Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Noah Sends out Another
Dove Today
Some other land, some other sea
-Cavafy, “The City”
If Noah were to release that dove today
It would fall along with the olive branch
Along with all hope, blasted out of the sky
Its bloody feathers fluttering to earth
Among refugees who haven’t the right papers
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Boxes are for
FedEx
You don’t want to hear about my boxes
I don’t much care much about your boxes
Boxes are for FedEx. And birthday gifts
Good Comrades check boxes;
poets create
Beauty among the chaos
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
“Hell in a Very
Small Place”
Note: Events in Kabul could make this column obsolete before
its publication, or even before it is finished.
There are only ten, maybe fifteen Americans – I am one of
them - who do not know how to evacuate from Kabul the thousands of Americans,
allies, and the many people now on a Taliban death list because they worked as receptionists
or cleaners or area supervisors for any of the many nations who had charities,
businesses, investments, or military services in Afghanistan.
A comparison is never exact; if it were it
would be the thing itself and not a comparison. That said, the airport in Kabul
appears to be a Dien Bien Phu, meeting the Bernard Fall standard of “Hell in a
very small place.”
The airport is a small area, surrounded
by an army of evil men and crowded with thousands of desperate civilians who
need lots of food, water, shelter, and protection. It is garrisoned by British,
American, Italian, French, Turkish and German soldiers who need lots of food,
water, ammunition, and the other necessities of war. The only way in or out is
by aircraft, and those can be downed on approach or takeoff even by light
weapons (which our government so thoughtfully provided to the wrong people).
The electricity and water can be cut at any time and the backups shelled, and
then the Taliban will have our people and our friends in a position that cannot
be held for more than a few hours.
A question is why the Taliban are
waiting. Are they secretly negotiating with London and Washington for huge
payoffs? Presumably they are also putting their armor and artillery (again, which
our government so thoughtfully gave them) into position along with assault
formations, possibly coordinated by efficient, ruthless Chinese Red Army
liaison officers.
But maybe the Chinese aren’t involved –
the fellows from the hills who were dismissed by our leaders as disorganized seventh-century
tribal warriors turned out to be pretty darned organized after all. Many of
them can’t read, write, or think critically, but they are excellent with
electronics and the best and latest weapons (and you paid for all that stuff).
By the way, when you get up tomorrow
morning and coax your old car’s engine into turning over so you can go to work,
think about all the Taliban swelling around Kabul in all those expensive Hummers
your work bought for them.
Why all this is happening is to me
unknown. I know only that a great many
young American soldiers and those of other countries have been left with a mess
made by our leader-class who know more about partying than they do about
history. While the tailored suits of Merovingians
and the tailored uniforms of courtier-generals are positioned for Bagdad-Bob
press briefings in D.C., our young enlisted women and men, some cranky old
NCOs, and maybe a grey-haired major or two long ago passed over for promotion
are in the dust in Kabul sorting out the mess. Their uniforms aren’t pretty,
what with the blood and dirt and heat, but maybe they won’t be written up for
being non-reg.
When this is all over there will be more medals and commendations
handed out along the halls of the Pentagon than will be awarded to real
soldiers.
But, hey, who needs to know history,
right? It’s one of those useless liberal arts. All we need to do is chant “Learn. To.
Code.” over
and over. Well,
we learned to code, all right, but the products of all that coding have been
given to the Taliban and their new Red Army pals.
What will happen this week in Kabul? And
who will be left behind?
Massacre of British Army in Afghanistan in 1842
(thoughtco.com)
The Second Anglo-Afghan War in the Late 1870s
(thoughtco.com)
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan | Summary & Facts |
Britannica
-30-
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Absent Friends and Failing Light
We all have lists of absent
friends
Who were with us one week
and Covid the next
With unfinished stories
and little jokes
We meant to tell each
other the next time we met
The very picture of
health, we say to ourselves
Shooting a few hoops (“Yeah,
I still got it!”)
Washing the pickup, coffee
after Mass
Merriment – but then a
note – in failing light
Life is shadowy, seen
through a dark, dark lens
We all have lists of absent
friends
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The Critics not
Taken
Everyone says we’re reading the poem all wrong -
“The Road not Taken” is about Edward Thomas
Joining the army or Robert Frost not
And why is one road less traveled and is that good?
