Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Inactive Shooter - poem
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
If only there were inactive shooters
And inactive shooting situations -
Cafes where nothing much is going on
And we forget to learn where the exits are
Terrorists too lazy to lock ‘n’ load
Bigots rising up only for another beer
Ku Klux Klankers taking a laundry day
Mad bombers playing barefoot among the flowers
A parking ticket making the front page -
If only there were inactive shooters
Previously published in a vanity anthology, Don't Forget Your Shoes and Grapes, available on Amazon as an e-book and as fragments of dead tree.
Mhall46184@aol.com
Inactive Shooters
If only there were inactive shooters
And inactive shooting situations -
Cafes where nothing much is going on
And we forget to learn where the exits are
Terrorists too lazy to lock ‘n’ load
Bigots rising up only for another beer
Ku Klux Klankers taking a laundry day
Mad bombers playing barefoot among the flowers
A parking ticket making the front page -
If only there were inactive shooters
Previously published in a vanity anthology, Don't Forget Your Shoes and Grapes, available on Amazon as an e-book and as fragments of dead tree.
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
The Platonic Tree - poem
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
For a little child a tree is forever
It is as it was, and will always be
In a dreamy stasis beyond all time
True sunlight flickering pale shadows away
A tree is not a transient republic -
It is a monarchy, and crowned with green
For a royal fellowship ordained by God
This Summer Palace of princes and princesses
As royal children they rule over toys and dolls
Lizards and bees and beetles, dogs and cats
And little chameleons who sometimes pause
To count the coins in their pink moneybags
The ceremonies of ladies and their knights
Are properly observed beneath fair leaves
Upheld by arches and pendentives of oak
Through which sunbeams and magic daydreams fly
And when sweet summer’s children are quite old
Reduced to servitude in paying bills
And answering irrelevant messages
On shrilling importunate telephones:
They will cradle their cave-shadowy ‘phones
And remember that
For a little child a tree is forever
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The Platonic Tree
(If Plato had considered a tree instead of a cave)
cf. Republic, Book VII
For a little child a tree is forever
It is as it was, and will always be
In a dreamy stasis beyond all time
True sunlight flickering pale shadows away
A tree is not a transient republic -
It is a monarchy, and crowned with green
For a royal fellowship ordained by God
This Summer Palace of princes and princesses
As royal children they rule over toys and dolls
Lizards and bees and beetles, dogs and cats
And little chameleons who sometimes pause
To count the coins in their pink moneybags
The ceremonies of ladies and their knights
Are properly observed beneath fair leaves
Upheld by arches and pendentives of oak
Through which sunbeams and magic daydreams fly
And when sweet summer’s children are quite old
Reduced to servitude in paying bills
And answering irrelevant messages
On shrilling importunate telephones:
They will cradle their cave-shadowy ‘phones
And remember that
For a little child a tree is forever
Monday, July 6, 2020
Sunday-Go-To-Meeting' Mask - Doggerel
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Our faces adorned in baptismal white
We carefully approach the Altar of God
Touching each pew because the mask-y blight
Befogs one’s spectacles - awkward and odd
Because his eyeglasses are but a smear
Each obstacle thus is undetectable
The worshipper indeed approaches in fear
Each confusing visual dialectical
And then…
He falls in clumsiness undelectable
And makes himself an unholy spectacle!
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Sunday-Go-To-Meetin’ Mask
Our faces adorned in baptismal white
We carefully approach the Altar of God
Touching each pew because the mask-y blight
Befogs one’s spectacles - awkward and odd
Because his eyeglasses are but a smear
Each obstacle thus is undetectable
The worshipper indeed approaches in fear
Each confusing visual dialectical
And then…
He falls in clumsiness undelectable
And makes himself an unholy spectacle!
Sunday, July 5, 2020
The Good, the True, the Beautiful, and the Assistant Principal - poem
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Of math the assistant principal spoke:
The elegance of a geometric proof
When it brightens the mind, the eye the sky
Completing a song of the universe
Of poetry a teacher rattled on:
The elegance of rhythmic verse that tells
Of dancing stars and dreaming mists and life
Completing a song of the seasons of man
Because
All learning is not only right and dutiful
It is a matter of
The Good, the True, and the Beautiful
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The Good, the True, the Beautiful, and the Assistant Principal
(Well, three out of four, eh?)
