Saturday, December 14, 2024

From the Saint Crispin’s Day Speech in HENRY V According to the State of Texas

Lawrence Hall, HSG

mhall46184@aol.com


From the Saint Crispin’s Day Speech in Henry V According to the State of Texas

 

We

 

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TITLE 19

EDUCATION

PART 2

TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY

CHAPTER 110

TEXAS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS AND READING

SUBCHAPTER C

HIGH SCHOOL

RULE §110.39

English Language Arts and Reading, English IV (One Credit), Adopted 2017

 


(a) few, General requirements. Students shall be awarded one credit for successful completion of this course.

(b) Introduction. we

  (1) The English language arts happy and reading Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) embody the interconnected nature of listening, speaking, few,reading, writing, and thinking through the seven integrated strands of developing and sustaining foundational language we skills; comprehension; response; multiple genres; author's purpose and craft; composition; and inquiry and research. band The strands of focus on academic oracy (proficiency in oral expression and comprehension), authentic reading, and reflective writing to brothers; ensure a literate Texas. The strands are integrated and progressive with students continuing to develop knowledge and skills For with increased complexity and nuance in order to think critically and adapt to the ever-evolving nature of language and he literacy.

  (2) The seven strands of the essential knowledge and skills for English language arts to-day and reading are intended to be integrated for instructional purposes and are recursive in nature. Strands include the four that domains of language (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and their application in order to accelerate the acquisition sheds of language skills so that students develop high levels of social and academic language proficiency. Although some his strands may require more instructional time, each strand is of equal value, may be presented in any order, and should be blood integrated throughout the year. Additionally, students should engage in academic conversations, write, read, and be with read to on a daily basis with opportunities for cross-curricular content and student choice. me

Shall   (3) Text complexity increases with challenging vocabulary, sophisticated sentence structures, nuanced text features, be cognitively demanding content, and subtle relationships among ideas (Texas Education Agency, STAAR Performance my Level Descriptors, 2013). As skills and knowledge are obtained in each of the seven strands, students will continue to apply brother; earlier standards with greater depth to increasingly complex texts in multiple genres as they become self-directed, critical be learners who work collaboratively while continuously using metacognitive skills. he

  (4) ne’er English language learners (ELLs) are expected to meet standards in a second language; however, their proficiency so in English influences the ability to meet these standards. To demonstrate this knowledge throughout the stages of English vile, language acquisition, comprehension of text requires additional scaffolds such as adapted text, translations, native This language support, cognates, summaries, pictures, realia, glossaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, and other modes of day comprehensible input. ELLs can and should be encouraged to use knowledge of their first language to enhance vocabulary shall gentle development; vocabulary needs to be in the context of connected discourse so that it is meaningful. Strategic his use of the student's first language is important to ensure linguistic, affective, cognitive, and academic development in English. condition:

  (5) Current research stresses the importance of effectively integrating second language And acquisition with quality content area education in order to ensure that ELLs acquire social and academic language proficiency gentlemen in English, learn the knowledge and skills, and reach their full academic potential. Instruction must be linguistically now accommodated in accordance with the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) and the student's English language a-bed proficiency levels to ensure the mastery of knowledge and skills in the required curriculum is accessible. For a further In understanding of second language acquisition needs, refer to the ELPS and proficiency-level descriptors adopted in England Shall Chapter 74, Subchapter A, of this title (relating to Required Curriculum).

  (6) Oral language think proficiency holds a pivotal role in school success; verbal engagement must be maximized across grade levels (Kinsella, themselves 2010). Accursed In order for they students to become thinkers and proficient speakers in science, social studies, mathematics, fine arts, language arts and reading, were and career and technical education, they must have multiple opportunities to practice and apply the were academic language not of each discipline (Fisher, Frey, & Rothenberg, 2008).

  (7) Statements that contain the word "including" reference content here, that must be mastered, while those containing the phrase "such as" are intended as possible illustrative examples. And

Hold (c) Knowledge and skills.