Is it bad? And why is the wood yellow?
Who is prolonging the decision, and why?
Maybe the road not taken should be
Quoting it at every high school graduation
We’ve heard it so often that we want to say:
Just make a decision then go away!
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
A Laser Focus on
Screaming Deaths
Look upon my Works, ye Mighty, and despair
-Shelley, “Ozymandias”
Laser focus laser focus laser
Focus laser focus laser focus
Laser focus teens falling to their deaths
Laser focus escape for two thousand dollars
Laser focus or a promissory note
If the enemy overrun the airport
We’ll laser focus your refund back to you
With this laser focus degree of precision
Shredded body in the laser focus
Of the wheel well
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Floyd Makes a Bomb
Threat at the Library of Congress
No one imagines a bomber encountering
A congressman anywhere near a library
No one imagines Brother Floyd encountering
A dentist
Suspicious vehicle near Library of
Congress; US Capitol Police | khou.com
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
On the Occasion of Being Scanned by an
Electro-Mechanical Device
The room is softly lit,
like a Star Trek Set
Mostly pale, indirect
blues, occasional pinks
A large circle, like a
mechanical god
Appears to be a portal spinning
through time
DO NOT LOOK INTO THE RED
LIGHT
The machine slides me into
itself
And commands me in a
soothing plastic voice
“Take a deep breath and hold
it.”
[Pause]
DO
NOT LOOK INTO THE RED LIGHT
“Breathe normally.”
[Pause]
“Take a deep breath and
hold it.”
[Pause]
“Breath normally.”
DO NOT LOOK INTO THE RED
LIGHT
But breathe
Breathe
Lawrence
Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Signs not Found in High School Locker
Rooms
There
is no I in eye.
You
miss 100% of the shots you don’t take except in the “Hi, Bob!” thing, in which
case maybe you should.
When
the going gets tough, the tough think of logical alternatives.
We’re
Number Ten!
Through
these doors walk unhappy kids whose parents are re-living their youthful
disappointments through their children.
That
which does not kill you lowers your resistance to disease.
Pain
is just weakness traveling to a lifetime of bone and joint clinic visits.
Shoot
for the moon – if you miss you’ll fall screaming to your death.
Starving
children working in contract sweat shops to make licensed team gear aren’t
interested in your motivation.
And let’s
be real – failure is always an option.
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Ode on a Coffee
Urn
If Keats Took His Morning Coffee
at Hub City Diner in Lafayette, Louisiana
Thou stainless steel bride of the day’s pale dawn
Thou foster-child of all our morning hopes
Patient historian who writes upon
The pages of our lives optimistic tropes:
What die-cut label hangs about thy shape
Of morning blends or sometimes darker roasts
From Jamaica’s Blue Mountain, or some further scape
Perhaps above Colombia’s green coasts
What men or gods are these who at Hub City can say
“What wonderful coffee for beginning the day!”
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The Lone Ranger
Masks Again
When I was a boy I wore my Lone Ranger mask
I even wore my Lone Ranger mask to school
Where mean ol’ Miz Griggs made me take it off
But now I may (as opposed to “can”) wear my mask
Indeed, I must wear a mask, and so, ha!
Ya can’t make me take it off now, Miz Griggs!
I can wear my Lone Ranger mask, so boo-hoo!
Me and the Lone Ranger, we ride again!
Only…the problem is…I’m not in school
Rats
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
Random Thoughts about the First Day of School
For the past month there has
not been a newspaper, radio station, or television station in this great land
of saints and scholars that refrained from employing the cringe-making wheeze,
“School is gearing up.”
No, school is not gearing
up. It has never geared up. It will never gear up, except maybe in Cousin Les’ auto shop
class. Let us make our first lesson of
the Michaelmas term a caution against using tired metaphors.
Adverbs also obscure
meaning. There is no adverb less useful
than “actually.” After all, one cannot “unactually”
do something. And then there is
“absolutely,” a useless four-syllable construction meaning “yes.” Say “yes” to clear usage.
Back-to-school ads feature
adorable little kidlets with big grins modelling the cooler-than-cool new shirts
and skirts and jeans and sneaks, and maybe a notebook. The children in school ads never carry, oh,
you know, books. Have you ever seen a b-t-s
ad in which the kid was carrying a copy of The
Brothers Karamazov or The Road to
Magdalena or maybe a Jane Austen?
