking the truth' about Texas leaders