  (1) Developing and their sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, discussion, and thinking--oral language. The student develops oral manhoods language through listening, speaking, and discussion. The student is expected to: cheap

    (A) engage in meaningful and respectful discourse when evaluating the clarity whiles and coherence of a speaker's message and critiquing the impact of a speaker's use of diction, syntax, and rhetorical strategies; any

    (B) follow and give speaks complex instructions, clarify meaning by asking pertinent questions, and respond appropriately;

    (C) formulate sound arguments and present using That elements of classical speeches such as introduction, first and second transitions, body, conclusion, the art of persuasion, fought rhetorical devices, employing eye contact, speaking rate such as pauses for effect, volume, enunciation, purposeful with gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively; and

    (D) participate us collaboratively, offering ideas or judgments that are purposeful in moving the team toward goals, asking relevant and upon insightful questions, tolerating a range of positions and ambiguity in decision making, and evaluating the work of the group based on agreed-upon criteria.

  (2) Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--vocabulary. The student uses newly acquired vocabulary expressively. The student is expected to:

    (A) use print or digital resources to clarify and validate Saint Crispin’s Day understanding of multiple meanings of advanced vocabulary;

    (B) analyze context to draw conclusions about nuanced meanings such as in imagery; and

    (C) determine the meaning of foreign words or phrases used frequently in English such as ad nauseum, in loco parentis, laissez-faire, and caveat emptor.

  (3) Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--self-sustained reading. The student reads grade-appropriate texts independently. The student is expected to self-select text and read independently for a sustained period of time.

  (4) Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts. The student is expected to:

    (A) establish purpose for reading assigned and self-selected texts;

    (B) generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding and gain information;

    (C) make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures;

    (D) create mental images to deepen understanding;

    (E) make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society;

    (F) make inferences and use evidence to support understanding;

    (G) evaluate details read to analyze key ideas;

    (H) synthesize information from a variety of text types to create new understanding; and

    (I) monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background knowledge, asking questions, annotating, and using outside sources when understanding breaks down.

  (5) Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed. The student is expected to:

    (A) describe personal connections to a variety of sources, including self-selected texts;

    (B) write responses that demonstrate analysis of texts, including comparing texts within and across genres;

    (C) use text evidence and original commentary to support an evaluative response;

    (D) paraphrase and summarize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order;

    (E) interact with sources in meaningful ways such as notetaking, annotating, freewriting, or illustrating;

    (F) respond using acquired content and academic vocabulary as appropriate;

    (G) discuss and write about the explicit and implicit meanings of text;

    (H) respond orally or in writing with appropriate register and purposeful vocabulary, tone, and voice;

    (I) reflect on and adjust responses when valid evidence warrants; and

Cont'd...

The Gates of Hell & Ur F8v Bible Slogan Tee - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Gates of Hell & Ur F8v Bible Slogan Tee

 

A friend did not leave the church of his youth -

Like a foundering ship it slipped beneath the waves

Sloshings of fashions, shopping-mall usages

And dangling Peavey speakers listing to port

 

There were not enough bongos and guitars

To keep everyone afloat in a theological storm

A committee sold off the parking lot

There’s a day care now in the parish hall

 

He signed off his articles for the drowsy watch

And took to dark baptismal waters in despair

Friday, December 13, 2024

IT'S THE JEWISH SPACE LASERS! - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

IT’S THE JEWISH SPACE LASERS! 

THE JEWISH SPACE LASERS!

 

New Jerseyans threaten to shoot down unidentified drones amid mystery sightings | Fox News

 

“This planet shows no signs of intelligent life, Captain.”

 

-as Mr. Spock might say

 

 

Look at them sparkledy lights all up in the skies!

We’re being bombed by the Iranians!

They’re enemy drones, launched by Chinese spies!

No, they’re atom-powered Pomeranians!