Nope, and you won’t see those books in the kid’s house, either; a big
ol’ television the size of Rhode Island is the usual home altar and cultural
center now. Who needs 2,000 years of Christian scholarship, music, and art when
everyone can now lapse into a fuzzy-eyed stasis, the
Lot’s-wife-as-a-pillar-of-salt thing, in front of the latest episode of Flip This Dancing House Cooking Show off the
Island of Machine Gun Fire and Dead Bodies?
Is there a Texas Education
Agency rule that school administrators must shave their heads and grow odd
tufts of hair on their chins?
Dress codes and professional
demeanor are issues that really annoy principals: slovenly clothes, weird hair,
gang signs, flip-flops, tattoos, cartoon tee shirts, tardiness, inappropriate
language – and that’s the faculty; the kids tend to do better.
Just a joke, guys, just a
joke.
Did you know that algebra is now
taught in junior high middle school?
Algebra is not in the Bible,
though. Jesus never said, “Solve for X.” Tell Mr. Romano that.
Mr. Randolph is an expert in
band shoes.
Parents, do you know that
your daughter can learn to weld in high school?
Do you know that your son can
escape the microwave bubble and learn real cookery in high school?
Kids, do you know that Julius Caesar and Macbeth are about American politics and layered with Christian teachings
about right and wrong?
Shakespeare is great fun, but
English teachers are borrrrrrrrrrrring.
When I was in school, back when
wearing a mask was for The Lone Ranger, we kids learned about telling time by
using construction paper and brads and crayons to construct a clock face on a paper
plate. I suppose now children print out
a picture of a Fit-Bit and hot-glue it to a take-out pizza box.
But busses / buses are still
yellow (and their wheels still go ‘round and ‘round), new pencils (especially cedar,
if you can find them) smell like your own childhood, the first day of school is
exciting, 6th-grade band concerts are painful to the ear but
symphonic to the soul, new clothes are nice, the first look at amoebae through
a microscope is to visit a new world, sophomores should be fitted with tracking
devices, the only real football is school football, your friendly librarian
will help you find the information you need, Robert Frost makes more sense than
Congress, seniors pretty much rule the universe, and voting in a school board
election remains a lonely experience.
The past few years have been
rough in spots, and you have had to power through them. I hope and pray that this
year the good old magic of back-to-school will stay with you through next May.
-30-
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The Mild Geese
The abbey geese, for reasons of their own
Waddled up from the pond and onto the lawn
To mingle with the habited brothers
After the midday Mass
Fr. R looked out, a bit cranky that day
And spoke with Benedictine clarity:
“White geese.”
“Black geese.”
“All geese.”
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The Bowre of
Blisse
Goodly
it was enclos’ed rownd about,
As
well their entered guests to keep within,
As
those unruly beasts to hold without;
Yet
was the fence thereof but weake and thin
-Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book II, Canto XII
While much of the world is bleeding and burnt
Democracy takes a summer holiday
Far away in Maryland’s gentle woods and hills
Where the screams of tortured children cannot be heard
Among the gardened and guarded streams and trees
Elderly men are guided in their play
By smiling minders gentle in their words
And ready with the proper remedies
While those who code are kept carefully near
To sweeten the words the old gentlemen hear
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Yet Another White Sahib
Dismisses the Dead
"This is not abandonment; this is not an
evacuation.”
-State Department Spokesman Ned Price, 12 August 2021
While Afghan heads, like American guarantees
Roll in the dust of Kandahar’s grim streets
Our diplomats demonstrate their expertise
Executing again their skillful retreats
An elegant man at a microphone
Unctuously soothing the doubtful press
Denies that our client state has been overthrown
In a futile game of colonial chess
The dead cannot argue what Ned Price might say -
It seems their blood has blotted his resume
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
A Single Tear from
a Child
“I respectfully return my ticket”
-Ivan in The Brothers Karamazov
Children
Are ill-prepared to fall into this world
Naked and cold and wet at birth, and then
Flung into a series of awkward situations
Many of them involving pain and fear
Children
Are ill-prepared to live within this world
Isolated from the stars and each other
Trying to fit mythologies in place
Maybe it’s that old Garden of Eden thing
Children
Are ill-prepared to leave this shadowy world
Unlike Ivan, though, they have kept their tickets
Respectfully
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Worm Tunneling Through a Time Hole
Flailing through time and wobbling back again
The Chinese navy rules five of seven seas
Ol’ Preacher on the watch-‘phone yells about sin
Father knows worstest in his cartoon tees
Failing through time and wobbling back again
The 1950s marshal rides in HD
America’s Dad is convicted of sin
Hey, sailor boy, buy me a Saigon tea
Falling through time and wobbling back again
Ol’ Preacher needs to tuck his shirttail in
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Red, Red Wasps
Some sing of red, red wine, but here I sing
Of red, red wasps, who do not sing of me
I loathe and fear them for their vicious sting -
I aerosol their nest, and then I flee!
