Tuesday, October 6, 2020
An Old Man on a Balcony, Gasping for Breath
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
An
Old Man on a Balcony, Gasping for Breath
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love
-Macbeth V.ii.19-20
The city and the nation seem to
ignore him
He stands irresolutely, heaving
his shoulders
Twitching his lips, fidgeting
with his coat
Behind his embalmers’ makeup
seeking breath
There are no happy cheering
crowds tonight
He waves only to a departing
helicopter
And salutes the ghosts of what
might have been
Before turning away, inside, to
the silence
The people talk about him, but
not to him
If they did, he would not
listen - he is alone
Monday, October 5, 2020
The BeeGees, Duck Dynasty, and Jesus
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The
BeeGees, Duck Dynasty, and Jesus
Garage-sale-blocked again, the
one-lane road
Hosts cars on both sides, and oxygened-men
Defiantly aluminum-caning the
middle
In their Quixotic quest for
eternal youth
The BeeGees, Duck Dynasty, and
Jesus
On collectible plates and VHS
tapes
Marilyn and Elvis bourbon
decanters
Chinese-made MAGA caps in camouflage
“They just don’t make things
like they used to do” -
Which is true, indeed, for
them, and me, and you
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Supervising Elections in an Underdeveloped Nation
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Supervising
Elections in an Underdeveloped Nation
It well may be that civilized
nations
Will send us soldiers to patrol
our rubbled streets
And at each poll post tanks and
squads of men
To ensure that our elections
are fair
Their soldiers will pat our children
on their heads
And give them chocolate bars
and chewing gum
While practicing their
Americanese from little books:
“Where is please coffee shop
thank you we are friends”
And propping up each mayor and
governor here
A sturdy German, Pole, or Czech
will stand
(and
sneer)
Friday, October 2, 2020
If You Sing a Song and No One Hears It
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
If
You Sing a Song and No One Hears It
If you sing a song and no one
hears it
The song is heard
If you write a poem and no one
reads it
The poem is read
If you draw a picture and no
one sees it
The picture is seen
If you read a book and no one
knows it
The book is known
If you speak of love, and there
is no love –
Oh, yes, there is
When you give something to the
universe
It was given to you first
And you have kindly sent it on
Thursday, October 1, 2020
Ceilings Breaking Glass Icons
Lawrence Hall
Ceilings Breaking Glass
Icons
Newsies, both in print and on the telescreens, seem
unable to refer to anyone who has died as other than an icon. As a metaphor,
this never worked well anyway, as an icon is a two-dimension painting or
drawing – the Orthodox term is “written” – of a religious figure for inspiration.
Obviously a human being, alive or dead,
cannot be an icon in any meaningful sense, although he or she might someday
appear on an icon after ecclesiastical investigation, documentation, and recognition
a life of recognized saintliness. But since
the metaphor has been spun out daily for years, possibly decades, it is time to
let it go.
“Icon” has long since joined “give you the shirt off his
back,” “never met a stranger,” “his word was his bond,” “they broke the mold when
they made him,” and other funerary imagery as filler-language that says
nothing. If we mean to praise someone, let us do so in good, plain, declarative
sentences, and forego all the babble that everyone trots out for everyone else.
In the run-up to All Souls and All Saints, secularized as
“Halloween” with its purportedly pagan Celtic origins, “Spooktacular” infests
advertisements as a variation of “spectacular.” Every advertisement and every
fund-raiser is gas-filled by dull and lazy writers as “spooktacular.” Please,
don’t. Just don’t.
Another contemporary failure in speaking and writing is
the excessive use of adjectives and adverbs. Or to put it in another way, “Another
absolutely contemporary failure, actually, in actually speaking and actually writing,
actually, is the unnecessary excessive and repetitive and pointless use of so
many overwhelmingly redundant adjectives and really and truly excessive adverbs,
actually.”
The best way to say something is to do so without any
adjectives and adverbs, in the plainest way possible, and so clearly that it
cannot be taken as meaning anything other than what the speaker intended.
