A marvel for children and old men.
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Winter Solstice - Two MePhone Photographs, Autumn / Winter, 21 December 2021
Everyone Writes a Poem about the Winter Solstice - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Everyone Writes a Poem about the Winter
Solstice
The moon is falling away from the full
The axis of the earth will briefly pause
Planets and stars align as the Maker wills
And we wonder if we can sense our world
Our world as she shivers across the night
We must light a hilltop fire for her
So that she will spin the light back to us
While we search the heavens for that star
That star that led us to a stable long ago
And now bathes our souls with its silver glow
Monday, December 20, 2021
Decorating for Christmas - "What Can I Do?" - poem
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Decorating for Christmas – “What Can I Do?”
A little girl
tugged at my arm and asked
“But what can I
do?”
I sent her to
Senora Anil because I didn’t know
She came to me
again and sadly asked
“But what can I
do?”
I sent her to Miz
Bev because I didn’t know
She came to me
once again and sadly asked
“But what can I
do?”
I sent her to
Senor Nicho because I didn’t know
Some sturdy young
men brought in the Creche
And there the
little girl knelt and placed the straw
And then each
figure in turn; she talked to them
And cautioned
them all to keep Baby Jesus warm
And that’s
what a little girl can do
Sunday, December 19, 2021
Toy Trains, Grandmother's Good China, and Children - weekly column 19 December 2021
Poetricdrivel.blogspot.com
Toy Trains, Grandmother’s Good China, and Children
As Inspector Barnaby
says in one of the Midsomer Mysteries, we can’t recover the past; that’s
why it’s the past.
Childhood
Christmases are often the metaphorical benchmark for our present Christmases,
and that won’t do. The magic of opening a package under the tree on Christmas
morning is for little children; it won’t work for us and it’s not meant to. And
that’s okay. Besides, at some point in all the visiting we’re going to be
privileged to watch children open their presents, and we’ll get to share a
little of their magic, like a puff of pixie dust.
In the run-up to
Christmas there was for over a century a little commercial magic in the Sears & Roebuck catalogue,
but that disappeared long ago and after this Christmas the few remaining Sears
stores are going away too. Where, then, can little boys go to see the magic of toy
trains running on multiple levels through a cotton-wool winter landscape? Where
did they go, the tiny little people forever waiting at a rural railway station
and the others walking, sawing wood, sitting by a window? Where are all the
little houses and stores and barns lit by miniature grain-of-wheat light bulbs?
Young adults don’t
remember walking and shopping along streets lined with shops, and their
children won’t remember shopping malls.
Ordering by
electrical mail is certainly efficient, but you can’t fit Santa Claus or a
junior high choir into a UPS truck.
Artificial Christmas
trees – bah, humbug!
One good thing about
a modern Christmas is that no one seems to stage Charles Dickens’ tedious A
Christmas Carol much anymore. When I was a child I always hoped someone
would kick Tiny Tim’s little crutch out from under him. And maybe someone did.
I wonder when
someone first said, “Christmas has become too commercialized!” Probably about
34 or 35 A.D.
How remarkable that
the appearance on the dinner table of Meemaw’s “good” china, probably from
Sears or Montgomery Ward, brought out only twice a year, can bring back all sorts
of those childhood memories I just now cautioned you against.
On Sunday morning
after Mass the teenagers assembled the Stable, and then some little children knelt
before it to arrange the hay just so, and then place almost every figure – the Infant
Jesus is brought on Christmas Eve – just so: Mary, Joseph, the crib, camels,
oxen, shepherds, wise men first in this place and then in that, talking to each
one of them about how when Christmas comes they must keep the Baby Jesus warm.
Magic.
Merry Christmas,
everyone.
-30-
Christmas in Prison - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Another Christmas Behind the Wire
The hallways of our dormitory echo
God’s holy silence on this Christmas Eve
The only light’s the Star of long ago;
It shines this night for us, whose hearts believe
For we are all now at the Manger met
Before the Altar of eternal Light
Such different personalities, and yet
We share our common faith on this rarest night
We bring our gifts to Mary’s fair-born Child:
A pen, a broom, a book, a welding rod,
A wrench, a mop, some papers neatly filed –
Our daily labors offered up to God
But silence now: offices, hallways, gym -
As silent as the streets of Bethlehem
(In the unit I visit the gym is but a slab of concrete outside; I needed the rhyme.)