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Abraham Lincoln
and Macbeth
After life’s fitful fever, he sleeps well
-Macbeth III.ii.23
To imagine a modern president
Having a favorite Shakespearean play
Is not to imagine a president at all
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
Does Your Dog Carry
its Hunting License?
Around dusk one day last week Astrid-the-Wonder-Dachshund
was struck during a scrap with a snake, leading to several days of pain and
grotesque swelling for the pup.
We immediately gave the dog a couple of eyedroppers of
liquid Benadryl, which we keep for that purpose, and after a rough night took
Astrid to Dr. Leah. With injections and take-home meds, the dog improved rapidly
and is back to her usual spoiled, demanding, insolent, dachshund self.
In the light of day I found a scrap of snake skin (Astrid’s
pal Luna-Dog is a mighty warrior, and takes no prisoners) and identified the
reptile as a copperhead, one of the most common of poisonous pit vipers.
I looked up copperheads on the InterGossip and learned
that “The copperhead is not a protected species in Texas and can be legally
collected with a hunting license” [Southern
Copperhead (A Guide to Snakes of Southeast Texas) ·iNaturalist].
Luna-Dog does not have a hunting license. I have one, but
I never thought it was necessary for killing an unprotected species whose bite
can be fatal to children and small animals, and in some circumstances to an
adult [Can a
Copperhead Snake Kill a Human? (snakesforpets.com)].
What committee of the ill-educated whose knowledge of
animals comes only from Disney cartoons decided that a hunting license is
necessary before protecting children and pets from a dangerous snake?
As the overworked, overtaxed, and underpaid boatman says
to Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons, “whoever makes the regulations
doesn’t row a boat.”
I had looked up the species of snake for my own safety’s
sake because the Wise Ones in Austin sometimes seem to care more for the
wellbeing of alligators and some deadly snakes than they do for our children. The
copperhead, happily, is not protected except for the necessity of a hunting
license and so I am free to congratulate Luna-Dog for killing the beast.
Another article on the InterGossip detailed ways of
live-trapping copperheads and other poisonous snakes so that they can be
relocated to the wild.
Yes, Friend Reader, I’m thinking the same thing as you. Saint
Matthew says that we shouldn’t call anyone a fool, but apparently there are
exceptions.
Recently some of our Austin Wise Ones avoided their
duties and fled to D. C., purportedly because they felt (hardly thought) that
the right to vote is endangered in Texas. Two of these Wise Ones then decided
to work courageously for Texas on the beaches of Portugal [Where
in the world are Texas Democrats Julie Johnson and Jessica González?
(dallasnews.com)] and [2 Texas
Democratic legislators are vacationing in Portugal after fleeing the state over
GOP elections bill: report (msn.com)].
And if that isn’t the good old fighting spirit of Texas,
I don’t know what is.
Perhaps while they are fighting the good fight in
Portugal for the rights of Texans they will also spare a thought for correcting
some of our fatally misguided game laws.
Ours, not Portugal’s.
-30-
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The Emperor’s New
Kafka
When an insect woke up one morning he found
Himself changed into a politician
And thus gatekeeper to Das Schloss, key clam
Through whom all arrival applications must pass
All shipping boxes to be checked for ticks
In a village that cannot be surveyed
Unescorted thinkers may not be seated
At corner tables in the Herrenhof
Many are desperate to be admitted
But few are desperate to be committed
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Wear Leather
Gloves While Working with Poetry
(There Might be Adverbs
and Snakes)
Much of being is chaos; we try to shape it
Into meaning, not artificial constructs
But the meaning that is, already is
But tumbled through the weeds and brokenness
Clearing aside the brush and adjectives
Burning all adverbs as the rubbish they are
And reconstructing the fallen away into
Fresh celebrations of transcendency
(Wear leather gloves from the Tractor Supply –
Among your ideas there might be snakes)
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Slogging Through
the Cantos
A feral howl of sustained malevolence
The souring stench of anti-Semitism
Random ideograms scattered about
Appropriating a touch of Chinese cool
Defining tainted chic at
Rapallo
Free verse scattered like post-war hopes shattered -
And did he take a splash of Mussolini
With his death-in-the-afternoon denials?
