Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Death of a Country Gentlemouse
In a golden cloak and a white waistcoat
Reposes an elegant little field mouse
Neatly laid out for the visitation
Attended not by aunts now, but by ants
Luna-Dog, separated from her kill
Poses prayerfully at the back-door screen
Or predatorily, as it might be, before
With work-gloved hands the mouse is bade farewell
Tossed respectfully over the garden fence
In a golden cloak and a white waistcoat
Monday, August 15, 2016
Sunday, August 14, 2016
She Loves You, Cough, Cough, Cough - column, 8.14.2016
Mack Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
She Loves You, Cough, Cough, Cough
A Hard Day’s Night was on Channel Siberia last week, and its charming innocence plays better now than it did in 1964. The plot, as in any musical, is but a weak thread for holding the songs together, and the Beatles could neither sing nor act, which, like an amateur musical in the parish hall, is part of the fun – all this was before they began taking themselves seriously.
The surprising strength of A Hard Day’s Night is its cinematography. The producers apparently could not afford color film, and so employed the then-unfashionable but excellent black-and-white stock which produced – and has maintained for over fifty years – crisp, clean, bright images which hit all the registers of light and dark. Except for the high-end technologies such as Technicolor, color film from the 1960s has since deteriorated, one might almost say soured, into fuzzy garish tones on the yellow end of the spectrum.
Many of the sequences are set outdoors, free of sets and CGI, and show post-war London, poor but tidy, with the ruins of bombed-out blocks still visible. The trains, busses, and taxis on screen were real, and are gone now, so the movie is a period piece about an era when people took the train to work and even the poorest man managed a much-cleaned and much-patched coat and tie for public wear instead of the current serf-livery of knee-pants and cartoon tees and plastic ball caps.
Most of the g-rated film is good-natured buffoonery, but the middle of the film changes mood for about fifteen quiet minutes of reflection as Ringo skips a rehearsal in order to take a solitary stroll along the streets and alongside a canal with his Pentax. He encounters all sort of people simply being themselves at work and play. There is little dialogue, and many of the images, as stills, would be works of art in themselves.
Because of the accidents of a low budget, monochrome, good humor, respect for the audience, a lack of artistic pretension, and an unselfconscious amateurishness in most of those in the picture, A Hard Day’s Night still has a youthful spring in its metaphorical step.
And let The People say “iconic.”
One of the recurring sub-themes in the film is the matter our lads fleeing hordes of screaming teenyboppers in beehive hairdos, reflecting the reality of the Beatles’ popularity in the 1960s. In contrast, there is a recent narrative of one of the surviving Beatles arriving at a post-awards show party for 2016’s cooler-than-cool, only to be turned away. Either no one knew who he was, or didn’t care.
1964’s A-list is still welcome at Luby’s Cafeteria.
And let The People sing “Yesterday.”
-30-
Mhall46184@aol.com
She Loves You, Cough, Cough, Cough
A Hard Day’s Night was on Channel Siberia last week, and its charming innocence plays better now than it did in 1964. The plot, as in any musical, is but a weak thread for holding the songs together, and the Beatles could neither sing nor act, which, like an amateur musical in the parish hall, is part of the fun – all this was before they began taking themselves seriously.
The surprising strength of A Hard Day’s Night is its cinematography. The producers apparently could not afford color film, and so employed the then-unfashionable but excellent black-and-white stock which produced – and has maintained for over fifty years – crisp, clean, bright images which hit all the registers of light and dark. Except for the high-end technologies such as Technicolor, color film from the 1960s has since deteriorated, one might almost say soured, into fuzzy garish tones on the yellow end of the spectrum.
Many of the sequences are set outdoors, free of sets and CGI, and show post-war London, poor but tidy, with the ruins of bombed-out blocks still visible. The trains, busses, and taxis on screen were real, and are gone now, so the movie is a period piece about an era when people took the train to work and even the poorest man managed a much-cleaned and much-patched coat and tie for public wear instead of the current serf-livery of knee-pants and cartoon tees and plastic ball caps.
Most of the g-rated film is good-natured buffoonery, but the middle of the film changes mood for about fifteen quiet minutes of reflection as Ringo skips a rehearsal in order to take a solitary stroll along the streets and alongside a canal with his Pentax. He encounters all sort of people simply being themselves at work and play. There is little dialogue, and many of the images, as stills, would be works of art in themselves.