For David Pitts,
Who Honors his Students
Of math the assistant principal spoke:
The elegance of a geometric proof
When it brightens the mind, the eye the sky
Completing a song of the universe
Of poetry a teacher rattled on:
The elegance of rhythmic verse that tells
Of dancing stars and dreaming mists and life
Completing a song of the seasons of man
Because
All learning is not only right and dutiful
It is a matter of
The Good, the True, and the Beautiful
Saturday, July 4, 2020
Veterans Drinking Coffee at the Angkor Wat Happy Doughnut Shop on the Fourth of July - poem
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Everything else was closed, so here we are
At the next table three textbooks are spread:
Physics, Algebra II, and Calculus
The owner’s kid, wiping counters today
Come-from-away children cook and clean, sweep floors
And in between their chores are at their books
The native-born are still abed, asleep
In a smart-phone hangover of lethargy
Last night a man rattled on about glory
He wasn’t with us on the Vam Co Tay
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Veterans Drinking Coffee at the Angkor Wat Happy Doughnut Shop
on the Fourth of July
Everything else was closed, so here we are
At the next table three textbooks are spread:
Physics, Algebra II, and Calculus
The owner’s kid, wiping counters today
Come-from-away children cook and clean, sweep floors
And in between their chores are at their books
The native-born are still abed, asleep
In a smart-phone hangover of lethargy
Last night a man rattled on about glory
He wasn’t with us on the Vam Co Tay
Friday, July 3, 2020
Isolated from the Book Shop for Four Months - poetry
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
But maybe not much longer…
A Barnes & Noble is a happy place
Where my book budget goes to lose itself
In the poetry section first, and then
To the music by way of the magazines
A Barnes & Noble is that happy place
Where my weary soul goes to find itself –
And that errant budget – among the shelves
Of civilization in a quiet room
Then coffee and croissants (and a six-foot space!)
Yes, Barnes & Noble is my happy place
mhall46184@aol.com
Isolated from the Book Shop for Four Months
But maybe not much longer…
A Barnes & Noble is a happy place
Where my book budget goes to lose itself
In the poetry section first, and then
To the music by way of the magazines
A Barnes & Noble is that happy place
Where my weary soul goes to find itself –
And that errant budget – among the shelves
Of civilization in a quiet room
Then coffee and croissants (and a six-foot space!)
Yes, Barnes & Noble is my happy place
Thursday, July 2, 2020
"Your Call is Important to Us" - weekly column
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
In the garden of my electronic dreams:
1. Electronics manufacturers and service providers would build better stuff and hire more skilled people to make the gadgets work and the electrons flow instead of hiring script-readers who take an hour of the customer’s time to explain in vague terms why nothing is working and somehow infer that it's your fault for not knowing a superheterodyne bus bar from the Tiki Bar, but, hey, “Your call is important to us.”
2. The FCC and the FTC would DO THEIR JOBS about sneaky offshore billing, foreign and domestic scams, tricky contracts, and corporate bullying of the vulnerable.
3. “Tiffany” and “Brian” at customer service would be honest about what their names really are and what country they are calling from, and that they are working at a ‘phone bank for rotten wages because they were never able to pass freshman English.
4. Any service provider saying “Your call is important to us” would not be executed – not for a first offense, that is.
5. Whatever sick, twisted wretch who generated the latest (Famous Brand Name) series of browsers should receive life with only a slim possibility of parole.
6. InterGossip providers would stop LYING about everything.
7. InterGossip service for the rest of us would work as well as it does for rioters.
8. For every minute a customer is on hold he or she receives a dollar off the next bill.
9. Criminals, not police, would have to wear body cams, and if the cameras didn’t work then the U. K. Daily Mail and the electronic mob would presume guilt.
10. There would be no telephone trees (“If you know your extension…”). Just answer the da®ned phone.
11. Every time a customer receives a message saying “All our lines are busy right now…” the president of the company receives a mild electric shock.
12. Customer service representatives would answer the question that was asked, not drift off into an alternative universe.
13. NO ROBOTS (“I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that…”).
14. Every time MicroPlop declares a browser outdated (“heritage” or “legacy”), the customer receives a $500 rebate for the nuisance of having to learn the eccentricities of an unnecessary new dashboard which doesn’t work as well as the old one anyway and which loses all your bookmarks and addresses.