How awkward for those whose poetic sage
Was but a mad relic of a tattered age
(Death in the afternoon
was a fashionable cocktail)
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Darwinians
Infected with Cognitive Dissonance
Visit Gettysburg
on July 5th, 1863
They consider the news in several editions
Ignore the diagnoses of learned physicians
Number the dead at the local morticians
And conclude:
“They must have had pre-existing conditions”
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
What About that Kid with the Loaves and Fishes?
There is a boy here that hath five barley loaves, and
two
small fishes; but what are these among so many?
-St. John 6:9
About that kid with the
loaves and fishes –
Who was he? And what was
he doing there?
Maybe he was selling
snacks to the crowd
Or he was on his way to the
fields with his lunch
But his plan for the day
was interrupted
And he was chosen for a
moment in time
When bread and fish and
grass and rocks and sky
Were made for us much more
than they appeared
When his basket was made an
altar, and he -
Like most of us, was more
than he seemed to be
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
All Quests Lead to
Jerusalem
Veritas et Scientia
-University of San Diego
Some find infinity in sequences
Of numbers following in slow ascent
Elusive knowledge along a pilgrims’ track
Like rosaries that count ideas
Some find infinity in sequences
Of letters following in slow ascent
Elusive beauty along a pilgrims’ track
Like rosaries that count our dreams
And all of this is true, each quest is true
If the track is mapped to Jerusalem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Chuck Lorre is
Shakespeare with a Laptop
Chuck Lorre is Shakespeare with a laptop
Bill Prady is Wodehouse at a whiteboard
Their Pasadena is the Forest of Arden
Or Totleigh Towers at a city bus stop
They have built for us an unfallen world
Of Woosterian plots and app-crossed lovers
At play in the laboratories of the Lord
Where the magic works but the elevators don’t
Chuck and Bill’s stories are always well-wrought
And they end each one with a provocative thought
(Nothing rhymes with “l’envoi.”)
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
Your Career in
Television Repair
Once upon a time a television set offered three controls: (1)
an on – off switch, (2) a dial for
changing thirteen channels, (3) a dial for the volume, and maybe an add-on electrical
gadget for turning an outside antenna.
A television set worked for years. When it finally failed
you could take it to a radio and tv repair shop (yes!) where a man sitting at a
bench covered in tools and parts took the television apart, tested all the
vacuum tubes, and replaced those that no longer worked.
And Matt Dillon rode again.
Zenith, RCA, Emerson, Admiral, General Electric, Sylvania, Magnavox,
Philco, Sears, Westinghouse – all made in the USA and all their images were in
glorious black-and-white, sometimes an odd green-and-white.
In those quaint times manufacturers thought it their job to
manufacture and sell televisions and broadcasters thought it their job to send
signals paid for by advertisers. They didn’t expect the customer to do their
job for them.
In our progressive era televisions are made elsewhere, are
cheaper to purchase, and when they do work the images are so clear that you can
make out the pores on Gilligan’s nose. The signals are no longer free, though;
you must pay almost a car note every month in order to watch well-coiffed but
poorly clad, poorly-shaven, and ill-informed people babble inanities. And that’s
the network news.
The really strange part is that the manufacturers now expect
the purchaser to do most of the work in making the television function.
Manufacturers and service providers work hard only at avoiding
doing any work at all, sort of like those big-box stores in Beaumont. If you do
manage to connect with Tiffany or Bambi they first assure you of their good
wishes and then manage to ignore what you are telling them.
My less-than-a-year-old smart television set is little
interested in waking up with the news and weather. It now has its own dedicated
paper clip for (1) a soft reset, (2) a hard reset, or (3) a factory reset, only
I have to accomplish the resetting and reprogramming because the factory didn’t.
