Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Eating Biblically
I’ve never felt that I was liable
To dine upon on a tasty bible
Thursday, May 21, 2026
Eating Biblically - doggerel
Where Words Matter More Than Noise - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Where Words Matter More than Noise
As a wise friend says
“The unacknowledged legislators of the world” 1
Do not assemble in chambers of marble and oak
With speakers’ maces, in ermine-collared robes
Their speeches taken down by The Guardian and The Times
But rather at corner tables at Kosher Sam’s 2
Café Zanzibar 3, The Stray Dog Café 4
With disposable pens, and in jeans and tees
Their speeches interrupted by each other
Ideas later sharpened into verse
And published in LogoSophia and Eliot’s HP 5
1 Shelley, “A Defence of Poetry”
2 San Diego
3 Nacogdoches (and can you spell “Nacogdoches?”)
4 St. Petersburg
5 LogoSophia and Hello, Poetry
Monday, May 18, 2026
Hello, You - poem
Lawrence
Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Hello, You
Hello, You
You, who have
never written an idle line,
Give a second
sunrise to each merry morning
Or if a
morning is not permitted, a dusk
An hour of
your gentle peace to read
Hello, You
You, who chant
for us your litany of hope
We who are
blessed in your thoughts and words
In how you
shape chaos into hymns of love
And sing your
stories to the universe
Hello, You
You, who have
never written an idle line
Pray for all
of us, please, at your Heliconian shrine
Landing at Port aux Basques - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Landing at Port aux Basques
“He was faithful and daft to me”
-as Marc Antony did not say
We were approaching Newfoundland aboard the old Caribou
I climbed up on deck in the icy, clear dawn
A mysterious woman in a Burberry coat
Smoked cigarettes in the lee of a ventilator
(and ignored me)
In the cold I surveyed the brown and white coast
And reported back to Dan that there was snow ashore
“You’re daft,” he replied, “those are just little houses.”
But there was snow indeed on Port aux Basques
We rattled Dan’s CRV up Highway 1
(driving around a dead moose in the road)
On daft adventures all the way to Saint John’s
Dan is the only one who has ever called me daft; indeed, except in the movies I have never heard anyone else use the term.
Saturday, May 16, 2026
The Flag and the Fourth Amendment flown at Half-Mast Down at the Post Office - poem
Lawrence
Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
The Flag and the Fourth Amendment flown
at Half-Mast
Down at the Post Office
“VEHICLES AND THEIR CONTENTS ARE SUBJECT TO
INSPECTION WHEN ENTERING, LEAVING, OR WHILE PARKED WITHIN THIS RESTRICTED AREA.
ENTERING INTO THIS AREA CONSTITUTES CONSENT TO THE INSPECTION. (39 C. F. R.
PART 232.1(b)(2)”
-a new sign screwed
to the wall at my rural post office
The flag was flown at half-mast again today
As it often is for weeks at a time, it seems
A moment in history? A loss? A death?
Maybe another Texas senator or bird dog? 1
The flag was flown at half-mast again today
Some guy down the street flew it upside down
Protesting or surrendering or not paying attention
To the latest crisis in our decaying republic
The flag was flown at half-mast again today -
I wonder if now it will always be that way
1 A reference to a line in True Grit
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Life as a Noisy Waiting Room - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Life as a Noisy Waiting Room
“This waiting room of a world.”
-fictional line by the character of C. S. Lewis in Shadowlands
How much of life is passed in waiting for others
To do what they promised they would do:
The mechanic who promised to call when the car was ready
The computer that promised your package on Monday
The lawn service that promised to mow on Tuesday
The friend who promised to meet you on Wednesday
The pharmacist who promised your meds for Thursday
The doctor’s appointment promised for nine o’clock Friday
The cable service that promised repairs by Saturday
Oh, sure, all those promises -
They simply went away!
A Parasol Mushroom - senryu, possible a haiku
A Parasol
Mushroom
A tiny white house
Appears on the lawn at dawn
But where is the toad?
To a child a
mushroom is a toadstool. I have never seen a toad resting on or sheltering
beneath a toadstool, but I keep looking. I imagine it would be rather like
Bilbo Baggins, smoking a pipe and reading its morning letters.
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