Because of the accidents of a low budget, monochrome, good humor, respect for the audience, a lack of artistic pretension, and an unselfconscious amateurishness in most of those in the picture, A Hard Day’s Night still has a youthful spring in its metaphorical step.
And let The People say “iconic.”
One of the recurring sub-themes in the film is the matter our lads fleeing hordes of screaming teenyboppers in beehive hairdos, reflecting the reality of the Beatles’ popularity in the 1960s. In contrast, there is a recent narrative of one of the surviving Beatles arriving at a post-awards show party for 2016’s cooler-than-cool, only to be turned away. Either no one knew who he was, or didn’t care.
1964’s A-list is still welcome at Luby’s Cafeteria.
And let The People sing “Yesterday.”
-30-
The Weather Channel - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
The Weather Channel
Turn around don’t drown we’re not out of the
woods yet don’t let your guard down this isn’t
over yet actually historic in
credible absolutely turn around
don’t drown we’re not out of the woods yet don’t
let your guard down this isn’t over yet
actually historic incredible
absolutely turn around don’t drown we’re
not out of the woods yet don’t let your guard
down this isn’t over yet actually
Mhall46184@aol.com
The Weather Channel
Turn around don’t drown we’re not out of the
woods yet don’t let your guard down this isn’t
over yet actually historic in
credible absolutely turn around
don’t drown we’re not out of the woods yet don’t
let your guard down this isn’t over yet
actually historic incredible
absolutely turn around don’t drown we’re
not out of the woods yet don’t let your guard
down this isn’t over yet actually
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Turkey with Stuffing - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Turkey with Stuffing
Get stuff get stuff everybody get stuff
More stuff more stuff never can get enough
If you haven’t got stuff that’s just too tough
Get stuff, get stuff; you’re defined by your stuff
Mhall46184@aol.com
Turkey with Stuffing
Get stuff get stuff everybody get stuff
More stuff more stuff never can get enough
If you haven’t got stuff that’s just too tough
Get stuff, get stuff; you’re defined by your stuff
Friday, August 12, 2016
Kirbyville - The Santa Fe Depot - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Kirbyville - The Santa Fe Depot
I loved to sit and watch the trains go by
As they blew smoke and steam into the sky
Or sometimes paused beneath the water tower
And sat there on the siding for an hour
The crew in overalls to the café
Hamburgers and coffee most every day
They swaggered back along our old Main Street
Important working men with schedules to meet
The whistle blew, the steam escaped, the train
Breathed heavily, and lurched and clanked to gain
Escape from our small town, then down the line
A tunnel through forests of oak and pine –
In dreams of boyhood, through memory’s eye
I love to sit and watch the trains go by
Mhall46184@aol.com
Kirbyville - The Santa Fe Depot
I loved to sit and watch the trains go by
As they blew smoke and steam into the sky
Or sometimes paused beneath the water tower
And sat there on the siding for an hour
The crew in overalls to the café
Hamburgers and coffee most every day
They swaggered back along our old Main Street
Important working men with schedules to meet
The whistle blew, the steam escaped, the train
Breathed heavily, and lurched and clanked to gain
Escape from our small town, then down the line
A tunnel through forests of oak and pine –
In dreams of boyhood, through memory’s eye
I love to sit and watch the trains go by
Mimosa Pods - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Mimosa Pods
Mimosa pods hang heavily in the heat
Like lurking green and yellow slithery snakes
Just waiting for their hour to drop to the ground
Between the lemon and the apple trees
All is quiet in the early afternoon
Even the dragonflies repose at rest
After lunching on their kindred species
And the mocking bird has sought leafy shade
The hours drowse until September, and
Mimosa pods hang heavily in the heat
Mhall46184@aol.com
Mimosa Pods
Mimosa pods hang heavily in the heat
Like lurking green and yellow slithery snakes
Just waiting for their hour to drop to the ground
Between the lemon and the apple trees
All is quiet in the early afternoon
Even the dragonflies repose at rest
After lunching on their kindred species
And the mocking bird has sought leafy shade
The hours drowse until September, and
Mimosa pods hang heavily in the heat
Thursday, August 11, 2016
A January Tale - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
A January Tale
All pines are gothic in the winter woods
Cold pillars in a temple grim and cold
Their needles softly hissing in the wind
That shivers from the north and makes a boy cold
Do not be found among them after dark
Or else you will never be found at all
The dark is falling now, falling fast and cold
Which way is home – oh, run! The trees are cold!