Look, I’m not the I.T. guy except by default. When I
suggested to Famous Name Brand via the InterGossip that they should repair or
replace the tv they didn’t build very well in the first place I received in
return this lengthy document:
i. When did you start noticing the issue?
ii. Does the issue happens on all inputs (ex. cable tv, live tv) and/or
streaming channels?
• If only on streaming apps what are the apps you checked that are
affected?
iii. How often does the issue occur?
iv. Are there other devices connected to the TV?
To help resolve the issue,
please follow the steps below and observe the unit.
1. Perform a system reset.
a. Select Settings.
b. Select System.
c. Select Power.
d. Select System reset.
e. Press OK on reset.
2. Disconnect all external devices (if there is) then perform a System
Update.
a. From the home screen, select Settings.
b. Select System.
c. Press OK on System Update.
d. Select Check Now.
3. Drain the power of the TV.
a. Turn the TV off and unplug from the outlet.
b. Press and hold the TV Power button located on the bottom
surface of the TV (underneath the [Name] logo) for 15 seconds while the TV is
unplugged.
c. Plug it back in and turn the TV on again.
d. Check if the problem still persists.
4. Perform a factory reset. Please take note that this resets the TV to
its factory default and clears the [Name] account in the TV.
a. From the Home screen, go to Settings.
b. Select System.
c. Select Advanced System Settings.
d. Select Factory Reset.
e. Select Factory Reset Everything.
f. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the reset.
g. Set up the TV again and check if the problem still persists.
Please let us know if the issue
still occurs even after performing all the steps.
We're looking forward to your response.
Thank you!
[Jazzika]
Customer Support Team
Customer Support Team - that’s right down there with “your
call is important to us.”
When I replied to Customer Support Team that all this stuff
was pretty much my morning routine already, the only reply from [Mountain Rose]
was a repeat of all the (stuff) above.
Someday some clever young American entrepreneur is going to
design, build, and sell a television set with three or maybe four controls.
When he or she does, I’m going to buy it.
Until then, Communist China wins.
-30-
Lawrence
Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Enter Orlando – or you - with a Paper
…these trees shall be my
books
And in their barks my thoughts I’ll
character
-Orlando, As
You Like It, III.ii.5-6
To
write a poem and send it to the world
Is not
unlike leaving it in a tree
For
Rosalind, your Rosalind, to find
(Even
at the risk of being scorned as an acorn)
Putting
it out there can be dangerous
Art cannot
be art unless it is shared
And Rosalind,
your Rosalind, might not like it
(And
then there’s that thing about a fallen acorn)
Oh, take
the risk: for Rosalind, your Rosalind
Probably won’t conclude that you’re an
acorn
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
To Always be Splitting Infinitives
Those who neither know nor care
[about split infinitives]…are a happy folk…
-Fowler’s Modern English Usage,
1926
I seem to always be
Splitting infinitives
And between you and me
These are definitives
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
In the Season of
the Perseids
Most people find beauty in everything:
An old Peterson’s pipe, crickets, Irish coins
Fire trucks, fountain pens, a favourite old book
Cattails growing in ditches along the road
Short strings of words that breathe and sigh as songs
Sunflowers fainting in the afternoon
A treefrog pulsing on the windowpane
Ladybugs drowsing on a tomato leaf
Even so, how hard it is to feel beauty
In late July’s wearying, withering heat
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Paper Sacks I have Known – 2
Like a block of marble
waiting to be carved
A paper sack is art
waiting to be made
Because after Mom puts the
groceries away
The empty sack is full of
possibilities:
A royal crown with
construction-paper jewels
A Robin Hood hat if you
fold it just right
A Halloween mask for a
scary trick-or-treat
(Smell my feet; give me
something good to eat!)
A boat
A puppet
A pinata
A brave knight’s armor
A cat toy
A three-year-old-daughter
toy
A pony express rider’s
mail pouch
A kite (I could never make
mine fly)
A book cover without adverts
A canvas for crayon art
A luminaria
A matte to be cut out,
crayoned on, and framed
And after your art is sent
into the world
That tuckered-out sack,
that sleepy little sack
Is tucked into bed in the
warm garden soil
To awaken in the spring as
flowers for you!
