Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
WORDLE for Dullards Like Me
E A G L E
X A X X X
B A D G E
X A X X X
L A T C H
X A X X X
H A R M S
X A X X X
M A T E R
X A X X X
H A I R S
X A X X X
R A T S S
NOT IN WORD LIST
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Be Still, and Bring Your Attention to Your
Breath
And so we find ourselves
obeying a watch:
Be still, and bring your
attention to your breath
We do, and watch an
aquamarine lotus
Glowing and growing and
pulsing before our eyes
Now inhale
And ponder the mysteries of
respirations
Breathe in the air that was
always here
From Creation until now and
beyond
A mystic stream through all
living things
And exhale
Giving back to all that which
was given
Knowing that it will be
enriched and returned
Lawrence Hall, HSG
The Love Boat Hoists
the Jolly Roger
According to numerous sources, the Crystal Symphony
(which is a ship, not a mineral or a musical) has failed to make its scheduled
landing in Miami and has fled to the Bahamas to avoid arrest for over a million
dollars in unpaid fuel bills.
Hmmm…will you take a Shell card? Exxon?
“Harrrgh!”
The Crystal Symphony, operated by Genting Hong
Kong Ltd. (Hong Kong) and registered in the Bahamas, owes a BIG fuel bill to Peninsula
Petroleum Far East Pte. Ltd. (Singapore). Peninsula Petroleum has filed for a
judgment against Genting in the Supreme Court of Bermuda (now called a British
Overseas Territory because we’re not supposed to say it’s a colony, so,
shhhhhhhh).
“Hoist the Jolly Roger Covid Mask! Harrrgh!”
Naturally the U.S. has been asked to solve this problem involving
at least three other nations and so on a pier in Miami a wise and weathered U.
S. Marshal sits patiently astride his mighty stallion scanning the horizon for
the errant ship.
Avast, ye mateys! Haaargh!
He’s seen ‘em all, this marshal has, cruise ships that
sail up to the Long Branch Tropic Bar and pick fights with innocent catamarans
and peaceful ferryboats. Someone usually ends up in Propeller Hill. That’s when
they call in the marshal.
“Want a beer, Matt? Harrrgh!”
Another problem is that along with 400 crewmembers there
are some 300 passengers, mostly Americans in their traditional attire of
knee-pants and cartoon tees, who were scheduled to end their cruise in the
all-American city of Miami, not in some furrin country.
“Trouble about the price of rum in Captain Ahab’s Deck
Bar? Make ‘em walk the plonk! Haaaargh! Plonk, not plank. Get it? Ha, ha.
Thus, the captain of the Crystal Symphony has apparently
taken some 700 people against their will (maybe; the Bahamas must be nice this
time of year).
“Send ‘em to Davy Jones’ locker & Health Spa! Harrrgh!”
This will give the passengers lots of stories to tell
their grandchildren: “Yes, lad, I was aboard the good ol’ Crystal Symphony
when she went rogue. One morning my Belgian waffles were undercooked; I won a
big settlement for my PTSD over that.”
“So there be mutiny at the breakfast buffet, eh? Harrrgh!”
Yes, my friends, this has been a sea story about the
fateful cruise of the Crystal Symphony, of pirates and abductions and
mutinies and, yes, a glass of cheap merlot shed on the shuffleboard deck during
a desperate struggle for mastery of the Atlantic Go Around Hanger.
“Harrrgh!”
-30-
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
No Revolution Today, Thank You
Sure, I miss standing in
formation at dawn
The quick inspection and loud
verbal abuse
Rushing through a steel-tray
breakfast in rows
And marching to the rifle
range in rows
Sure, I miss formation in the
dawn of life
Slinging a rifle over my
skinny shoulder
Thrilling to “BATTALION! PASS
IN REVIEW!
RIGHT SHOULDER ARMS, AND PASS IN REVIEW!”
As did my fathers back to the
Civil War
But that was what I did, not
who I was -
I took an oath to the
Constitution
And not to some fat slob who
needs a shave
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
So was I Born to Wear a
Slogan Tee?
So was I born to wear a
slogan tee
Or an influencer’s
autographed g-strings?
Is this why the Lord God
created me -
To be a follower, a buyer
of things?
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Our Dreams are Lost
Somewhere along the Supply Chain
I needed
a dream but I wasn’t given one
So I had
to construct it for myself
It
wasn’t very good. Dreams should be left
To the
professionals, but where are they?
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Whatever Happened to all our Little
Notebooks?
We all saw the same
old bumper sticker:
This is not a
rehearsal; this is your life
And so we carried
little notebooks around
Discreetly jotting
down the overheards
In coffee shops and
class, the mid-night shift
The bus to work, the
elevator up
The escalator down,
the line at the bank
For the poems or
plays or novels we’d write
The cafeteria was a
notebook itself
Between the salad and
dessert we fell in love
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
What Awakened You?
The bedside clock glows an
hour you cannot read
Because your eyes of full of
fuzzy sleep
And your mind of
half-remembered dreams
Of a better time when – but
it’s slipped away
Moonlight and moonshadows
silver the silence
You went to sleep in a
different world
And woke up in this one – is
it the same?
At magic o’clock this one
seems more real
What woke you up? A breath, a
sigh, a song?
What woke you up? Maybe it
was love
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Who Betrayed Anne
Frank?
A spokesman for the F.B.I.