 

QAnon is our infalib…inffal…perfect source of news -

We’re to get out our guns and shoot in the air

Whatever’s happening it’s the fault of them Jews

(But first let us pause for a moment of prayer)

 

Dear Lord, in your mercy, on this night so still

Just please send us someone or something to kill

 

                                                Amen

 

Thursday, December 12, 2024

The Cold Kept Me in Today - short poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Cold Kept Me in Today

 

The cold kept me in today

With a book, my dog, and the fire

The slanting sun, each mote-dusted ray –

It was all very like dear Tolkien’s Shire

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

I Met a Man in Saint Elizabeth's Hospital Parking Lot - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

I Met a Man in Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital Parking Lot

 

He looked at my brand-new knock-off boonie hat

Pointed to himself, and said “1970”

He rattled on about “Come and Take It” flags

And the “stupid mother******s” who fly them

 

“The mother****ing VC wanted to do that

And so I shot them d**n’ mother******s”

His wife was waiting for him, impatiently

Sadly, sadly, heard-it-all-before-ly

 

For he had been no closer to Viet-Nam

Than to some John Wayne movie

Monday, December 9, 2024

The Holy Eucharist and Then Apple Butter - short poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Holy Eucharist and Then Apple Butter

 

Church is where someone you don’t even know

Gives you a jar of homemade apple butter

And wishes you a happy Christmas

Sunday, December 8, 2024

Somewhere in Syria There is a You - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Somewhere in Syria There is a You

 

Somewhere in Syria there is a you

Pondering all the existential questions:

What is the meaning of life? Is God real?

Can you get to your job without getting shot?

 

Your notebooks were hidden from the old regime

Your notebooks are now hidden from the new

Is there enough food for today, for tomorrow -

Rough men with guns are beating on your door

 

Somewhere in Syria there is a you

In the next few seconds – what will you do?

Saturday, December 7, 2024

The Bond Girls are Grannies Now - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Bond Girls are Grannies Now

 

James Bond’s girlfriends are mostly grannies now

Sweatpants and sneaks instead of bikinis

The school run with the grandchildren, the grocery store

Volunteering at the public library

 

If one of them mentions she once kissed Roger Moore

No one knows who he was – the Lone Ranger, maybe?

Adolescent hippie-color fantasies

Budgeting for the grandchildren’s new shoes

 

Didn’t you used to be somebody?

Well, yes, and you?

The United States Postal Service is Holding my Mail Hostage in Exchange for my Credit Card Number

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The United States Postal Service is Holding my Mail Hostage

in Exchange for my Credit Card Number

 

The Postal Service claims that my zip code is not my zip code

They want confirmation and three cents to redeliver

They want my credit card number for those three cents

As if anyone can trust the USPS

 

They can’t even get mail delivery right:

They place other people’s letters in my mailbox

And the packages I receive have often been penetrated

By busy little postal workers’ hands

 

And for this they want my credit card

As the old cliché says, what could possibly go wrong?

Thursday, December 5, 2024

Show Me Who You Read - Poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Show Me Who You Read

 

Show me who you read

 

You love Thoreau’s hut on Walden Pond

You fly with Wendy and Peter to Neverland

You pet Mary Oliver’s marvelous dogs

And tell Yevtushenko not to be so full of himself

 

Show me who you read

 

You stand at an angle with Cavafy

You ask Frankl how he found meaning after all

You gaze into Tolkien’s palantir

And at bedtime say good night to the moon

 

Show me who you read

 

But I already know

 

You read by the light of a dreaming star

And everyone loves the starlight you are

The French Government Collapses - a wheeze

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The French Government Collapses

 

4 December 2024

 

How can a government possibly collapse -

Did the National Assembly suffer a fainting spell?

Did the cabinet consume poisoned croissants

Or discover they’d been deceived by a California wine?

 

Perhaps a statue of Saint Joan of Arc

Newly gowned in haute couture from Wal-Mart

Lies prostrate in the Champs Elysee

Next to a made-in-China guillotine

 

How can a government have worked all in vain –

Did everyone in office go in Seine?