Saturday, December 18, 2021
A December Sunflower but No Cigar - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
A December
Sunflower but No Cigar
While walking in the garden, thinking about things
And wishing I had a cigar, I saw a sunflower
A volunteer, a brave young volunteer
From late summer’s glorious display
Most everything around it was brown and down
Except for a few tiny timid weeds
Some withering blades of tenacious grass
And a few scruffy zinnias along the fence
In January’s frosts it will disappear
But for now, the little sunflower - and we - are here
Friday, December 17, 2021
Yeah, and the Bad Haircut Too - doggerel
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Yeah, and the Bad
Haircut Too
House Panel Subpoenas Author of January 6 PowerPoint
-news item
The times are so terribly out of joint
With cartoons and sounds replacing words
I’d have anyone arrested for a PowerPoint
For the crime of shooting us lots of birds
Thursday, December 16, 2021
The Curse of Windows 11 - doggerel
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The Curse of
Windows 11
Vista®© Risen from the Grave?
Tonight I installed Windows 11
Which scattered my folders and apps to H***
I quickly recovered Windows 10 (not much rhymes with
eleven)
Which, as we know, works perfectly well
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Where Someone Waits for You - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Where Someone
Waits for You
A plane’s navigation lights chart our dreams
To Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and the moon
And farther into the mysterious night
To somewhere far away, where adventures begin
But we are left here in December’s dark
Wondering when there will be a flight for us
When we can flee this joyless land at last
For that elusive happiness long deferred
And maybe someone there is dreaming too
And we down here can happily wonder who
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Would Robin Hood Steal a Post Office Pen to Give to the Poor? - doggerel
Would Robin Hood
Steal a Post Office Pen to Give to the Poor?
“Oh, he’s so handsome, just like his reward posters!”
-Sis in Disney’s Robin Hood, 1973
I haven’t seen a reward poster in ever so long
Post-office portraits of men grizzled and mean
Each of ‘em wanted for some felonious wrong
(And living a life uncouth and unclean)
Maybe one of ‘em stole a post office pen
$500 or a year in prison
For committing that heinous federal sin
(He told the judge he thought it was his’n)
I haven’t seen a reward poster in years
(But still I’d leave that pen alone, my dears)
Monday, December 13, 2021
Prince William Sans Culotte - rhyming doggerel
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Prince William Sans
Culotte
Prince William, Duchess Katherine, and the Children
Pose for a Christmas Snap
Is the reason for pants minus
That a pair of trousers itches?
Oh, please, Your Royal Highness -
Put on your britches!
Sunday, December 12, 2021
December Tornadoes - weekly column, 12 December 2021
Mhall46184@aol.com
December Tornadoes
In this often cynical
world we still find people whose greatest joy is to go and help other people
without any thought of personal compensation. As soon as the news about the December
tornadoes flashed across the news groups of good men and women, often
associated with churches, saddled up and rode to the sound of need.
They are taking
food, water, blankets, and other assistance to the displaced, and bringing
their chainsaws, loaders, and other power equipment for clearing debris from
roads and property so they can help the locals jump-start the years-long
process of rebuilding their homes, businesses, and lives.
The rest of us
can help by contributing wisely – wisely – to these worthy small organizations.
Two unhappy
truths require us to be careful about financial aid: (1) some of the large, legendary,
famous-name-brand charitable groups are not what they used to be, and (2) any smarmy
scoundrel can access the InterGossip, build an attractive,
professional-appearing site, and start soliciting dollars that will never buy
the first bottle of water or the first blanket for the displaced.
The best option
always is to contribute through your own church or a small local charity you
know well. Indeed, it may well be that your church or club puts together working
parties for just such emergencies, and there is where you can give.
The need is real.
Remember that most of the victims were working the night shift in factories and
warehouses, and others were in nursing homes and sometime just at home. They weren’t
paying big bucks to take rocket ship rides or for vacations in Biarritz; they
were working so their children could have a Christmas. Most of them had little;
now many of them have nothing.
And, after all,
they helped us after the hurricanes. We can do no less.
We can all give a
little something so that everyone has a hot meal and warm place to sleep, and
that the children can have presents under the Christmas tree after all.
