Freshman Year on the G.I. Bill

Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com


Freshman Year on the G.I. Bill, I

From the pages of Mohammed and Charlemagne
To the porch to smoke and watch the rain
Falling in the dark afternoon, down, down
In a pitter-patter splatter

Car windows up, room windows down
Coffee warming on the stove,
lightning over the town
And raindrops breaking on the pavement
Like little dreams



Freshman Year on the G.I. Bill, II

The instructor talks about
Wellington at Waterloo
The British Square
Napoleon’s hemorrhoids

One student thinks about
The boat on fire
And bodies on the deck
Only a few months ago