Across the barbed-wire fence, torn trousers, run! -
All pines are gothic in the winter woods
Mhall46184@aol.com
A January Tale
All pines are gothic in the winter woods
Cold pillars in a temple grim and cold
Their needles softly hissing in the wind
That shivers from the north and makes a boy cold
Do not be found among them after dark
Or else you will never be found at all
The dark is falling now, falling fast and cold
Which way is home – oh, run! The trees are cold!
Across the barbed-wire fence, torn trousers, run! -
All pines are gothic in the winter woods
Tyrannosaurus Texaco - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Tyrannosaurus Texaco
A dinosaur that doesn’t know it’s dead
Still thinks it’s eating swamp grass fresh and green
But truly after all is done and said:
It must accept that it is gasoline!
Mhall46184@aol.com
Tyrannosaurus Texaco
A dinosaur that doesn’t know it’s dead
Still thinks it’s eating swamp grass fresh and green
But truly after all is done and said:
It must accept that it is gasoline!
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Weaving a Tapestry of Designer Alligators - column, 8.7.16
Mack Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
Weaving a Tapestry of Designer Alligators
Is there a rule requiring all book reviewers to employ the tired metaphor “weaves” (as in “The author weaves a tapestry of…”) in every essay?
+ + +
For the last forty years the Navy has been playing dolly-dress-up with sailors. One recent costume faux pas, the infamous “blueberry” camouflage work uniform, is being replaced with a more woodsy camouflage. Just why an Electrician’s Mate repairing wiring harness deep in an access passage in an aging destroyer should be required to dress in camouflage at all is a concept that has eluded the admirals. But the blueberry camouflage was precious.
The admirals will award each other more medals for all this.
One wonders if the admirals have redecorated the body bags.
+ + +
The British Olympics team have banned cleaners from their rooms after a number of thefts. Too bad no one stole those ugly “designer” shirts the British team wore in the opening ceremony.
+ + +
In Texas, killing an alligator is a felony punishable by jail time and / or a fine. However, a baby human killed before birth is regarded by the state as “medical waste.”
+ + +
Hillary and Donald bikini mud wrestling.
In a malarial swamp.
With those protected alligators.
+ + +
The Jasper Newsboy last week related news of local events and local people which will be little regarded east of the Sabine or west of the Neches, but which reflect the inherent nobility in most people:
Four Burkeville and Newton fire fighters suffered heat injuries, always life-threatening, in the menace of a house fire in August. The kitchen was damaged but the rest of the house was saved, with all the necessities and little joys of life: a roof, a bed, clothes, books, and pictures of dear friends and family.
The Jasper Volunteer Fire Department, too, did some serious heat-time in raising funds for a little child suffering from leukemia. This is because the men and women of fire departments know more about the preciousness of children than the State of Texas.
In Tyler County a great many people, including law enforcement, prison staff, and just plain folks also risked their lives in the heat to search for an elderly man who was lost. They thought nothing for themselves, but all for their fellow man, who, in the end, they could not save. Their rewards in this life were a bottle of water, suffering, and sorrow, but for their gifts of service their names, too, are written in a great Book.
And finally, Jasper Mayor R. C. Horn, one of the peacemakers of whom Jesus spoke, has departed this life. In a turbulent time he faced down violence, jerks, idiots, opportunists, attention-seekers, and racists of all flavors with his quiet faith and dignity, and will always be a role model for all.
We are blessed with heroes everywhere; it’s just that we usually fail to see them and then learn from them.
-30-
Mhall46184@aol.com
Weaving a Tapestry of Designer Alligators
Is there a rule requiring all book reviewers to employ the tired metaphor “weaves” (as in “The author weaves a tapestry of…”) in every essay?
+ + +
For the last forty years the Navy has been playing dolly-dress-up with sailors. One recent costume faux pas, the infamous “blueberry” camouflage work uniform, is being replaced with a more woodsy camouflage. Just why an Electrician’s Mate repairing wiring harness deep in an access passage in an aging destroyer should be required to dress in camouflage at all is a concept that has eluded the admirals. But the blueberry camouflage was precious.