15. Every time a tech company says, “You’re due for an upgrade” instead of “We want to sell you a more expensive ‘phone,” someone gets a spanking.
Bonus: Mark Zuckerberg would be arrested for his haircut, and his barber subpoenaed for testimony.
And, hey, your call is important to us.
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
“Your Call is Important to Us”
In the garden of my electronic dreams:
1. Electronics manufacturers and service providers would build better stuff and hire more skilled people to make the gadgets work and the electrons flow instead of hiring script-readers who take an hour of the customer’s time to explain in vague terms why nothing is working and somehow infer that it's your fault for not knowing a superheterodyne bus bar from the Tiki Bar, but, hey, “Your call is important to us.”
2. The FCC and the FTC would DO THEIR JOBS about sneaky offshore billing, foreign and domestic scams, tricky contracts, and corporate bullying of the vulnerable.
3. “Tiffany” and “Brian” at customer service would be honest about what their names really are and what country they are calling from, and that they are working at a ‘phone bank for rotten wages because they were never able to pass freshman English.
4. Any service provider saying “Your call is important to us” would not be executed – not for a first offense, that is.
5. Whatever sick, twisted wretch who generated the latest (Famous Brand Name) series of browsers should receive life with only a slim possibility of parole.
6. InterGossip providers would stop LYING about everything.
7. InterGossip service for the rest of us would work as well as it does for rioters.
8. For every minute a customer is on hold he or she receives a dollar off the next bill.
9. Criminals, not police, would have to wear body cams, and if the cameras didn’t work then the U. K. Daily Mail and the electronic mob would presume guilt.
10. There would be no telephone trees (“If you know your extension…”). Just answer the da®ned phone.
11. Every time a customer receives a message saying “All our lines are busy right now…” the president of the company receives a mild electric shock.
12. Customer service representatives would answer the question that was asked, not drift off into an alternative universe.
13. NO ROBOTS (“I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that…”).
14. Every time MicroPlop declares a browser outdated (“heritage” or “legacy”), the customer receives a $500 rebate for the nuisance of having to learn the eccentricities of an unnecessary new dashboard which doesn’t work as well as the old one anyway and which loses all your bookmarks and addresses.
15. Every time a tech company says, “You’re due for an upgrade” instead of “We want to sell you a more expensive ‘phone,” someone gets a spanking.
Bonus: Mark Zuckerberg would be arrested for his haircut, and his barber subpoenaed for testimony.
And, hey, your call is important to us.
-30-
Sunflower Apogee - Haiku
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The sunflowers droop
And so do we – Midsummer
Is a sleepy time
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Sunflower Apogee
The sunflowers droop
And so do we – Midsummer
Is a sleepy time
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
A Casual Conversation with a Goddess - poem
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
What if the moon wants to whisper back to me?
The sky is dark and lonely high up there
Where the goddess sails through an eternally starlit sea
In orbits fixed above earth’s guarded air
Perhaps she is lonely for her brother Helios
And for Endymion, whom she still mourns
And for her sister, dear spritely Eos
Her playfellow in dances to Pan-pipes and horns
What if the moon wants to whisper back to me?
I should listen to her – don’t you agree?
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
A Casual Conversation with a Goddess
What if the moon wants to whisper back to me?
The sky is dark and lonely high up there
Where the goddess sails through an eternally starlit sea
In orbits fixed above earth’s guarded air
Perhaps she is lonely for her brother Helios
And for Endymion, whom she still mourns
And for her sister, dear spritely Eos
Her playfellow in dances to Pan-pipes and horns
What if the moon wants to whisper back to me?
I should listen to her – don’t you agree?
