Noisy, Shiny Things

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Noisy, Shiny Things

 

Loudspeakers dangling from the overhead

A telescreen magically descending

Air, light, and sound electrically controlled

By banks of glowing buttons and monitors

Radiance falling upon the holy drums

Upon the shimmering percussion set

Upon the amplifiers standing on guard

Lest a moment of God’s silence break through

As the people listen obediently to

Loudspeakers dangling from the overhead.

Incense and Latin

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Incense and Latin

 

Incense and Latin sweeten still the air

Two thousand years of faith, and beauty rare

In ancient usages to lift us up

Above our Fall, to Altar, Word, and Cup;

Poor, pale translations cannot compromise

What we have sensed through lips and eyes and sighs

Which God has granted us that we might live

Salvation given, and in turn we give

A faithful heart, a tabernacle where

Incense and Latin sweeten still the air.

The Given Bird

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Given Bird

 

The grackle is the tough guy of the streets

Hanging around the utility lines

Getting down, shaking down, playing it cool

Grackling at all the pretty girlie birds

Hitting up passersby for their spare food

A cigarette dangling insolently

(But only metaphorically, of course)

From his beak as he gracks verbal abuse

Even at his benefactors, one claw up  -

The grackle is the bird given in pique.

This Moon is not Eternal

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

This Moon is not Eternal

 

This moon is not eternal; it only seems

To be because in the mysterious night

It falls upon the earth in silent waves

Of memories drifting across the floor

In the dawn-drawn hours of dream-sheaving sleep

Before the eyes of an old man even as

It made shadowy mysteries for the boy

Shifting memories to leafy childhood days

And back again, a reflection of the real

This moon is not eternal, but that one is.

Happiness Visible

Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com

Happiness Visible

A dachshund pup is happiness visible
Now tumbling, chumbling through the fallen leaves
Now sassling, hassling the hissing prissy cats
Now pausing in mid-bark to gnaw a paw
Now testing the dynamics of wind-flying ears
Now stalking the tasty beetle through the grass
Now chewing thoughtfully the tasty beetle
Now barfing up the not-so-tasty beetle
Now leaping to the next adventure in life
And somehow all at once – happiness visible

The Privileged Patriarchal Postcolonial Boy

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Privileged Patriarchal Postcolonial Boy

 

He vets his work for political tone

Writes nothing to annoy

And if his words offend – they’re gone!

The postcolonial boy

 

He was born and raised in poverty

His mother’s only joy

Still a child of privilege, you see

The postcolonial boy

 

No matter what he might dare say

No matter how polite, how coy

Nothing can excuse his DNA

The postcolonial boy

 

A shame it is that he submits

Agrees that he’s sans foy

He silences himself; he quits

The postcolonial boy

Beyond the Coffee Shop Window

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Beyond the Coffee Shop Window

 

A woman of enormous girth glides by

At high speed in her motorized wheelchair

Silent beyond the coffee shop window

Where labeled urns stand tall in orderly rows

Attended by mislabeled cylinders

In which the half-and-half is not even

A quarter-and-a-quarter of water-thinned milk

Near little colored packets of chemicals

She doesn’t break pace while turning her head to glare

In hatred beyond the coffee shop window.

But it's not Halloween

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

But it’s not Halloween

 

A man – fleshy and fat and tall he is

A shaven head and menacing blue eyes

His Cowboys tee says “Romo” on the back

He wants to share Jesus

Happy Little Water Pill

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Happy Little Water Pill

 

For Susan and Eldon

 

O happy, happy little water pill!

Commanded by the practitioner and

Filed with the pharmacist for him to fill -

And it works so well - I’m off to the can…!

Adjective Childhood Pity

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Adjective Childhood Pity

 

Your Irish childhood – oh, give it a pass

                                        Indian childhood

                                        Single-parent childhood

                                        Poverty childhood

                                        Small-town childhood

                                        Urban childhood

                                        Farm childhood

                                        Army brat childhood

                                        Immigrant childhood

                                        Emigrant childhood

                                        Migrant childhood

                                        Reservation childhood

                                        Mountain childhood

All the adjective pity - it’s all been said

But your childhood – your childhood, your childhood

Free it from adjectives, and you’ll have something

 

 

The Noble Wolf

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

 

The Noble Wolf

 

A Cautionary Tale for Tasty Herbivores

 

O do not praise the wolf as a noble being

It is only another carnivore

That feeds upon little kittens and bunnies

The rotting garbage you left along the curb

An errant dachshund, the occasional child

The wolf is not your furry forest friend

Nor yet a good comrade howling folk songs

Against cigar-smoking Republicans

Its reputation as an enviro is only

The oozings of what Disney brains you have, my dears

Save the Date!

Save the Date

 

O how I do hope you will Save The Date!

It’s a special occasion, so don’t be late

Be sure to sign in with the guard at the gate

I leave on the twelfth; I simply can’t wait

That’s when I’ll be executed by the State.

 

Registered at Coffins ‘n’ Stuff, Thibodeaux’s Funeral Home,

& Jardin d’Memoires and Gift Shoppe