And while your ‘umble scrivener is being grumpy, let’s
also get rid of that “he must have had a pre-existing condition” thing as a
weak deflection when discussing the CV. We all have pre-existing conditions;
no one is perfect physically. Some people say “pre-existing condition” as if 200,000+
of our fellow pilgrims here on earth deserved to die. If a child is eaten by an
alligator someone will defend the alligator’s violence with, “well, the kid had
a pre-existing condition,” and of course “the alligators were here first.”
Use the brain God gave you. Wear your mask. Keep your
distance. Act right. Wash. This is real.
-30-
The Cruise of HMS Disreputable
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
https://poeticdrivel.blogspot.com/
The
Cruise of HMS Disreputable
For
myself,
I knew as soon as I could read and write
That I must be a poet.
-Sir John Betjeman
I left Mesquite and broken promises
In the after-market rear-view
mirror
Bolted to the wing of my
third-hand MG
And rattled along that magic
road to the west
Sleeping bag, Olivetti portable
Dostoyevsky, Yevtushenko, some
clothes
An honorable discharge from a dishonorable
war
A few undistinguished undergraduate
credits
And now…
I have left behind my Nobel
acceptance speech
Because the journey will have to
be enough
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Bitter Old Men Yelping at Each Other
Bitter
Old Men Yelping at Each Other
(rather
like some of the in-laws over Christmas dinner)
“Language, the home and receptacle of beauty and
meaning….”
-Doctor Zhivago, p. 437
My country, ‘tis of thee
“Get out of your
bunker and get out of the sand trap!”
Sweet land of liberty
“What do you want
to call them? Give me a name. Give me a name!”
Of thee I sing
“It’s hard to get
a word in with this clown.”
Land where my fathers died
“Proud Boys,
stand back and stand by!”
Land of the pilgrims’ pride
“He’s Putin’s
puppet!”
From every mountain side
“You can’t even
say the word ‘law enforcement!’”
Let freedom ring
“Will you shut
up, man?!”
(No apologies to Samuel
Francis Smith; he pinched the tune from “God Save the Queen.” As for the angry
old men, they are entirely our own.)
Monday, September 28, 2020
We Greatly Value Your Opinion - Except When We Don't
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
We Greatly Value
Your Opinion – Except When We Don’t
I. We Love Hearing
from You!
Dear Book Lover,
Thank you for being a part of our panel.
We appreciate having a group of book lovers
That we can learn from! We have crafted a fun
And interactive survey related to books
About health, well-being, and spirituality,
And we would appreciate If you would
Take part as we greatly value your opinion.
The survey should take no longer than
5-10 minutes of your time. We hope
You'll participate - we love hearing from you!
Warm regards,
The Penguin Random House Reader Insight Team
II. We’re Looking
for a Different Type [sniff] of Reader
Thank you for your interest in participating.
We're looking for a different type of reader
For this survey, but we hope to hear from you
Another time!
Sunday, September 27, 2020
To a Ball-Cap Commando Wearing his Semi-Automatic Albatross
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
To a Ball-Cap Commando Wearing his
Semi-Automatic Albatross
Instead of the cross, the
albatross
About my neck was hung
-Coleridge, Rime of the
Ancient Mariner
An albatross
seems hung from around your neck
Or maybe you are
hugging it to your heart
That steel and
plastic engine of death-tech
That seductive vanity
of satanic art
Where are you
strutting with your deadly toy?
Why are you
posing like a comic-book commando?
Oh, be a man,
and not a dullard boy
You’re ‘way too
old to play at G.I. Joe
There’s anger enough,
and no more hate to give -
That albatross: get
rid of it
and live
Saturday, September 26, 2020
The Petrograd Paradigm - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
The Petrograd Paradigm
He has more than a touch of Komarovsky
Loyal
to nothing but his appetites
Cigars,
sensualties, sins, and souls
All
of them casually disposable
He
gives more than a touch of Komarovsky
He
whips the dogs, and tests the snow to know
If
it blows from the east or from the west
And
throws his latest values to the wolves
He
takes more than a touch of Komarovsky
Asking
the oldest question: “What’s in it for me?”
