Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Thank
You for Your Attention to This Matter
Both sides waving American flags
Bodies in the streets like bundles
of rags
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Thank You for Your Attention to This Matter - doggerel
Saturday, January 24, 2026
Laundry on a Snowy Day - poem
Lawrence Hall
mhall 46184@aol.com
Laundry on a Snowy Day
Little fluffs of white floating through the air
Swirling and drifting and dancing merrily
Falling upon us as gently as a prayer
One landing on your nose momentarily
But this is not from the January snow
This puffy white stuff all over the floor
Because it has nowhere else to go
Except for Hoovering it up (a tiresome chore)
It flies from the dryer much like a rocket
Because
Someone always leaves Kleenex in her pocket!
Friday, January 23, 2026
The Coming Ice Storm - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
The
Coming Ice Storm
Wood for the fireplace stacked
inside and out
Sterno for the camp stove, bottled
water everywhere
Batteries, portable radios, toilet
paper, lanterns
The outside faucets covered with plastic
and old towels
Bedding for the pets in the laundry
room
Mothball-scented blankets disposed
here and there
The questions come as quickly as the
wind:
What if…? What about…? What if…?
What about…?
The day is grey and darkens even
more
As strange blue light falls upon us
from the north
Can You Describe This? - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Can You Describe This?
-Anna Ahkmatova, Requiem
Supplicants waiting in long lines in the snow
Hoping to give their children some sense of truth
Among the gassings of electronic screens
Protestors and federals bellowing in turn
The news blows in as Siberian flurries
Some flailing this way, and some trailing that
Footprints disappear among the drifts
Rasputin’s body might float up in the spring
Describe each human as a number, as a stat
“Truth?” sneered Pontius Pilate, “now what is that?”
“Can you describe this?” a woman asked Ahkmatova
“Yes, I can,” she spoke, she wrote, she lived
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
A Children's Bedtime Litany for 2026 - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life,
Literature and Love
A
Children’s Bedtime Litany for 2026
In the Name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit
From the ICE-men who break into our
homes and beat up our families
Deliver
us, O Lord
From the anti-ICE who invade our
churches on Sunday mornings
Deliver
us, O Lord
From the ICE gunfire in our streets
Deliver
us, O Lord
From the anti-ICE gunfire in our
streets
Deliver
us, O Lord
From the tear gas on our playgrounds
Deliver
us, O Lord
From government-sponsored
kidnappings
Deliver
us, O Lord
From fires and looting
Deliver
us, O Lord
From explosions in the night
Deliver
us, O Lord
From strangers roaming around with
guns
Deliver
us, O Lord
From the unmarked SUVs that circle
our block
Deliver
us, O Lord
From the violence-pornographers who
take our pictures
Deliver
us, O Lord
Grant your children rest this night,
O Lord
Or if we must be wakeful
Make the shooting stop
Amen
In the Name of…shhhhh!...they’re
beating on the door…don’t let them hear you…
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
A Complimentary Tote - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
A Complimentary Tote
How very nice of you to check me out
Of all the things you could have bought today
You purchased a tote, which shows your good sense
And you picked me, which shows your good taste
Those are some great shoes you’re wearing
And your watch is a study in elegance
Proper dress is all about the accessories
I’m proud to be seen with such a classy lady
Wait – diapers? I gotta carry dirty diapers!?
And those dirty baby-bottom wipers!?
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Combat Patrol on the Borders of the Empire - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Combat Patrol on the Borders of the Empire
There were nasty people in the army; but…[e]very few days one seemed to meet a scholar, an original, a poet, a cheery buffoon, a raconteur, or at least a man of good will.
-C. S. Lewis, “Guns and Good Company,” Surprised by Joy
Muffle-armored like Heinlein’s starship troopers
What attributes of civilization
Can the soldiers of our armies carry
Carefully tucked into their pockets and packs:
Paperback poets, math reviews, Miss January
Letters from home, a Rosary, a Testament
A naughty little short-timer calendar
A creased photograph of someone special
What do young soldiers carry with them
When they are ordered to suppress
Their fellow Americans
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