The admirals will award each other more medals for all this.
One wonders if the admirals have redecorated the body bags.
+ + +
The British Olympics team have banned cleaners from their rooms after a number of thefts. Too bad no one stole those ugly “designer” shirts the British team wore in the opening ceremony.
+ + +
In Texas, killing an alligator is a felony punishable by jail time and / or a fine. However, a baby human killed before birth is regarded by the state as “medical waste.”
+ + +
Hillary and Donald bikini mud wrestling.
In a malarial swamp.
With those protected alligators.
+ + +
The Jasper Newsboy last week related news of local events and local people which will be little regarded east of the Sabine or west of the Neches, but which reflect the inherent nobility in most people:
Four Burkeville and Newton fire fighters suffered heat injuries, always life-threatening, in the menace of a house fire in August. The kitchen was damaged but the rest of the house was saved, with all the necessities and little joys of life: a roof, a bed, clothes, books, and pictures of dear friends and family.
The Jasper Volunteer Fire Department, too, did some serious heat-time in raising funds for a little child suffering from leukemia. This is because the men and women of fire departments know more about the preciousness of children than the State of Texas.
In Tyler County a great many people, including law enforcement, prison staff, and just plain folks also risked their lives in the heat to search for an elderly man who was lost. They thought nothing for themselves, but all for their fellow man, who, in the end, they could not save. Their rewards in this life were a bottle of water, suffering, and sorrow, but for their gifts of service their names, too, are written in a great Book.
And finally, Jasper Mayor R. C. Horn, one of the peacemakers of whom Jesus spoke, has departed this life. In a turbulent time he faced down violence, jerks, idiots, opportunists, attention-seekers, and racists of all flavors with his quiet faith and dignity, and will always be a role model for all.
We are blessed with heroes everywhere; it’s just that we usually fail to see them and then learn from them.
-30-
A Novitiate in the World - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
A Novitiate in the World
“…you will go forth from these walls,
but will live like a monk in the world.”
-Father Zossima to Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov
Every vocation is a novitiate
And every labor a monastic prayer:
Matins and Lauds are sung over coffee,
Then Terce for the plough, the lathe, and the wheel
Sext is gratitude for the midday meal
And None is the hour for downing tools
Soft Vespers is the song of happy homes
‘Til Compline sends all good folk to their beds -
Final vows are taken at death; for now,
Every vocation is a novitiate
Mhall46184@aol.com
A Novitiate in the World
“…you will go forth from these walls,
but will live like a monk in the world.”
-Father Zossima to Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov
Every vocation is a novitiate
And every labor a monastic prayer:
Matins and Lauds are sung over coffee,
Then Terce for the plough, the lathe, and the wheel
Sext is gratitude for the midday meal
And None is the hour for downing tools
Soft Vespers is the song of happy homes
‘Til Compline sends all good folk to their beds -
Final vows are taken at death; for now,
Every vocation is a novitiate
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Medical Waste in Texas - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Medical Waste in Texas
Children are diminutive creatures who
Tease the dog
Pull the cat’s tail
Refuse to eat their vegetables
Resist daily baths
Want Goodnight, Moon read to them over and over and over and over…
Don’t give notice about upchuckings
Leave their toys on the lawn
Push little brothers down the stairs
Track mud through the house
Scream at each other
Scream for joy
Scream in frustration
Run screaming through the house
Cry for unknown reasons as well as for known ones
Tell Grandma entirely too much
Take “you’ll ruin your supper” as a challenge
Fidget during Mass
Hide notes from the teacher
Children are diminutive creatures who are not
Medical waste
Mhall46184@aol.com
Medical Waste in Texas
Children are diminutive creatures who
Tease the dog
Pull the cat’s tail
Refuse to eat their vegetables
Resist daily baths
Want Goodnight, Moon read to them over and over and over and over…
Don’t give notice about upchuckings
Leave their toys on the lawn
Push little brothers down the stairs
Track mud through the house
Scream at each other
Scream for joy
Scream in frustration
Run screaming through the house
Cry for unknown reasons as well as for known ones
Tell Grandma entirely too much
Take “you’ll ruin your supper” as a challenge
Fidget during Mass
Hide notes from the teacher
Children are diminutive creatures who are not
Medical waste
S.T.E.M. - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
S.T.E.M.