Friday, September 25, 2020
Decolonize Unpacking Actualization
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
Decolonize
Unpacking Actualization
Let’s unpack the cliches and
hyperbole
The nuclear option and we’ve
got this
What we know now we have our
options frontline
Off the table Armageddon option
Privileged out of an abundance
of caution
Like an actual warzone actually
Or forging a road, a path, a
plan
(Says he who never saw a
blacksmith’s forge)
Decolonize decolonization
And actuate actualization
(By blazing a trail that
unlocks the future)
Kristin Hannah's Winter Garden, Sort Of
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
Kristin Hannah’s Winter Garden, Sort Of
Not, not mine: it’s somebody else’s wound.
I could have have borne it. So take the thing
That happened, hide it, stick it in the ground.
Whisk the lamps away…
Night.
-Anna Akhmatova,
As quoted by Kristin Hannah
One day this summer I (masked) was in the drugstore for my monthly refill, and the pharmacist, James Lee Elliott (also masked), asked me what I was reading lately.
I mentioned my recent fondness for poetry, especially English and Russian (in translation, of course), which like any American lad I had despised in my callow youth. Take a boy who loves Robin Hood and mindless cowboy shoot-‘em-ups and place before him names like Edna St. Vincent Millay, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Algernon Swinburne, and Dante Gabriel Rosetti and you will encounter fierce resistance. If they had been named Kitty, Rocky, Shotgun, and Lefty, maybe not.
James Lee mentioned that he really liked Kristin Hannah’s novels, which I pooh-poohed as chick-lit. He assured me that they are really good, and that with my love of Russian literature I would appreciate Winter Garden, parts of which are set in Leningrad (nee’ Saint Petersburg then Petrograd then Leningrad and now Saint Petersburg again, as is right and just).
In the event I gave the book a quick look when the local Barnes & Noble reopened. To me (here I risk the stern disapproval of Kristin Hannah’s many fans), the characters seem to be two-dimensional wish-fulfillment stereotypes, and the writer describes a morning sky as “cerulean” (p. 53), the favorite adjective of every beginning poet. Bad enough, but then there’s this line: “Take me to bed, Daniel Flynn. Get me through this night” (37).
Daniel Flynn did not flee, but I did, and put the book back.
And then James Lee died. As a health care professional he served the needs of dozens of people every day, and at some point caught the corona virus while performing the duties God expected of him. In doing so became one of the 200,000 Americans (so far) to die of a pestilence which millions of other Americans deny exists.
He was my merry pharmacist. I taught his children. We were speaking of books and ribbing each other one day, and then within a few weeks he was dead.
I went back to Barnes & Noble and bought the book James Lee had recommended.
And I still didn’t like it. James Lee mentioned that much of Winter Garden is set in Leningrad, so I went in search of those bits and was much rewarded in them.
Here I must praise Kristin Hannah for her thorough research into Leningrad and The 900 Days, and for her brilliant – brilliant – rendering of a woman and her children enduring the obscene cruelties of Communism and then the even more obscene Nazi siege. Most of them die – Hannah spares the reader none of the horrors.
When the grandmother succumbs to cold and starvation, the protagonist writes, “Thankfully, Sasha is in the army, so we only have to stand in line a few hours for a death certificate” (341).
That was Leningrad in 1941; in contemporary America the family of another friend who died of the CV had to wait months for a death certificate, without which they could not bury him. And, no, I’m not comparing The 900 Days with the CV; I simply make an observation.
I wish Kristin Hannah had centered her story in Leningrad instead of framing the strongest and most skilled narrative only as an expository device to explain the behaviors of the modern characters. She has a gift for serious historical research and then building good, solid fictional narratives upon that research. Winter Garden is certainly worth reading for that. And she quotes the great Anna Ahkmatova - how many American writers do that?
Thank you, Kristin Hannah, and thank you, James Lee Elliott, for good parenting, good pharmacy-ing, good reading, and good fun.
“Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and make perpetual Light to shine upon him.”
