Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Upon Finding My Old Copy of Paradise Lost

Sacred to the memory of Tod Mixson, Robert Conn, and Dr. Huston Diehl

Time will run back, and fetch the age of gold

-Milton, “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity”

With notes by Dr. Diehl, of happy memory

And my poor scribbles in the hand of callow youth

As memories of Thursday nights with Robert and Tod

Fetch back a golden age when we were young

Styrofoamed coffee (and sometimes Scotch)

We fogged the air with our pipes and thoughts

“Umbrageous grots” and “snaky sorceress”

Became our private jokes in public places

But now

I pray that we will laugh again at “dismal universal hiss”

When someday all are freed from this silence cold

They hand in hand with wand’ring steps and slow,

Through Eden took thir solitary way.

-PL XII.648-649

If Everyone is Thinking Alike We Could be Correct - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

If Everyone is Thinking Alike We Could be Correct

If you’re not taking target you’re not over the flak

It isn’t what it isn’t, the ice of the tipberg

You can’t pick your family but you can pick your nose

The early bird hops over to Cracker Barrel

What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker

We have an inactive shooter off scene

From an abundance of irresponsibility

The situation is fluid because, hey, it’s a drowning

Despite the dozens of dead it’s not terrorism

And, really, sometimes the room should read you

Indicted for the Treasonous Positioning of Seashells - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Indicted For the Treasonous Positioning of Seashells

Be careful, child, if you go down to the beach today

You’re a serious threat with your pail and spade

The Secret Service might come and drag you away

To their Star Chamber court where charges are laid

Your Minnie Mouse goggles make you look like a spy

Hiding torpedoes in your Little Mermaid float

You might be taken down by the F.B.I.

So all your fellow Commies had better take note

Thus for your freedom’s sake, don’t touch a pebble!

Lest you be imprisoned as a murderous rebel

Where my Parents Were on 29 April 1944 - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Where my Parents were on 29 April in 1944

"...and the war will be forgotten..."

Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

My mother was a young war widow in Kingsville, Texas

Raising a child with no assistance from the state

For her husband was only missing, you see

And a Merchant Marine, and so didn’t count

My father was breeching the gates of Dachau

His tank destroyer was the “Razzle Dazzle”

With a naked lady painted on the side

Among the stench and smoke, the dying, the dead

My father told me that someday there would be people

Who would deny that such things ever were

Cf.

602^nd Tank Destroyer Battalion

SS Muskogee

Some years ago whatever authorities see to such things worked to remedy the neglect of our Merchant Marine widows and so they received some small assistance at last.

Graduation Speech Soup - poem (sort of)

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Variation on a newspaper column I wrote years ago

Graduation Speech Soup

Add cliches’ to tastelessness, stir, and microwave

“Dr. Ponsonby, Mr. Snort, Ms. Bogdown, Trustees, Guests, Parents, Fellow Classmates: "Woo-Hoo! Thank you for all for the honor of being here tonight and, like, stuff. Woo-Hoo!

"My fellow classmates. Well it's been a great 12, 13, or 14 years ha-ha. Woo-Hoo!