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Old Mr. 'Possum and the Moon - poem

 Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Old Mr. Possum and the Moon

 

Old Mr. ‘Possum is a garbageman

Who quietly works his appointed nightly rounds

Unappreciated as he tidies this

And cleans up that, all without any fuss

 

The other animals don’t seem to like him much

For his wobbling, waddling walk, his untidiness

His pointy nose, his all-draggledy tail

And his awkward shape like a loaf of oaf

 

But when he lifts his eyes to the queen of the skies

He knows that to her he is a knight in disguise

Another Argument Against the Death Penalty - short poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Another Argument Against the Death Penalty

 

Each one of us is a murderer

To someone else whose memory is long

Sunday, December 1, 2024

Ordinary Time and Advent: as a Diptych or a Dipstick or Something

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

 

Ordinary Time and Advent: as a Diptych or a Dipstick or Something

 

I. The Last Day in Ordinary Time

 

Time is not at all ordinary, of course

It is an ordinal of flowing days

Whose current in its journey swims among

The well-marked seasons of sacred observances

 

Advent into and through Christmas and its promise

Lent into and through Easter and its fulfillment

Cycles of seasons, penance, and merry feasts

Each as a step in the great dance of Creation

 

All seasons echo God’s eternal rhyme

Blessing our senses with His created time

 

 

II. This is When You Light That First Candle Against Darkness

 

Ordinary Time is now as summer’s lost leaves

Autumn has fallen into fogs and frosts

Pale sunshine flickers from shallow angles all day

Marking out the road to Bethlehem

 

Before the Altar in the parish church

A wreath is set with four candles to light

The first one today and a second next week

A third, a fourth, and then at last the Stable

 

The Stable at last, where the universe sings

The happy Desire of all our wanderings

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

The Mostest Magicalist Familiestest Christmas Ever - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Mostest Magicalist Familiestest Christmas Ever

 

She will make this the most magical family Christmas ever

With the perfect tree

The perfect gifts

The perfect table

The perfect meal

The perfect ambience

The perfect decorations

 

A memory worthy of inclusion in a Hallmark movie

She will make this the most magical family Christmas ever

 

No matter how many children she reduces to tears for it

Sunday, November 24, 2024

Algebra is not in the Bible - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Algebra is not in the Bible

 

Jesus never said unto us, “Solve for X”

If algebra were real, the apostolic succession

Of bishops would have told us about it

(After 2,000 years of committee meetings)

 

I miss Bob Newhart

Saturday, November 23, 2024

You are Civilization's Quiet Contemplative - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

You are Civilization’s Quiet Contemplative

 

 

I send Love’s name into the world with wings

 

-Thomas Merton, “A Psalm”

 

 

Into your pocket you slip a volume of verse

To feel and smell and breathe the words of others

And paper and pen are ready to your hand

To limn an errant dream as it whispers by

 

You take a roadside turning known only to you

Recusing yourself from busy-ness for awhile

To sigh upon a grassy bank and simply be

And rescue civilization from itself

 

With words you embrace the entirety of life

(But don’t forget your British Army Knife)

Still Listening to the Warm - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Still Listening to the Warm

 

Rod McKuen was the coolest of the cool

And now he’s not

Which makes him warmer than ever

On the pencil-marked pages of our youth

 

“Listen to the Warm” is still good advice

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Politics and the Public Square - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Politics and the Public Square

 

Oh, yes, we know about the public square -

That’s where the Enlightenment works the guillotine

That’s where sensitive progressives murder Jews

And constitutionalists rubbish the Constitution

 

Oh, yes, we know about the public square -

That’s where those who kiss dictators deny the King

That’s where individualists join in mobs

And the last few children are hunted down and killed

 

Oh, yes, we know about the public square –

Where the screams of the dying poison the air

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

I'm Gonna Tell Santa Claus on You! - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

I’m Gonna Tell Santa Claus on You!

 

Nora and Theo

 

The children scamper across my grassy lawn

And bring me wiggly worms to identify

Big acorns to admire, lemons fallen weeks before

Sticks and leaves, pinecones, flowers, and bits of bark

 

They lose their shoes and socks beneath the oak

They drink from the water hose and don’t turn it off

They chase the dog and the dog chases them

They shriek out joyfully because they can

 

I growl that if I mow another bit of brick

I’m gonna tell ol’ Santa Claus on them

 

They laugh at me, and bring me another worm

When She Sold Her Old Ford Mustang - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

When She Sold Her Old Ford Mustang

 

Y’all need some more coffee? I got some fresh

 

That car was my dream; had it since I was twenty

When I got married it was our honeymoon ride

When I got divorced it was all I had

After me and my baby got away from the beatings

 

Your breakfast okay? We got a new cook

 

We sometimes had to live in it, y’know?

