Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Are We Looking
Through Sauron’s Eye?
Through our glowing palantiri we watch
Dark images, shadowy and flickering
Ghostly men gathered around machines –
Are we looking through Sauron’s eye?
A silent flash, and structure disappears
Enveloped in blackness and liquid flame
Arcing bits of metal and bits of men -
Are we looking through Sauron’s eye?
Are we looking through Sauron’s eye?
And is that eye now turned on us?
Lawrence Hall, HSG
James Arness –
He Made his Life an Adventure
James
Arness: An Autobiography
James
Arness and James E. Wise, Jr.
McFarland
and Company: 2001
In
his young adulthood James Arness was a blonde-haired surfer dude, which is
difficult to reconcile with his film and television persona, but it’s true, and
one of the many fascinating aspects of the life of this genuine American hero
and natural blonde.
Mr. Arness
served in the army in the Second World War, and because of his 6’6” height he
was ordered to be the first off his platoon’s landing craft at Anzio. He was to
serve as the marker – if the water was too deep and he drowned, the boat would
come closer to the shingle to discharge his fellow soldiers. He was also given
two large packages to take ashore. They contained dynamite for blowing
obstacles.
Some weeks later
shell fragments shattered his foot, and he required occasional surgery throughout
his life. When in a story, especially later in his career, you see James Arness
limping, it’s for real. And he never complained. Because of the wound he was
evacuated; most everyone in his company was killed in the fighting that
followed.
This book is not
a tell-all, and so reflects the honor and dignity of Mr. Arness. He has nothing bad to say about anyone,
and his wry humor is a joy. When a tv movie with Raquel Welch gained a larger
audience than one of his Gunsmoke sequels he asked, with his usual sense
of fun, “What has she got that we haven’t!” Great fun.
Mr.
Arness writes as much, maybe more, about others than he does about himself, and
these mini-biographies are a joy. Further,
the lengthy list of Gunsmoke’s guest stars is a catalogue of Hollywood
at its best.
I
enjoy Gunsmoke, and very much appreciate the quality of acting, writing,
and cinematography. I don’t suppose there is a bad episode, but for me the best
are the half-hour episodes of the first few years. Working with a small budget
and limited time, each is a brilliant, compact story, and the
characterizations, plot elements, and photographic composition and lighting
indicate that the producers learned their craft well from John Ford and other
great filmmakers.
Even
if you aren’t much for cowboy films the story of James Arness’ life is
interesting; if you enjoy his movies from the 1940s and 1950s, Gunsmoke,
The McCahans, and his other television productions you will find this
autobiography especially entertaining and informative.
James
Arness loved surfing and sailing and the sea so much that he closes his book
with a quote from Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812):
There
is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There
is society, where none intrudes,
By
the deep sea, and the music is in its roar;
I
love not Man the less, But Nature more
-30-
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The Loneliest Man in the world
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love: now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe
Upon a dwarfish thief
-Macbeth
5:2
His palaces and
dachas are Dunsinanes
With polished
floors and television maps
With whining
voices in empty uniforms
With woods that
come against him in the night
His life, his
dreams are sere and crumbling leaves
Waiting only for
the broom to sweep them away
Waiting only for
the dead to summon them
Waiting only for
the final hour to come
He does not hang
his banners on reality
He only pushes
buttons on remote controls
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Preparing my Wordle for the
Third World War
I would have said that the Cold War was the Third
Viet-Nam was hot enough for me
But the old men rattling their dentures in anger
Assure us that this new war is the one
Today I withdrew some cash from the bank
Topped off the gas tanks and the lawnmower cans
Bought water, toilet paper, and batteries
And propped my walking stick beside my bed
My daughter says that tomorrow we start WORDLE
With “PEACE” - her warfare is the best of all
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The President of
the United States Addresses the World
24 February 2022
Let me be perfectly clear the bottom line
Is this flagrant violations unilaterally
Create make no mistake stained by association
People’s hearts and hopes with every tool more purposeful
Vision assault on the very principles
Every tool at our disposal rising prices
At the gas pump American gas and oil
Companies my administration sanctions
Package monitoring energy supplies consuming
Countries actively working feeling coordinating
At the gas pump stand up to bullies we
are prepared to respond additional moves
Sanctioned to amplify the joint impact...
While the brave young are shot down in the streets
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
“The Result was
Silence”
"Today
I initiated a telephone conversation with the President of the
Russian
Federation. The result was silence.”
-President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
There is no silence in Kiev this dawn
Morning commutes, intermittent news feeds
Explosions. Power failures. How many will die
Without finishing their WORDLE today
Old men rattle their dentures in outrage
Sky News reports a couple of police officers
In the street below, smoking cigarettes
Which makes more sense than most things just now
Kharkov’s air-raid sirens are deeper than Kiev’s
There is no silence in Kiev this dawn
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
If This Gets into the Hands of the Russians...
Prince Caspian: “Have you pen
and ink, Master Doctor?”
Doctor Cornelius: “A scholar
is never without them, your majesty.”