-30-
Friday, September 18, 2020
Google has made a mess of their Blogger, so I am back on: https://hellopoetry.com/
https://hellopoetry.com/
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Bumper Cars, Airlines, Soldiers, Alligators, Children, and You - third attempt
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
Poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Underground Bumper Cars, Airline Employees,
Soldiers, Alligators, Children, and You
According to Observer.com, A subsidiary of Elon Musk is constructing tunnels under Las Vegas so that people may be shuttled via robotic cars from one shuttered location to another shuttered location. The first part of the route is to open in 2021, but only virtually.
I suppose “virtually” means you can watch it on television, so what’s the point? The subsidiary is named The Boring Company, which seems appropriate.
And if you ever get to be shuttled around beneath the earth, what about the danger from giant radioactive worms and the Lizard People?
+ + +
The Wall Street Journal reports that beginning in October airlines will have to start laying off thousands of employees. I suppose after that they will show up at your door and charge you $25 for each extra suitcase you own. But if they ask for something to eat you can tell them that you ran out of lunch entrees 20 rows back and coffee 10 rows back, just like Air Canada.
+ + +
So far this year 28 soldiers have died or been murdered at Fort Hood. And still there are people who think conscription should be reinstated. They mean your children, not theirs.
+ + +
Numerous sources have reported on a 12- or 13-foot alligator swimming through someone’s yard in Pensacola during the recent wild rains.
There is a remedy for an alligator in one’s yard, but you’ll go to prison for it.
After all, alligators were here first (chant it as a mantra).
If the alligator eats your child, someone will dismiss your baby’s life with, “Oh, well, the kid had a pre-existing condition.” Everyone has a pre-existing condition; there are no flawless humans. The way some people say “pre-existing condition” seems to infer that the victim had it coming.
+ + +
Far away and long ago I had occasion to wear a steel helmet to help protect my life. I did not complain about it or say that it made me look silly (I look silly anyway), and I did not feel that my 1st Amendment rights were being violated. True, the helmet would not have protected me from a 40-mike-mike. It wasn’t meant to.
Far away and long ago I had occasion also to wear a flak jacket. True, the flak jacket would not have protected me from a mortar round. It wasn’t meant to.
When I worked offshore I wore a nifty plastic helmet. True, the hard hat would not have protected me from a falling beam. It wasn’t meant to.
When I worked my way through school as an LVN (I was the first male LVN I ever knew; I suppose there was a glass ceiling or glass floor or something) I sometimes had occasion to wear a mask to help protect patients. And you can bet that I made sure that protection happened.
And now I wear a patriotic Texas Lone Star mask in order to help protect others. True, it is no defense against rocket grenades, mortar rounds, or falling beams, but it is a part of one’s personal defensive perimeter, along with good hygiene and distancing.
Wear the mask. It’s not about you; it’s about the vulnerable.
-30-
Bumper Cars, Airlines, Soldiers, Alligators, Children, and You - second attempt
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
Poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Underground Bumper Cars, Airline Employees,
Soldiers, Alligators, Children, and You
According to Observer.com, A subsidiary of Elon Musk is constructing tunnels under Las Vegas so that people may be shuttled via robotic cars from one shuttered location to another shuttered location. The first part of the route is to open in 2021, but only virtually.
I suppose “virtually” means you can watch it on television, so what’s the point? The subsidiary is named The Boring Company, which seems appropriate.
And if you ever get to be shuttled around beneath the earth, what about the danger from giant radioactive worms and the Lizard People?
+ + +
The Wall Street Journal reports that beginning in October airlines will have to start laying off thousands of employees. I suppose after that they will show up at your door and charge you $25 for each extra suitcase you own. But if they ask for something to eat you can tell them that you ran out of lunch entrees 20 rows back and coffee 10 rows back, just like Air Canada.
+ + +
So far this year 28 soldiers have died or been murdered at Fort Hood. And still there are people who think conscription should be reinstated. They mean your children, not theirs.
+ + +
Numerous sources have reported on a 12- or 13-foot alligator swimming through someone’s yard in Pensacola during the recent wild rains.
There is a remedy for an alligator in one’s yard, but you’ll go to prison for it.
After all, alligators were here first (chant it as a mantra).