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Karens - poem
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
I love me my Karens, good, sweet, and kind:
Junior high love-notes and school yard flirtations
The prom date that never happened because
“I really like you – just like a brother”
Karen in the Navy, Karen at work
Karen the artist, Karen in the shop
Karen in her lab coat, Karen in class
Karen the doctor, and Karen the cop
I love me my Karens, good, sweet, and kind:
Dear happy memories, in heart and mind
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Karens
I love me my Karens, good, sweet, and kind:
Junior high love-notes and school yard flirtations
The prom date that never happened because
“I really like you – just like a brother”
Karen in the Navy, Karen at work
Karen the artist, Karen in the shop
Karen in her lab coat, Karen in class
Karen the doctor, and Karen the cop
I love me my Karens, good, sweet, and kind:
Dear happy memories, in heart and mind
Monday, June 29, 2020
Not to Decide is to Decide Blah-Blah - poem
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Not to decide is to decide indeed
A decision defiant in itself
To stand against all chaos and proclaim:
“I have not decided”
Not to decide is a courageous act
When a false binary demands your soul
Your spirit, your very self, and you respond:
“I decide for myself”
Not to decide is to dismiss a tyrant:
“You are irrelevant”
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Not to Decide is to Decide Blah-Blah
Not to decide is to decide indeed
A decision defiant in itself
To stand against all chaos and proclaim:
“I have not decided”
Not to decide is a courageous act
When a false binary demands your soul
Your spirit, your very self, and you respond:
“I decide for myself”
Not to decide is to dismiss a tyrant:
“You are irrelevant”
Sunday, June 28, 2020
Just Wear the Stupid Mask, Okay?
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Just wear the stupid mask, okay?
Yeah, yeah, we know you’re not afraid
Of any ol’ virus that comes your way
(Says your cousin the almost-nurses’ aide)
And someone on the GossipNet
He said that some doctor somewhere
Said Studies Show (oh, yeah, you bet) 1
That masks let through all sorts of air
Yeah, stud, you’ll take that virus down
Ground it with just one wrestling toss
And run its tentacles out of town:
You’ll show that bug just who is boss!
But
Your Granny’s still weak after surgery
And Uncle’s always short of breath
And children – you wouldn’t want, you see
To let your ego cause a baby’s death
1 Because, like, you know, Studies Show, and who are we to argue with such a reliable source as Studies Show?
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Just Wear the Stupid Mask, Okay?
Tiresome, didactic doggerel, but it’s important tiresome, didactic doggerel
Just wear the stupid mask, okay?
Yeah, yeah, we know you’re not afraid
Of any ol’ virus that comes your way
(Says your cousin the almost-nurses’ aide)
And someone on the GossipNet
He said that some doctor somewhere
Said Studies Show (oh, yeah, you bet) 1
That masks let through all sorts of air
Yeah, stud, you’ll take that virus down
Ground it with just one wrestling toss
And run its tentacles out of town:
You’ll show that bug just who is boss!
But
Your Granny’s still weak after surgery
And Uncle’s always short of breath
And children – you wouldn’t want, you see
To let your ego cause a baby’s death
1 Because, like, you know, Studies Show, and who are we to argue with such a reliable source as Studies Show?
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Ships of Theseus - poem
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Every seven years, some say, we are renewed
In coded sequences not understood
Animal cells, well-timed, within us die
They leave forever, replaced and not refreshed
But even so, our selves are still our selves
And condemnations from the past endure
And praises, too, all of them a little worn
And the remember whens are an ever now
Then what...?
The eternal Wind
The eternal Wind that was before we are
Is the Forever following our little ships
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Ships of Theseus
Every seven years, some say, we are renewed
In coded sequences not understood
Animal cells, well-timed, within us die
They leave forever, replaced and not refreshed
But even so, our selves are still our selves
And condemnations from the past endure
And praises, too, all of them a little worn
And the remember whens are an ever now
Then what...?
The eternal Wind
The eternal Wind that was before we are
Is the Forever following our little ships
Friday, June 26, 2020
"Let There be Sung 'Non Nobis' and 'Te Deum'" - poem
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Vultures circle high in the airy blue
At a distance elegant in their sweeps
Far from the planet surface and its sorrows
As if they are searching for eternal truth
In truth they are searching for something dead
A putrid corpse to rip with their foul beaks
A life interrupted, breath stopped by death
A pig, a cow, a snake, a me, a you
That dark and croaking thing of rot and slime:
A vulture is but a messenger of time
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
“Let There be Sung ‘Non nobis’ and ‘Te Deum’”
-Henry V
Vultures circle high in the airy blue
At a distance elegant in their sweeps
Far from the planet surface and its sorrows
As if they are searching for eternal truth
In truth they are searching for something dead
A putrid corpse to rip with their foul beaks
A life interrupted, breath stopped by death
A pig, a cow, a snake, a me, a you
That dark and croaking thing of rot and slime:
A vulture is but a messenger of time
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