“Keep the torch alive to pass to a new generation with the key that unlocks the road to the future follow your passion the unemployment will follow woo-hoo we’ve been through some amazing times together make a difference to thine own self be true woo-hoo commencement means a beginning not an ending woo-hoo as we go forth life is a journey not a destination we made it all the hard work we’ve put forth to this point in time as a great man said these are the best time in our lives as one door closes another door opens as someone says in the bible because a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step to make the world a better place trust your instincts you don’t find education in books we are the future bright with promise some see the future and ask why but we see the future and ask why not Habakkuk 2:7 woo-hoo we did it I can’t believe we’re here believe in yourself live your dreams to be all that you can be God has a plan for you woo-hoo we have the responsibility to build a new world if opportunity doesn’t know build a door don’t follow the path blaze a trail because there is no one like you because you are an individual just like those other hundred or so people your age and all dressed just alike because life is what happens while you’re making plans woo-hoo live, laugh, love you have to look through the rain to see the rainbow dance like nobody’s looking (even though they are, and they’re laughing at you) aim for the moon and if you miss you’ll hit the moon (or something) life is not waiting for the storm to pass it’s about dancing in the rain because you are a new generation called to miss 100% of the shots you don’t take because we were all one big family who have lived, laughed, and loved together hey and remember the time (name) barfed on the stairs we’ll all that that shared moment to remember and are we great or what praise Jesus together woo-hoo we can’t save all the starfish but I can make a difference for this one because as a great man Robert Frost said in “The Road Not Taken” we can make a difference for all the starfish and hey let’s give up for Jesus for mandatory cheap applause because someone said that someone said that someone else said that we can’t talk about Jesus at graduation and someone talks about Jesus every year but we’re courageous because we talk about Jesus in the sea of life woo-hoo today is the first day of your rest of your life oh, the places you’ll go like maybe eternal stasis in front of a MePhone because education is the gate that unlocks the key to something I don’t know why they asked me to be the speaker ha ha shout-out to Mom hey everybody wear sunscreen because your future’s so bright close your eyes and remember when - hey, an air horn, that’s so cool, no one’s ever done that before - woo-hoo I want to congratulate each and every one of you on your incredible talents and abilities woo-hoo as you begin your journey to a bright and shining future because we are the best class (name of school and a shout-out to the mascot) has ever graduated (since last year) woo-hoo a dream is a wish your heart makes the road not taken and you can become anything you dream to be or wish to be or something #lifehack because she said she could do it and she did woo-hoo #hashtag now go forth and make your lives exceptional woo-hoo although on Monday morning we’ll wake up and realize we’re just more unemployed Americans.”

Are You the Dreamer to My Dreams - short poem

mhall46184@aol.com

Are You the Dreamer to My Dreams?

Moonlight, magnolias, and melatonin

And the symphony channel – all sweeten my dreams

But without you, is there any point to dreams?

If you tell me yes, then it is so

A Day of Gentle Rain after a Dry Spell - short poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

A Day of Gentle Rain after a Dry Spell

It is a cliché

For us to say

That rain is like a baptism, a gift of healing

It is a cliché

But still we say

This rain is like a baptism, a gift of healing

When the Death Penalty is Outsourced to Private Corporations - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

When the Death Penalty is Outsourced to Corporations

“We’re re-structuring, so may God have mercy on your soul.”

“Thank you for your contributions to making our prison great again.”

“Going forward we’re looking for more technology.”

“You’ve been a great team player. You will be missed.”

“We’re investing in new production models”

“Our extended worker family is sure going to miss you.”

“We’re streamlining our operations.”

“You’ll be proud to know that your death chamber

- because, yes, it is your community death chamber -

Is positioned with great love and respect

On First Nations land repurposed for your spiritual experience.”

“We need a more agile workforce to meet tomorrow’s needs.”

“As part of our matrix of inclusivity

We’re processing more women, minorities,

And LGBTQ than ever before.”

“To lower our carbon footprint we’re presenting you

With an artisanal, hand-woven noose

Crafted from all-natural recycled fibers.”

“We’re accelerating into a new era of growth.”

“We know you will be impacted by 2,000 volts,

But our separation package is an industry best.”

“Our watchwords are compassion and imagination.”

“If you want a tranquilizer before the lethal drip

That cost will be deducted from your family’s survivor package.”

“Our sensitive and inclusive personnel officers

And transition specialists will walk with you

Every step of the way along the Green Mile

As you journey to your bright new future.”

“Oh…before you go…this just in from the personnel office –

They can arrange lateral transfers to I.C.E.

If you’re interested…

You’re not…?

I understand.”

Doggie-Kisses - DOGgerel

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Doggie-Kisses

For all our little domestic carnivorous quadrupeds

“Love anything, even a small animal, and your heart will surely be broken.”

-C. S. Lewis

Her life is short, her nose is long

A dachshund’s bark is a merry song!

Her life is short, her body is long

And how her little paws pad along!

Her life is short, her ears are long

Her love is a happy ping to your pong

Her life is short, her tail is long

Her eyes are big, her heart is strong

Her life is short

But the memories –

O, the memories are long!