-C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
My notebook – my little
pocket notebook
A worthy habit from my
long-ago youth
If this gets into the hands
of the Russians –
They’ll know all about my
dental appointments
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
An LGBTRDCST Deconstruction of Gainsborough’s Blue
Boy
Blue Boy must be examined through the lens
Of neo-post-colonial queer
theory
and LGBT hegemonism
Inverted as bourgeois
sentimentalism
It subverts the trope of
trans-feminism
As a patriarchal gesture of
scorn
Plasticized in pale
iridescent blue
And transgressive in its
imposture
Or maybe it’s some kid bribed
with a shilling
To pose for this picture, however
unwilling
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
That Woman on a Pedestal Thing
I tried to put her on a pedestal
But I didn’t have one, and
anyway
She reminded me that I was
out of line
In feeling that anyone but
herself
Could put her anywhere
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
A Master’s Degree from the Dairy Queen in Huntington,
Texas
And for The Ataman, Dr. Barbara Carr
of Happy Memory
Well, not exactly, but the
Dairy Queen
Was my late-night coffee stop
on the way home
From all those evening
classes in Nacogdoches
I should have asked the girls
to sign the diploma
(Is the juke box still broken?)
I worked on that degree for
seven years
One class at a time, sweet
Jesus, oh, yeah
And God bless Dr. Carr for
all those extensions
And the fluorescent-lit
journeys through Mother Russia
(Does the ice cream machine still make that
funny grinding noise?)
Seven years! I’m not all that
smart
But persistence is its own
kind of art
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
More
Real and More Beautiful
“This is still Narnia, and more real and more
beautiful than the Narnia down below, just as it was more real and more beautiful
than the Narnia outside the stable door!”
-Lucy in C. S. Lewis’ The
Last Battle
More of the old family land is to be sold off
Forests of my childhood and happy fields
Where breezes still ripple the summer grass
Soon to be beaten and carved as lots and plots
The bales of hay, each barefoot day – all lost
And down the hill where runs a magic rill
My Sherwood Forest will be cleared of good
trees
Its dreaming paths overlaid with sewers and
streets
And along the fence little tufts of grass
Where all those noble dogs of long ago lie
buried
My companions in all adventures
Awaiting my whistle to roam with me again
Well, I will pack them and all my childhood up
-
And someday pour them from a golden Cup
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Camouflage in Trump Country
I walk into the cafe’ wearing
a boonie hat
Although the boonies were
fifty years ago
But I don’t look like a
worthy comrade -
In Trump country you need
good camouflage
I walk into the store wearing
a barn coat
Although I have never owned a
barn
But I don’t look like an
NRA-rade -
In Trump country you need
good camouflage
A patriot shouldn’t need to
be a mirage
but -
In Trump country you need
good camouflage
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Participation Ribbons
John Wayne as Steve Williams:
“How'd you do last season?”
Charles Coburn as Father Malone: “We showed up for every
game.”
Steve Williams: “I'd say that was raw courage.”
-Trouble Along the Way (1953)
I’ve heard of participation
ribbons
But I’ve never seen one. Do
they exist?
People seem to disapprove of
them
But participation means
showing up
There are those who wake up
every morning
Feed the kids breakfast, fire
up an old car
Make the school run, and then
are off to work
At the cafe’, the store, or
the auto shop
That’s participation, all
right, and courage
A ribbon? Most folks deserve
a medal
As a farm boy, a university
dropout, a brown-water sailor, an ambulance driver, an offshore worker, a
factory hand, an LVN, a teacher, and a father I have never seen a participation
ribbon. If you, dear reader, were ever given one of those mythological constructs
I’d sure like to hear from you. And I do mean you, about the one you received,
not what you’ve read or heard.
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Each Altar is Minas Tirith
Each Altar is Minas Tirith
these days
A city of kings and of the
true King
Behind whose twice-barred
gates and golden doors
The faithful may find refuge
for a time
From here the King,
enthroned, rules over us
At his Table He gives us
seats of honor
And serves Himself to us as
food and truth
Even as dark armies swarm
outside
We are often told that we are
hopeless romantics
Oh, no
For we are hopeful romantics,
and will not yield
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
For Jack on his 16th Birthday
Music, Magic, and Father Brown
In the long ago I was reading
a book
(And doubtless thinking many
brilliant thoughts)
Sitting in my car outside Our
Lady’s Church
Waiting for some old-lady
meeting to end
And suddenly, silently, there
you were
A little boy standing at my
shoulder
Peering through the window,
and then you said
These thoughtful words: “You
look like Father Brown.”
And suddenly, silently, here
I am
Standing at your shoulder and
looking up
For now you are taller than I
– and that
Is in the nature of how
things should be
But a blessing now on your
birthday, you see
For you and Cate are always a
blessing to me!
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Of Course I Didn’t Worship at The Super Bowl
As a man who had better tend
to his soul
Of course I didn’t worship at
the Super Bowl
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Disney’s Macbeth
Upon the release of Joel Coen’s version
I want to see Macbeth
in Technicolor
Almost Disney-ish, in cheery
pastels,
With bright-lit halls and
sunny fields of flowers
And maybe Annette as Lady
Macbeth
And let Macbeth be a comely
youth
With muscular hands that
wield both sword and pen
An honest merry face that
smiles with ease
Sweet words and penitent Aves
on his lips
The world is well-lit ever
since the ark -
It is the human heart that
lurks in the dark