A Crucifix once stood in the village square
Around it centuries grew old; it blessed
Generations of weddings, markets, and feasts
Marked by the bells of canonical hours
Desecrated and smashed in the revolutions
And then replaced not with an empty cross
But with that gift of the Enlightenment
The efficient, progressive guillotine
And now a quest for flickering Pokemans where
A Crucifix once stood in the village square
Mhall46184@aol.com
S.T.E.M.
A Crucifix once stood in the village square
Around it centuries grew old; it blessed
Generations of weddings, markets, and feasts
Marked by the bells of canonical hours
Desecrated and smashed in the revolutions
And then replaced not with an empty cross
But with that gift of the Enlightenment
The efficient, progressive guillotine
And now a quest for flickering Pokemans where
A Crucifix once stood in the village square
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Forwarding Address - poems
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Forwarding Address
For Kathleen and Luther Lee Dockery,
of Happy Memory
A funeral is a study in awkwardness
Kleenex and hymnbooks strewn among the pews
Family and friends exchanging those well-meant words
That fail and fall from any meaning at all -
So let us remember them merry in life
Laughter and jokes, each cigarette aloft
As ensign to a verbal cavalry charge
Ideas and words volleyed in joy and love
And over coffee see them often again
For friendship is the study of forever
Mhall46184@aol.com
Forwarding Address
For Kathleen and Luther Lee Dockery,
of Happy Memory
A funeral is a study in awkwardness
Kleenex and hymnbooks strewn among the pews
Family and friends exchanging those well-meant words
That fail and fall from any meaning at all -
So let us remember them merry in life
Laughter and jokes, each cigarette aloft
As ensign to a verbal cavalry charge
Ideas and words volleyed in joy and love
And over coffee see them often again
For friendship is the study of forever
It's All About Family - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
It’s All About Family
A rush to change into trousers and shirt
Discarding pajamas and morning quiet
And a half-eaten breakfast burrito -
Dear God, the relatives are here again
They never ‘phone; like mayflies they appear
First peeking through the windows, and only then
Ringing the doorbell, breathless with gossip
And detailing their medical dysfunctions
They seem to settle in for the summer
While one’s soul longs for a burrito lost
Mhall46184@aol.com
It’s All About Family
A rush to change into trousers and shirt
Discarding pajamas and morning quiet
And a half-eaten breakfast burrito -
Dear God, the relatives are here again
They never ‘phone; like mayflies they appear
First peeking through the windows, and only then
Ringing the doorbell, breathless with gossip
And detailing their medical dysfunctions
They seem to settle in for the summer
While one’s soul longs for a burrito lost
Resistant to Change - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Resistant to Change
But what change would that be? A fallen oak
A leafy country lane paved into progress
Lifestyles and glowing screens instead of friends
Superior locks and fences and bolts
And childhood photographs fading away
Just like their subjects in the long ago
Christmas morning cowboys in pajamas
Cap pistols silent now in Kodachrome
Dreams crumbling into frail antiquity
Resistant to change? Yes, rigorously so.
Mhall46184@aol.com
Resistant to Change
But what change would that be? A fallen oak
A leafy country lane paved into progress
Lifestyles and glowing screens instead of friends
Superior locks and fences and bolts
And childhood photographs fading away
Just like their subjects in the long ago
Christmas morning cowboys in pajamas
Cap pistols silent now in Kodachrome
Dreams crumbling into frail antiquity
Resistant to change? Yes, rigorously so.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Takeaways from the Political Klavens...um...Conventions - column
Mack Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
Takeaways from the Political Conventions
“Let us become servants in order to be leaders.”