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Poems Three Times Each Day - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Poems Three Times Each Day

For the singers of songs and tellers of truth on HP

From ideas by Jackie and Nat

Most creatives frame each day with a liturgy

The Hours for some, Shacharit, Mincha, and Maariv for others

The musician gives glory through pulsing air

An artist with camel-hair brush blesses a canvas

A poem is a prayer, a Temple-offering of love

A Sh’ma, an Ave, the Eight-Fold Path

A chaplet of beads bidding welcome to all

A voice proclaiming Truth in the desert

Most creatives frame each day with a liturgy -

Thank you, dear friends, for sharing yours with me

Monday, April 27, 2026

How Old Are You? - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

How Old Are You?

A question:

If you did not know how old you are

How old, then, would you say you are?

An answer:

I will go in to the altar of God.

To God who giveth joy to my youth.

And there you are

“How old…” – many attributions

“To God…” -Missale Romanum, Baronius Press, 2008

Sunday, April 26, 2026

For Those Who Long for the President’s Firing Squads - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

For Those Who Long for the President’s Firing Squads

We still have judgement here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague th’ inventor.

-Macbeth I.vii.8-10

Although you may jeer a condemned man today

And laugh as he’s dragged to that berm and wall

The evil that breaks his body will turn your way

You too will hear the Fatal Bellman’s call

The verdict sustained, the appeals laughed off

Poorly trained riflemen will unlock your door

As they drag you away they will scorn and scoff

If they notice you at all – ‘tis their daily chore

You’ll scream into the void your vain last plea:

“I didn’t mean for this to happen to ME!”

Breaking News - Shots Not Fired - short poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Breaking News: Shots Not Fired

How lovely it would be to hear someone say

“A few minutes ago in Washington

Several incidents of love rang out.”

Saturday, April 18, 2026

Sunday Morning Jesus with a Bullhorn - poem

Lawrence Hall

mhall46184@aol.com

Sunday Morning Jesus with a Bullhorn

“Ye miserable, crawlin’ worms. Are ye here again then?...You’re all damned! DAMNED!”

-from Amos Starkadder’s There’ll Be No Butter in Hell sermon to the Church of the

Quivering Brethren, Cold Comfort Farm

(Sinner, are you saved?!)

When he was sharin’ a bottle an’ a joint

He was much more likeable, a dirt-road drunk

But now he shares Jesus through a bullhorn

And notches souls on his Sears & Roebuck guitar

(God sent me to preach you to Heaven!)

He hates them town churches like he hates the devil

Lost a finger at the sawmill; carries groceries now

His mama gives him a ride to work each day

She says th’ cops is always a-pickin’ on him

(Don’t you go to Hell with them Methodists and Popists!)

She says th’ police don’t like him or Jesus

But he had convictions before he got Conviction

(And let th’ people say, “A-men!”)

“And Wrinkled Lip, and Sneer of Cold Command” - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

“And Wrinkled Lip, and Sneer of Cold Command”

“That Colossal Wreck”

-Shelley, “Ozymandias”

Now where have all the red caps of livery gone?

The bumper stickers, the banners, the made-in-China tees

The tattered flags that fanned our people cold

The tatty bibles with their leader’s ‘graph

An old man plays with a toy triumphal arch

Neither Doric nor Ionic nor Corinthian

But rather after the order of Albert Speer

Astride a cemetery axis road

Like a pompous colossus in gold and gilt -

But by the Grace of God, never to be built

Allusions, Collusions, and Confusions

Title: from “Ozymandias”

1. An allusion to “Where Have all the Flowers Gone?”, a song of disastrous transition and a circle of death caused by war. The origins are worth reading up.

1. Livery in the sense of a wealthy master’s uniforms or costumes for his servants or slaves

2-4. The vulgar merchandising of the presidency

3. Macbeth I.ii.56-57

4. The merchandizing of the presidency and Christianity, with non-canonical secular content that appears to form a biased foundation document establishing a national religion

6. The three noble orders of architecture

7. Albert Speer was Hitler’s architect. The proposed Trump arch is reminiscent of Speer’s heavy-footed and often cluttered designs. Toward the end of his, oh, career Hitler often retreated to the room where Speer’s models were kept so that he could play with them

8. The proposed Trump arch would dominate the road to Arlington, a siting which many perceive as disrespectful to the American war dead buried there