Childhood - no batteries
or programming required
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Paper Sacks I have Known - 1
When I was a lad I was a
sack boy at Mixson’s
I stacked and sacked
coffee and corn and beans
To carry out to cars along
the street
In a little town that no
longer exists
Sacks in three sizes were
my tools of trade:
The little ones for Papa’s
cigarettes
The mediums for tonight’s
milk and bread
The big ‘uns for the
Saturday in-towns
Mixson’s is closed, as is
my little town
And paper sacks, too, just
cannot be found
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Cardiac Clinic Consulting
Room
One’s bubble goes off-bubble a few degrees
For now there is nothing to do but sit and wait
No longer in control of anything
“Is there in your family any history of…?”
Pleasant young people in scrubs come and go
With papers and charts and machines that buzz
And in between the book is open but unread
While silent morning light louvres across the walls
The doctor enters with paperwork and optimism:
There are still possibilities in life
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Abject Horror in the
Microwave
There are few crimes more likely to drive a man
A man, a sensitive man, a thinking man
To existential despair
Than the foul stench of cooking broccoli
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Pre-Existing
Conditions
The topic of trust came up the other day when one of the prisoners I visit each week remarked on the challenge of knowing how to find reliable
information about the Virus-of-Many-Names.
Trust is a big deal – after all, Jesus was murdered
because a provincial governor believed gossip. And it may be that some governors
still fail to think critically.
When I was a small boy I did not know that the key to a
car or pickup was removable. I understood that the key was a part of the magic
that made the engine go, but I thought it was a fixed part of the vehicle, like
the starter switch on the floor and the gearshift on the steering column.
I was surprised when in a movie at the Palace Theatre of
happy memory I saw a driver park his car and remove the key, and I asked my
parents about that curious behavior.
My father explained that in cities people stole things
from each other and the character in the movie removed his key so that wouldn’t
happen.
When some years later my parents decided that locking the
house when they were gone had become a necessity, they had to look for the door
keys. That was also about the time they began pocketing the key to the pickup
truck.
The trust was broken.
When later in life I had occasion to visit London with my
mother and daughter we noticed that because of the compactness of so many shops
young mothers often left their babies in prams at the door, along with the occasional
dog. This was surprising, and especially troubling to my mother, who asked
someone about that. A nice lady assured her that the children were in no danger
because everyone who walked by was as a matter of routine looking at each baby
to see that all was well.
We observed for a few minutes, and yes, that was exactly
what happened – everyone walking along – teenagers, men in overalls, men in
suits, rough-looking lads with cigarettes and attitudes, women dressed for
business, shop girls, hippie chicks – gave each child a visual check while
passing.
Which is the way it’s supposed to be.
This is no longer a practice in London; indeed, children everywhere
are the targets of knifings and shootings and abductions. When we read of a
child being shot because one group of idiots chooses to shoot at another group,
the topic of trust is far beyond car keys.
Which is not the way it’s supposed to be.
As for the question of the Virus-of-Many-Names, my
response, as always, is that the best source of knowledge is the MD or NP
sitting across from you in a consulting room.
“I saw a doctor on tv, and she said…” won’t do.
“I saw a doctor on the news, and he said…” won’t do.
“I read on a reliable site on the InterGossip that…” won’t
do.
“My buddy said that his doctor said…” won’t do.
“My favorite guy on the Hamster Network said…” won’t do.
“All my friends at work said…” won’t do.
“My cousin in Houston who almost finished nurses’ aide
school said…” won’t do.
What will do is the MD or NP whom you know and who knows
you. And then you must put on grown-up thinking skills – not feelings or trends
or moods - and make an adult decision about what’s right, not for you but for
MeeMaw, babies, children, and other vulnerable people around you.
Sometimes you get the idea that there are among us some
who, if they were transported back in time to July 5th, 1863 to see
the 50,000+ dead on the fields around Gettysburg, would dismiss all those young
men with, “Well, they must have had pre-existing conditions.”
-30-
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Too Much Coffee Can Cause Your Brain to Shrink
(Hey, it was on the InterGossip; it must
be true)
Coffee causes your heart
to beat too fast
Coffee causes your heart
to beat too slow
Coffee causes your heart
to beat just right
Coffee alters your DNA and
your mind
No, it doesn’t!
Yes, it does!
Doctors say…!
Studies show…!
Say yes, say no, say so,
whaddaya know?
Now pour me another cuppa that
joe!