So like I had to tell my son I’m selling it

I promised it to him for his graduation

That car was our life. But it ain’t safe

 

Did I tell you we got a new cook? He’s pretty good

 

I’m been waitin’ tables in this old café for years

Watchin’ the world go by on th’ highway

Schrodinger's Turtle - rhyming doggerel

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Schrodinger’s Turtle

 

Don’t let a quantum mechanic work on your car

 

A cat on a fence post probably got there himself

And may be observed to be alive or dead

A turtle in a box is not on a shelf

“And I don’t know why,” the scientist said

 

“Meow,” the poor little cat cried out in dread

Dump Metaphors into the Mixmaster and Stir-Whir-into-a-Blur - poem (of a sort)

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Dump ‘Em into the Mixmaster and Stir-Whir-into-a-Blur

 

Americans

iconic

cannot

icon

write

bombshell

without

axe to grind

employing

the knives are out

tiresome

gunning for

old

fwiw

metaphors

business-as-usual

 

 

Battleground states

Eye-watering

scores to settle

Cringe

Bloodthirsty

Guru

Meltdown

Woke

Wardrobe malfunction

Green light

Eviscerate

Breaks cover

Breaks silence

Jaw-dropping

 

Dump ‘em into the magical metaphorical Mixmaster® and stir, stir, whirrrrr…

The Gates of Kiev are Smoke-Poisoned Skies - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Gates of Kiev are Smoke-Poisoned Skies

 

The Gates of Kiev are now only the skies

Drone-battered-bombed by the Siloviki

Against the peace of churches and sunflower fields

Workers and scholars and pastoral scenes

 

The Gates of Kiev once opened to all the world

Musicians, artists, builders, priests, and poets

Departed as missionaries to every land

Civilization from the Kievan Rus’

 

But now

 

The Gates of Kiev are smoke-poisoned skies

Through which foul Satan falls upon Slavic lands

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Poet, Just Look at You - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Poet, Just Look at You

 

Just look at you, wrestling with your ideas

Perceiving beauty among the burning ruins

Gently shaping the sorrows of the day

Into comfort

 

Just look at you, wrestling with your words

Heart and mind in position of function

Boldly shaping the confusions of the day

Into meaning

 

Just look at you, putting your readers first –

You are good

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Who Shares Your Desk? - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Who Shares Your Desk?

 

Hundreds of friends share my desk with me

Leaving coffee and wine and tobacco stains

All over the place, their thoughts cluttering my mind

Dreams and possibilities for my heart

 

Yevtushenko and his Silver Age poets

More Russian poets

Shakespeare in a worn college omnibus

Larry McMurtry

          (One must understood that in Texas Lonesome Dove is a holy text)

The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse

The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse

The Oxford Book of Christian Verse

The Oxford Book of Seventeenth Century Verse

Leonard Cohen and his famous blue raincoat

Cavafy at an oblique angle to the universe

Wordsworth and Dorothy out for a walk

Plath

Keats

Sondheim

Montale

Hopkins

The Oxford Book of English Verse, the 1939 Q Edition

          (Not that Q!)

The Oxford Book of English Verse, the 1999 Ricks Edition

Pasternak

Lewis

Frankl

The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse

Kafka

Herrick

Milosz

Virgil

Tennyson

Wavell and his manly flowers

Claude McKay

300 Tang poets (they do seem to drink a lot)

Mary Oliver and all her doggies

 

So there they are, in untidy rows and piles

          (The Tang poets simply will not behave)

They are patient with my slovenliness

Pens, screwdrivers, a Rosary, two light bulbs

          (I don’t know why)

A thermometer from my grandparents’ house

 

A 1962 Missale Romano and a toy fire truck

An Orthodox ikon from Tod of happy memory

A Tupperware coffee cup they don’t make anymore

Spare spectacles for seeing what comes next

 

Hundred of friends who ask the best of me

And who don’t mind my rows and piles of words

They talk to me, and I ask their advice

I pray that I am not a disappointment to them

 

Or to you

Monday, November 11, 2024

Which Karamazov are You? - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Which Karamazov are You?