9. Colossus – many historical and literary allusions. Shelley’s “Ozymandias” has often been referenced in the dissolution of the trumperies of tyrants, their architectural, artistic, and name-stamping vanities

9. The axis / Axis wordplay is obvious

9 – 10. Gilt as guilt, another obvious wordplay

The Little Sisters of the Enneagram - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

The Little Sisters of the Enneagram

Wel koude he rede a lesson or a storie,

But alderbest he song an offertorie

-Chaucer, General Prologue 70-71

Some travelling nuns offered an enneagram weekend

Making the parish hall a lab for self-discovery

Nine truths about the self for a small ~~fee~~ stipend

Two afternoons of healing for the soul’s recovery

The Law of Three and the Law of Seven

Tritipes and Wings and something called Triads

Ride your Hexagon around to Heaven

(Please power down your MePhones and IPads)

If everyone in the world worked out his enneagram…

We’d still have cope with holy grifters, so (darn)!

Route 66 Ends in a Used-Car Lot - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Route 66 Ends in a Used-Car Lot

Nothing behind me, everything in front of me, as is ever so on the road

-Jack Kerouac

Someone’s dream in the long ago

This heavy Chevy was someone’s Ticket to Ride

Maybe back around ‘62 or so

Now she’s slathered with Bondo, but still has her pride

She wants you to come in out of the rain

Check out the tuck-and-roll, the heavy chrome

Her tires are okay; they’ve got lots of traction

This baby could be your honey-courtin’ home

(She’s tells hot tales about her back-seat action!)

Under the sodium-vapor lights

She welcomes each young man with sly winks and smiles -

“Hey, mister, look me over; I still got some miles!”

“Ticket to Ride” - a song by the Beatles. Multiple meanings are attributed to the term.

Bondo – a brand of putty or filler used in covering holes and dents.

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Why My (Famous Name Brand) Watch is Like a Petulant Child

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Why My (Famous Name Brand) Watch is Like a Petulant Child

“I don’t WANNA get off the charger!”

“Are we at the charger yet?”

“I don’t WANNA tell time! I want my charger!”

“No! You can’t MAKE ME get off my charger!”

“You’re not the charger of me!”

“If you don’t let me on my charger now I’m going to call the police like on TV!”

“If you don’t put me on the charger I’m gonna tell Grandma!”

“Gimme the charger or I’ll tell Mom about you and that Timex!”

“I don’t feel like going to school today; I just want my charger!”

“Can we stop at the next charger? Huh? Huh? Huh? Pretty please! I just gotta charge again. I know I took a charge at home but I gotta charge again! Huh? Huh? Huh? Pretty please! I gotta charge RIGHT NOW!”

Another Curious Thing About Death - poem

Lawrence Hall

mhall46184@ao.com

Another Curious Thing About Death

“A poet’s autobiography is his poetry”

-Yevtushenko, who took care to write his autobiography anyway

A curious thing about death – after you die

When you are the deceased, the dear departed

Your loved ones will burrow through your bits and bobs

And tell each other funny stories about you

Your childhood Peter Pan book, your pocketknife

Will be computer-searched for their market value

The rest – like your souvenir Buddha from Kamakura -

Will be tagged for a garage sale next Saturday

And that’s okay, for you, washed free of death and sin

Will be flying past that Second Star by then

Poetic You - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Poetic You

If a poet is under 18, is he a minor poet?

If a poet is in the army, is she a major poet?

If a poet is unmusical, is he an unsung poet?

If a poet is untruthful, is she a lyre?

If a poet is thin is she a narrow-tive poet?

If a poet is also a banker does he write oweds?

If a poet is in prison can she write free verse?

If a poet sneezes at funerals does he write allergies?

There are all sorts of poets, this is true

But the best sort of poet just might be you!

A Difference Between Situational Poverty and Generational Poverty in Rural Schools - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

A Difference Between Situational Poverty

and Generational Poverty in Rural Schools

Situational Poverty – “C’n I borry uh ink-pen?”

Generational Poverty – “GIMME uh ink-pen!”

Ladies and Gentlemen - The Beetles! - doggerel

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love