Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the
Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine
– A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
A
Three-Part Educational Case Study
1.
I noted that he was ambidextrous
“You can’t call me that; I’m
straight!
I’m gonna tell my daddy what you
said!”
II.
At graduation he asked me to help
him with his tie
A manly handshake; we wished each
other well
He disappeared among the cheap
plastic gowns
III.
Before he was thirty he died of a
heart attack
Lawrence Hall
A Celebration of Freedom and Our Flag – Gramps’ Champs
“’Cause the flag still stands for freedom”
-Lee Greenwood
Will the Flag Day bloodfest hosted by Gramps
In the name of freedom, with MMA champs
Be broadcast to America’s
concentration camps?
Lawrence Hall
mhal46184@aol.com
The
Boy Who Wasn’t There
He was tall and dark,
dramatically handsome
I was a little bit afraid of him
In my skinny little freshman way
High school seniors are the
coolest of the cool
And then he wasn’t there except
as whispers
Whisper whisper whisper cancer whisper
whisper
Algebra whisper pep rally whisper
Occasional whispers around an
empty desk
One day
He returned to school on two crutches
and one foot
He was tall and pale, ethereally
handsome
And after that, like a wraith he
disappeared
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
The Drum-Song of the Cicada
The cry of the cicada
Gives us no sign
That presently it will die
- Basho
Cicadas are living drums singing the summer
Self-rattling so fast that the beats become a buzz
A whining buzz that intensifies the midday heat
Through thin-throbbing tympanic hypnotism
Rising and falling, the leaf-borne chorus
In defiance shrills against the peace
The blessed peace of leaves and lawn and sky
That properly belongs to summer days
Even so, summer days, all summer long
Are not complete without the cicada’s song
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the
Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
A
Response to Nat Lipstadt’s “We are Transitory”
“Time goes by – or do we?”
- from Camelot / The Once and Future King
Your poem is forever
You are forever
This waiting room of a world (C.
S. Lewis) – maybe not
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
You’re the Best!
and love
with hope
our friends
lift up
When we
Then we are doing our proper job today
And knowing you, I am happy to say
You do even better, each bles’sed day
You’re the best
Lawrence
Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Love Must be Held for Questioning
He felt pity for those…whose love is bounded by the frontier of a nation.
-“The Spiritual Power
of Matter”, Teilhard de Chardin
Bombers cross borders
Easily enough, but love?
Held for questioning
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Batter Our Hearts
“Batter my heart, three-person’d God,” said Donne
And we’ve all of us agreed with that
So now, God
You can stop battering
Really. Stop it. It’s gone on long enough.
Lawrence
Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Technology is a Two-Edged Carrot
Grater
A Meditation upon Computer
Updates
After an update:
I cannot delete intrusions that should go away
I cannot save that knowledge which should stay
I cannot find the files that went astray
While codes and access are changing every day
People I don’t even know want me to pay
For services and tweaks they want me to play
My work-rhythm will go much faster, they say
Or else they’ll block my already-slow pathway
An update is litter on the information highway
A metaphorical carrot grater of existential decay
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
I Wandered Lonely as the Recent Site Update
As Wordsworth did not say
A daffodil is in itself a being
That dances by itself to the glory of God
Without the registery of a poet’s pen
Without the approval of passwords and codes
Two lovers are in themselves a being
Who dance each other to the glory of God
Without the registry of a poet’s pen
Without the approval of passwords and codes
All poets are in themselves a being
Without the approval of passwords and codes
Lawrence
Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
This is not Who We Are
(or maybe it is)
This is not who we are we need to come together as one when you
get home just hug your children we’re better than this our thoughts and prayers
are with you one victim is too many we’re [someplace] proud from an abundance
of caution active shooter situation enough is enough We. Will. Find. You. no
more excuses WHEN? unspeakable we know many of you are grieving our community this
senseless crime this is not a reflection of who we are this type of behavior
will not be tolerated