Notes that Jewish hostages were taken
At a synagogue on Shabbos
And concludes that the attack
“Was not specifically related
To the Jewish community”
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Rod McKuen at a Garage Sale
We don’t know who Baby Booger
and Tommie were
They sent each other notes
and underlines
And colored slips of paper
from page to page
In Someone’s Shadow (“Hardbacks 25 Cents”)
The exuberance of adolescent
arcs
Reminds us of our long-ago
callow youth
When we thought we had discovered
something
In secretly sharing free
verse in home room
And we had – indulging in
forbidden lines
Is still good therapy for
being sixteen
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
The Serpent and his
MePhone
“Truth? What is that?”
-Pontius Pilate
The tactical response to the hostage situation in
Colleyville, Texas last week was brave and brilliant. All other questions remain open.
The terrorist’s family assures us that the terrorist was
not a terrorist, that he instead suffered mental issues [British synagogue terrorist's family apologise to hostages
and reveal they spoke with him during siege (telegraph.co.uk)]. If
this is so:
1. How did a man purportedly suffering mental issues acquire
a passport?
2. Who funded his international and local travel?
3. How did a British subject acquire a firearm in this
country?
4. If the man carried explosives (as of this writing this
has not been confirmed), how and where
did he acquire them?
5. Why did he identify and target a small synagogue in Texas?
These are all complex skills requiring a purpose and a
plan in following sequenced steps. Someone with diminished capacity could not
carry them out.
According to CBS [FBI Dallas
Identifies Colleyville Synagogue Hostage Taker As Malik Faisal Akram – CBS
Dallas / Fort Worth (cbslocal.com)], “FBI Special Agent in Charge
Matthew DeSarno…said the hostage-taker was specifically focused on an issue not
directly connected to the Jewish community…”
If this is accurate, why did the man target a synagogue
instead of a cinema or a coffee shop or a church? Does the F.B.I. expect us to
believe that a terrorist attacking Jews at prayer in a synagogue wasn’t really meaning
to attack Jews at prayer in a synagogue?
One thing we can know, even if it is only by inference,
is that somebody taught poor Mr. Akram to hate. He was unable to still the echoing
voices in his head even for an hour and listen to Rabbi Cytron-Walker, by all
accounts a reconciler honored by all who know him.
Unfortunately, hate is a valuable commodity among us now,
attracting advertising revenue by appealing to the evil that, like the serpent
in Eden, still slithers in us. To consider the reader responses on popular news
sites on the InterGossip is to realize that the psychology of the lynch mob and
the witch-burners is perhaps stronger among us than ever. The responses to a
news report of some alleged crime are frequently demands for the immediate
death, usually by grotesque tortures, of someone unknown to the reader.
There is no evidence beyond the tiny images on the
MePhone, but they are enough for anger and indignation and profitable advertising
points. It is an essential of what is known as the cancel culture.
And if telescreened gossip results in anger and indignation
and even violence turned against you or me, well, the advertisers will like
that just fine.
-30-
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Rubik’s Cubicle
When a problem is solved, another
spins ‘round
When that problem is solved,
two others spin back
When those problems are
solved, chaos begins
Everything depends on
everything else
When a date is set, another
unsets
When that date is set, two
others get lot
When those dates are found,
chaos begins
Everyone depends on everyone
else
A wise man learns that chaos
begins
When the Rubik’s cube of life
backspins
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Butch and Sundance: The Latest Remake
Union Pacific: Train Robberies Up 356%...
-News Item
Narrator, old cowboy geezer sitting on the
porch and smoking his pipe:
Well, now, Butch and Sundance
(I’ll tell you no lies)
Stop the U.P. right in its
trackages
And glaring at the passengers
one of ‘em cries:
“All y’all hand over yer
Amazon packages!”
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Aspirin as One of the Basic Food Groups
An inhaler for each wheezery
lung
Aspirin for the pain that has
gone to my head
Gargle for the gunk that’s
coating my tongue
Green slime by the cup when I
go to bed
Whatever it’s all from –
dust, must, or mold
I just wanna be rid of this
miserable cold!
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
A Little Lady Smoking a Big Cigar
In the drive-through line at Jenny’s Fried Chicken
Middle-aged, petite, wearing
a pixie-cut
Dangly earrings and old blue
overalls
And a frown on her face, she
left her car
And walked around it
disapprovingly
Her inspection complete, she
stepped back in
But she still wasn’t happy
with the world
Given the defiant angle of
her cigar
A thrust against all
importunities
Her smoke was a warning to
all: you’d best keep clear
And I don’t know why (I
didn’t dare ask)
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
An Electric Light Bulb
An
electric light bulb is a marvelous thing
A globe
of glass and gas and wires within
You can
almost hear the filaments sing
When
light upon a page lets your reading begin
By what
magic does this wonderful device
Receive
invisible aethers from long wires
This
strange glowing pearl beyond any price
As it
relights from Sol its little fires
An
electric light bulb is a poet’s delight
Framing
pentameter all through the night
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Even So, Someone’s Got to
Milk the Cows
U.S. Covid-19 Cases Set to Triple Pre-Omicron
Record
-Wall Street Journal, 10 January 2022
The
pharmacies have no more Covid tests
The
supermarkets no paper for the loo
The people feel that masks
and jabs are jests
The
government replays each Fauci-boo-boo
The
Qanons tell us it’s just the ‘flu
The
sheeple, they say, are easily led
Others
that horse paste is the thing to do
The
hospitals haven’t another bed
The
cynics assure us we have nothing to dread
But some
use their stimulus checks to bury their dead
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Looking Back on the Day
Looking back
on the day – did I give thanks?
I lazed over
my coffee and the morning news
Noted the
crows and the morning’s light frost
But that’s not
good enough
I washed the
dishes and a load of clothes
Looked into a
novel and a poetry book
Sorted laundry
and fed the squirrels and birds
And that’s not
good enough
One give
thanks for another day of life
By making that
day what it should be