-30-
Beaten and Shot - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Beaten and Shot
To Blessed Stanley Rother, Padre Francisco, Padre
Apla’s – a petition
Missionaries and martyrs, pray for us
That we may still our anger and intemperance
And listen not to the voices of hate
But rather to the small still voice 1 of love
Missionaries and martyrs, pray for us
That we may think before we write in blood
And resolve our differences through God’s peace
With prayer, understanding, and fellowship
Missionaries and martyrs, pray for us
That we never state a thesis as death
Blessed Stanley Rother – thank you
1 1 Kings 19:12
Saturday, December 11, 2021
Assorted Broken Saints, Some with Parts Missing - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Assorted Broken
Saints, Some with Parts Missing
A petition to Saint John Marie-Baptiste Vianney
After doing some time in this fallen world
We all are broken, and missing a few of our parts
Having lost some hopes and strengths along the way
But we keep chooglin’ along, making it work
And shoveling (life) with us, our parish priest
Just as Chaucer wrote, beginning at dawn
Five of six cylinders from church to church
Ignored by the bishop and unknown to Rome
Our daily saint in his well-worn chasuble
His old shoes squeaking to the Altar of God
Saint John Vianney, pray for our laborers
Friday, December 10, 2021
Offenders - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Offenders
to St. Jude – a petition for prisoners
In the system they’re called offenders
No one knows why; the offenses are over
Concrete dorms, three-high bunks, white uniforms
And overhead the sting of fluorescents
I’m not going all Pollyanna here
All of them know the poisonous passions of meth
The stench of blood, the sting of fluorescents
In fearing eyes in a gas station at night
The stench of cells, the sting of fluorescents
In glaring eyes in the booking area at night
Humiliations, transports, stripped and searched
Form a straight line with hands behind your backs
But still, a man’s a man
The difference between a man inside the wire
And a man outside the wire
Is often only that one man is inside the wire
And the other man is outside the wire
“For all have sinned…”
Christmas is coming
Will there be a letter from home?
St. Jude, help all of us to be better men
In spite of ourselves
Thursday, December 9, 2021
You Were in Bethlehem - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
You Were in
Bethlehem – Don’t You Remember?
Setting up the family Creche
When you were a little child you knelt before
The Infant Jesus there in Bethlehem
Among the animals you placed your toys:
Barbie and Buzz, and Woody the Cowboy too
Even the Wise Men smiled to hear you sing
To the Holy Family your baby songs
In cold Judaea in the long ago
The Christmas story is true, and you were there
And so forever
You are a Christmas child and kneel before
The Infant Jesus – here in Bethlehem
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
A Polar Bear's Diet - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
A Polar Bear’s
Diet
Do polar bears caution each other about
The dangers of eating human livers?
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
When Your Friends Let You Down, Maybe That's a Good Thing - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
When Your Friends
Let You Down – Maybe That’s a Good Thing
St. Luke 5:17-26
Letting a pal down through a hole in the roof
To free him from paralysis and sins
Sounds much like a Larry, Darryl, and Darryl goof
And maybe it is – we are blessed in our friends
Monday, December 6, 2021
He Never Met a Phor He Didn't like - poem
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
He Never Met a Phor He Didn’t Like
He never met a phor he
didn’t like
Where the dead are always
spinning in their graves
A discarded cup looks like
a war zone
And poems are unpacked
instead of read
Or hyperbole ‘WAY OVER THE
TOP!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG! OMG! OMG! OH!!!!!!!!
MY LIFE HAS BEEN CHANGED
FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!
NO ONE HAS EVER SUFFERED
AS MUCH AS I!!!!!!!!
And freighted his lines
with adverbs in rank
Until they really actually
literally sank
Banners That Fan Our People Cold - doggerel
Inferior doggerel, not otherwise posted
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Banners That Fan
Our People Cold
Where
the Norweyan banners flout the sky
And
fan our people cold
-Macbeth I.i.49-50
Banners for sale, strung on lines in the breeze
Not an American flag among the lot
But only parodies and mockeries -
Betray your country with cash on the spot
In the name of freedom a tyrant’s face
Falsely imposed over our red, white, and blue
Children will ask, in their innocent grace:
“Mommy, whatever does F*** mean to you?”
These are not our good brave flags of old
But only foulness that fans our people cold
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