If the alligator eats your child, someone will dismiss your baby’s life with, “Oh, well, the kid had a pre-existing condition.” Everyone has a pre-existing condition; there are no flawless humans. The way some people say “pre-existing condition” seems to infer that the victim had it coming.
+ + +
Far away and long ago I had occasion to wear a steel helmet to help protect my life. I did not complain about it or say that it made me look silly (I look silly anyway), and I did not feel that my 1st Amendment rights were being violated. True, the helmet would not have protected me from a 40-mike-mike. It wasn’t meant to.
Far away and long ago I had occasion also to wear a flak jacket. True, the flak jacket would not have protected me from a mortar round. It wasn’t meant to.
When I worked offshore I wore a nifty plastic helmet. True, the hard hat would not have protected me from a falling beam. It wasn’t meant to.
When I worked my way through school as an LVN (I was the first male LVN I ever knew; I suppose there was a glass ceiling or glass floor or something) I sometimes had occasion to wear a mask to help protect patients. And you can bet that I made sure that protection happened.
And now I wear a patriotic Texas Lone Star mask in order to help protect others. True, it is no defense against rocket grenades, mortar rounds, or falling beams, but it is a part of one’s personal defensive perimeter, along with good hygiene and distancing.
Wear the mask. It’s not about you; it’s about the vulnerable.
-30-
Bumper Cars, Airlines, Soldiers, Alligators, Children, and You - weekly column, and I have no idea how the formatting will work
Lawrence Hall, HSG Mhall46184@aol.com Poeticdrivel.blogspot.com Underground Bumper Cars, Airline Employees, Soldiers, Alligators, Children, and You According to Observer.com, A subsidiary of Elon Musk is constructing tunnels under Las Vegas so that people may be shuttled via robotic cars from one shuttered location to another shuttered location. The first part of the route is to open in 2021, but only virtually. I suppose “virtually” means you can watch it on television, so what’s the point? The subsidiary is named The Boring Company, which seems appropriate. And if you ever get to be shuttled around beneath the earth, what about the danger from giant radioactive worms and the Lizard People? + + + The Wall Street Journal reports that beginning in October airlines will have to start laying off thousands of employees. I suppose after that they will show up at your door and charge you $25 for each extra suitcase you own. But if they ask for something to eat you can tell them that you ran out of lunch entrees 20 rows back and coffee 10 rows back, just like Air Canada. + + + So far this year 28 soldiers have died or been murdered at Fort Hood. And still there are people who think conscription should be reinstated. They mean your children, not theirs. + + + Numerous sources have reported on a 12- or 13-foot alligator swimming through someone’s yard in Pensacola during the recent wild rains. There is a remedy for an alligator in one’s yard, but you’ll go to prison for it. After all, alligators were here first (chant it as a mantra). If the alligator eats your child, someone will dismiss your baby’s life with, “Oh, well, the kid had a pre-existing condition.” Everyone has a pre-existing condition; there are no flawless humans. The way some people say “pre-existing condition” seems to infer that the victim had it coming. + + + Far away and long ago I had occasion to wear a steel helmet to help protect my life. I did not complain about it or say that it made me look silly (I look silly anyway), and I did not feel that my 1st Amendment rights were being violated. True, the helmet would not have protected me from a 40-mike-mike. It wasn’t meant to. Far away and long ago I had occasion also to wear a flak jacket. True, the flak jacket would not have protected me from a mortar round. It wasn’t meant to. When I worked offshore I wore a nifty plastic helmet. True, the hard hat would not have protected me from a falling beam. It wasn’t meant to. When I worked my way through school as an LVN (I was the first male LVN I ever knew; I suppose there was a glass ceiling or glass floor or something) I sometimes had occasion to wear a mask to help protect patients. And you can bet that I made sure that protection happened. And now I wear a patriotic Texas Lone Star mask in order to help protect others. True, it is no defense against rocket grenades, mortar rounds, or falling beams, but it is a part of one’s personal defensive perimeter, along with good hygiene and distancing. Wear the mask. It’s not about you; it’s about the vulnerable. -30-
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