― The Prince in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot
Make America actually great again iconic what difference does it make absolutely let us actually stand absolutely as one actually unity absolutely get ‘im out of here unity iconic lock her up iconic unity actually career actually woman absolutely politician iconic dump Trump absolutely character iconic stronger together iconic hard actually work absolutely black lives actually matter absolutely undocumented iconic RINO actually progressive absolutely killary iconic Isis actually drumpf absolutely values iconic work actually dignity and respect actually values and morals actually brothers and sisters actually Code Pink iconic all lives matter absolutely boycott Israel actually the American people iconic fast and furious actually divorce absolutely immigration iconic Russia actually emails absolutely hacking iconic change-maker actually mother iconic trans-pacific partnership actually feel the Bern absolutely the only poll that counts is on election day iconic the other America actually inside the beltway absolutely outside the beltway iconic Joe Six-Pack actually the kitchen table absolutely working families iconic got the memo actually didn’t get the memo absolutely hey hey ho ho iconic the people will stand up to Washington actually build bridges absolutely build a wall iconic for the 21st century actually reach across party lines absolutely for the children iconic for the future actually at the end of the day absolutely the fact of the matter is iconic the heartland of America actually my father came to America with money in his underwear absolutely media bias iconic my amazing wife actually bromance absolutely swing state iconic populist actually glass ceiling absolutely blue lives matter iconic all lives matter actually came up short absolutely breaking news iconic woo woo actually rapid-response team absolutely technical woes iconic unity actually the base absolutely gays iconic guns actually God iconic Sandernistas actually hashtag absolutely traitor iconic raucus actually matchup absolutely syncs iconic tweets actually cyberwar absolutely treason iconic faux news actually pastor absolutely hyphen iconic I’m with her actually convention bounce absolutely plagiarism iconic evolve actually lyin’ Ted absolutely lion Ted iconic yuge actually passing the baton absolutely not for sale iconic protestors actually police barricades absolutely yes we can iconic endorsement actually teleprompter absolutely campaign manager iconic Clinton camp actually Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz absolutely under the bus iconic roar actually historic roll call absolutely Melania iconic media tents actually American flag absolutely LGBTQ iconic pivot actually midnight in America absolutely morning in America iconic I am your voice actually disaffected absolutely believe me iconic forgotten men and women actually politically correct absolutely bankers iconic Satan actually USA USA USA absolutely HILL-A-REE HILL-A-REE HILL-A-REE iconic diversity actually believe me absolutely NAFTA iconic coal miners actually Benghazi absolutely trade deficits iconic Iran treaty actually thank you God bless you and God bless America iconic actually absolutely
(Balloon drop)
-30-
Mhall46184@aol.com
Takeaways from the Political Conventions
“Let us become servants in order to be leaders.”
― The Prince in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot
Make America actually great again iconic what difference does it make absolutely let us actually stand absolutely as one actually unity absolutely get ‘im out of here unity iconic lock her up iconic unity actually career actually woman absolutely politician iconic dump Trump absolutely character iconic stronger together iconic hard actually work absolutely black lives actually matter absolutely undocumented iconic RINO actually progressive absolutely killary iconic Isis actually drumpf absolutely values iconic work actually dignity and respect actually values and morals actually brothers and sisters actually Code Pink iconic all lives matter absolutely boycott Israel actually the American people iconic fast and furious actually divorce absolutely immigration iconic Russia actually emails absolutely hacking iconic change-maker actually mother iconic trans-pacific partnership actually feel the Bern absolutely the only poll that counts is on election day iconic the other America actually inside the beltway absolutely outside the beltway iconic Joe Six-Pack actually the kitchen table absolutely working families iconic got the memo actually didn’t get the memo absolutely hey hey ho ho iconic the people will stand up to Washington actually build bridges absolutely build a wall iconic for the 21st century actually reach across party lines absolutely for the children iconic for the future actually at the end of the day absolutely the fact of the matter is iconic the heartland of America actually my father came to America with money in his underwear absolutely media bias iconic my amazing wife actually bromance absolutely swing state iconic populist actually glass ceiling absolutely blue lives matter iconic all lives matter actually came up short absolutely breaking news iconic woo woo actually rapid-response team absolutely technical woes iconic unity actually the base absolutely gays iconic guns actually God iconic Sandernistas actually hashtag absolutely traitor iconic raucus actually matchup absolutely syncs iconic tweets actually cyberwar absolutely treason iconic faux news actually pastor absolutely hyphen iconic I’m with her actually convention bounce absolutely plagiarism iconic evolve actually lyin’ Ted absolutely lion Ted iconic yuge actually passing the baton absolutely not for sale iconic protestors actually police barricades absolutely yes we can iconic endorsement actually teleprompter absolutely campaign manager iconic Clinton camp actually Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz absolutely under the bus iconic roar actually historic roll call absolutely Melania iconic media tents actually American flag absolutely LGBTQ iconic pivot actually midnight in America absolutely morning in America iconic I am your voice actually disaffected absolutely believe me iconic forgotten men and women actually politically correct absolutely bankers iconic Satan actually USA USA USA absolutely HILL-A-REE HILL-A-REE HILL-A-REE iconic diversity actually believe me absolutely NAFTA iconic coal miners actually Benghazi absolutely trade deficits iconic Iran treaty actually thank you God bless you and God bless America iconic actually absolutely
(Balloon drop)
-30-
Saturday, July 23, 2016
High Summer - poem
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
High Summer
High summer is but headaches, haze, and heat
Parasitical heat, malignant heat
Heat creeping through the walls, even at night
Mocking the futile thermostatic air
By day all thoughts are wither’ed away
The words of favorite books shimmer unread
On pages like an oasis vaporous
Unreachable, or by an enemy occupied
There is no healing, hope, or hope of hope:
High summer is but headaches, haze, and heat
Friday, July 22, 2016
The Cleveland Yellfest - column
Mack Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
The Cleveland Yellfest
Roderick Spode: “Citizens…I say to you that nothing stands between us and our victory except defeat! Tomorrow is a new day! The future lies ahead!”
Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps: “D’you know, I never thought of that.”
- Jeeves and Wooster
Three disparate groups of civilization’s dissenters are said to have flung bodily wastes at each other in Cleveland, Ohio during the first of the two summer covens. Developing one’s ideological thesis statement in one’s urinary tract system is not quite Churchillian oratory.
+ + +
The discourse in the hall where the first coven was held was not exactly Churchillian either, with all those errant adverbs flying about. Communication becomes more effective when such clutter as “actually” is removed – after all, one cannot “unactually” do, see, or experience anything.
Further, an icon (also spelled “ikon”) is a two-dimensional religious image featuring Jesus or a saint. Icons are common in the Eastern Orthodox churches, less so in the West. Referring to a person as an icon is like referring to him or her as a crucifix, a cross, or a religious painting: “And now I want to introduce to you a real crucifix of our political movement…” or “He was such a religious painting of the music world.”
+ + +
Outside the Cleveland yellfest three, oh, real Americans were photographed posing in discount-store camouflage, gas station sunglasses, and the now requisite Pictish woad while cuddling what appeared to be poorly-maintained rifles with the usual curvy fruit magazines. They averred that they were present to back up the police. What a comfort to everyone, eh? One wonders if any of them ever took any military or police training beyond perusing the lurid pictures in a Captain Leotard comic book.
They should stop it. Just stop it. If they want to be cops, then they should apply for the academy. If they want to be soldiers, then they should enlist. But first they should grow up, stop playing with guns in the street, and get out of the way of the True Blues, the men and women who endure a rigorous program of physical and mental training, including ethics and law, and who take a sacred oath.
+ + +
The Republic of Turkey does not tolerate political conventions or political dissent.
Democratically-elected Turkish President Recezp Erdogan is reported by the Daily Mail to have sacked (so far) 50,000 judges, police, military, and teachers, and forbidden them to leave the country. This is in addition to some 9,000 others previously arrested on allegations of trying to overthrow their beloved leader. Those arrested include 115 generals, 350 other officers, and almost 5,000 enlisted men. Even before the recent coup attempt the loving father of his people arrested some 2,000 of his fellow citizens, including children, for not liking him.
If true, this means Erdogan is arbitrarily removing from both high-level and low-level government positions those industrious and thoughtful citizens from solid, stable working class and middle class backgrounds who are essential to the orderly life of a nation of laws.
In contrast to Erdogan’s fuhrerprinzip, American politics are goofy and undisciplined, but seem to work most of the time. At the ‘Publican Convention the Colorado, Alaska, and several other delegations, in the best tradition of a free people, made a spirited defense against being pushed about by the party bosses. They lost, but unlike the outspoken in Turkey they weren’t arrested, stripped naked, beaten in the streets, and crowded into concrete cells while shackled to each other, there to await show trials and executions.
Our inefficient political process, despite the stupid hats and cartoon tees and mugging for selfies, is in its bumbling pretty good after all.
-30-
Mhall46184@aol.com
The Cleveland Yellfest
Roderick Spode: “Citizens…I say to you that nothing stands between us and our victory except defeat! Tomorrow is a new day! The future lies ahead!”
Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps: “D’you know, I never thought of that.”
- Jeeves and Wooster
Three disparate groups of civilization’s dissenters are said to have flung bodily wastes at each other in Cleveland, Ohio during the first of the two summer covens. Developing one’s ideological thesis statement in one’s urinary tract system is not quite Churchillian oratory.
+ + +
The discourse in the hall where the first coven was held was not exactly Churchillian either, with all those errant adverbs flying about. Communication becomes more effective when such clutter as “actually” is removed – after all, one cannot “unactually” do, see, or experience anything.
Further, an icon (also spelled “ikon”) is a two-dimensional religious image featuring Jesus or a saint. Icons are common in the Eastern Orthodox churches, less so in the West. Referring to a person as an icon is like referring to him or her as a crucifix, a cross, or a religious painting: “And now I want to introduce to you a real crucifix of our political movement…” or “He was such a religious painting of the music world.”
+ + +
Outside the Cleveland yellfest three, oh, real Americans were photographed posing in discount-store camouflage, gas station sunglasses, and the now requisite Pictish woad while cuddling what appeared to be poorly-maintained rifles with the usual curvy fruit magazines. They averred that they were present to back up the police. What a comfort to everyone, eh? One wonders if any of them ever took any military or police training beyond perusing the lurid pictures in a Captain Leotard comic book.
They should stop it. Just stop it. If they want to be cops, then they should apply for the academy. If they want to be soldiers, then they should enlist. But first they should grow up, stop playing with guns in the street, and get out of the way of the True Blues, the men and women who endure a rigorous program of physical and mental training, including ethics and law, and who take a sacred oath.
+ + +
The Republic of Turkey does not tolerate political conventions or political dissent.
Democratically-elected Turkish President Recezp Erdogan is reported by the Daily Mail to have sacked (so far) 50,000 judges, police, military, and teachers, and forbidden them to leave the country. This is in addition to some 9,000 others previously arrested on allegations of trying to overthrow their beloved leader. Those arrested include 115 generals, 350 other officers, and almost 5,000 enlisted men. Even before the recent coup attempt the loving father of his people arrested some 2,000 of his fellow citizens, including children, for not liking him.
If true, this means Erdogan is arbitrarily removing from both high-level and low-level government positions those industrious and thoughtful citizens from solid, stable working class and middle class backgrounds who are essential to the orderly life of a nation of laws.
In contrast to Erdogan’s fuhrerprinzip, American politics are goofy and undisciplined, but seem to work most of the time. At the ‘Publican Convention the Colorado, Alaska, and several other delegations, in the best tradition of a free people, made a spirited defense against being pushed about by the party bosses. They lost, but unlike the outspoken in Turkey they weren’t arrested, stripped naked, beaten in the streets, and crowded into concrete cells while shackled to each other, there to await show trials and executions.
Our inefficient political process, despite the stupid hats and cartoon tees and mugging for selfies, is in its bumbling pretty good after all.
-30-
Thursday, July 21, 2016
On the First Ballot - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
On the First Ballot
Whose are these snarling faces, grown ugly in
The primordial aggression of the pack
Made manifest through individual fears
Witch-stirred inside a cauldron adamant
Dark sorceries beneath arena lights
Ferality and fists pumping in hate
Unhappy beings robed in cartoon tees
Cruel-yelping for the blood of innocence
Now to be splashed and burned and hated more:
Whose are these snarling faces – yours? Or mine?
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Iconophiles - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Iconophiles
Iconophiles are true revolutionaries
Lowering their voices but raising their hearts
Falling into a written picture-prayer
Upon a bit of board or card – Creation
Made small and held within the hand, the eye
And knowing deeper in, all that was made
And Him Who was begotten before all
Permitting us to see before we see
Hymning formlessness into light and truth -
Iconophiles are true revolutionaries
Mhall46184@aol.com
Iconophiles
Iconophiles are true revolutionaries
Lowering their voices but raising their hearts
Falling into a written picture-prayer
Upon a bit of board or card – Creation
Made small and held within the hand, the eye
And knowing deeper in, all that was made
And Him Who was begotten before all
Permitting us to see before we see
Hymning formlessness into light and truth -
Iconophiles are true revolutionaries
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