 

Wise Dostoyevksy

Writes with holy words the mysteries  

Of the Russian soul

Which Karamazov are You? - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Which Karamazov are You?

 

Wise Dostoyevksy

Writes with holy words the mysteries  

Of the Russian soul

Saturday, November 9, 2024

For Remembrance Day / Veterans' Day: An Old G.I. Belt Buckle - Poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

An Old G.I. Belt Buckle

 

 

For Storekeeper Third Class Thomas of Knoxville, Tennessee

 

“What he believed, he did.”

 

-Laurence Binyon

 

“In Memory of George Calderon”

 

 

An old belt buckle in the back of a shelf

Greening brass on a belt now much too short

Maybe the same one I wore on the Vam Co Tay

Scattered thoughts shift to Thomas; I don’t know why

 

A good man with a clipboard and a fifty-cal

Sitting on the edge of a bunk feeding a child

Spooning c-rats and making the kid laugh

“One for meeee…and one for youuuu!”

 

I wonder whatever happened to good ‘ol Thomas

I wonder whatever happened to the child

 

I wonder whatever happened to all of us

Friday, November 8, 2024

Atheist Chaplains Forging Mixed Metaphors - poem (of a sort)

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Atheist Chaplains Forging Mixed Metaphors

 

“Atheist chaplains are forging a new path in a changing world”

 

-CNN 7 November 2024

 

One seldom thinks of chaplains at a forge

Work-weary, work-stained from hours of smoke and sweat

With mighty hammer strokes bending hot iron

To the will of the artisan in useful things

 

Some writers forge nothing but metaphors tired

From overuse, and mixed as verbal soup

In music, art, literature, and life paths can be

 

Cleared

Paved

Traveled

Surveyed

explored

Followed

Noted

Marked

Mapped

Found

 

But it is not in the nature of paths to be forged

 

Atheist chaplains and metaphor soup

Are nothing more than an ouroborosian loop

 

(Look upon this fresh metaphor and neologism

And despair)

Monday, November 4, 2024

Election Night 2024: Dry Bones - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Election Night 2024: Dry Bones

 

 

“All we are, basically, are monkeys with car keys”

 

-Grandma Woody in Northern Exposure, “Animals R Us,” 1991

 

 

An early dusk falls under clouds from the Gulf

Yellow houselights wink on as daylight winks off

Supper in greasy bags from fast-fooderies

That everyone argues they can’t afford

 

Then like the lozenge in A Space Odyssey

A screen appears and dominates all

And family groupings center themselves around it

In excited cavortings before the images

 

Of brightly-colored cultic election scores

As fists swinging dry bones crush enemy skulls

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Nora, Theo, and Pushkin-the-Rescue-Cat - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Nora, Theo, and Pushkin-the-Rescue-Cat

 

After rough adventures Pushkin has found his way home

The children celebrate with him his happy new life

By crowning their purring prince with vines and flowers

And he is pleased to accept their adoration and love

 

Too soon children must leave their merriments

And rebuild civilization among the wreckages

In a time of hatreds and ideologies

When all seem to have forgotten the way to Jerusalem

 

And so for now

 

May children enjoy the springtime of their lives

For they (and the cat) remind us of our appointed path

Friday, November 1, 2024

Porta Coeli - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Porta Coeli

 

“I pray you, sir, remember the porter”

 

-Macbeth II.iii.20ff

 

We are all porters; we open doors for others

Sometimes we open them for ourselves

If we close a door, it is against the rain and cold

And not against each other

 

(Yes, in Macbeth the Porter is drunk and inept, and when he says “remember the porter” he is asking for a tip in spite of his incompetence. I put the line in anyway because we are all porters.)