Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Because It Looks Like a Lab Specimen
Some suggested that a cup of
green tea
Would be a help for whatever
ails ya
But I must say that it looks
like P
So in that, at least, it
really fails ya
(But I love a good cuppa black tea / schwarztee.)
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Swastikas
over Ottawa
I am not anti-American. But I
am strongly pro-Canadian.
-John Diefenbaker
Dear Canada, your home and native land
Has been an inspiration to the world
Your wise and happy Charter of Rights and
Freedoms
Is a blessing you have shared with all
Dear Canada, who has now ordered you
To permit foul banners of obscene hate
To scream obscenities at each other
To desecrate the memorials of your peoples
In sum, Dear Canada –
Why in the hell are some of you acting like
Yanks?
Doug Ford issues statement condemning ‘symbols of hate’ at
Ottawa protest | Only Canada News
Freedom Convoy: Truckers cause chaos in Ottawa after second
day of protests (yahoo.com)
Anti-vaccine protest in Canada spurs outrage amid COVID-19
Omicron variant outbreak (wkbn.com)
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Picking up a Cardboard Box at the Nursing Home
In a cardboard box: a Rosary,
glasses
A change of clothes, a pair
of shoes, some socks
The miscellaneous bits and
bobs of life
At the end of it
The nurses’ aide says she
will pray for him
And probably she will; she
seems nice
And truly everyone has been
nice but now
It’s time to go
Some of the staff are on a
cigarette break
On picnic benches out front –
life goes on
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Shouting Out
Disease
“I want no more thinking!”
-Henry II to his barons in Becket
Soap for washing hands is not Republican
Eyeglasses never claim to be Democrat
Toothbrushes cannot be Communist plots
Antibiotics are not Nazi schemes
A pressure bandage has no Socialist leanings
Shampoo is not an expression of Fascism
Antihistamines never speak of the Falange
And nose drops never sing “The East is Red”
But when the topic of the Covid comes up
The flags are unfurled and the chanting begins
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Pam from The Office Goes to War
A young woman drills with a
wooden rifle
She looks like Pam Beesly
from The Office
An old man checks his antique
shotgun’s breech
He looks like Grandpa going
out for rabbits
The Ukraine is preparing for war
In a bunker a young man
cuddles a cat
He looks like he should be
driving a truck
An old woman practices field
medicine
She looks like she’s done
this before
The Ukraine is preparing for
war
They all may die under
Russian tank treads
Their government will watch on
television
(For that’s how our leaders
prepare for war)
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
TAB Cola
This week we read that TAB Cola will no longer be
manufactured. This comes as a surprise to most of us, who didn’t know it still
existed.
TAB Cola, a product of the Coca-Cola company, dates back
to ye olden days of the IBM Selectric Typewriter, Sears, and Chesterfield
cigarettes at 10 cents a pack.
The first and maybe the only TAB Cola I drank was at Dr.
Moore’s office after getting a shot for something or other when I was a barefoot
lad. Yes, I was an anti-vaxxer, but I was only ten years old. Either Coca-Cola
or a distributor had given Dr. Moore, of happy memory, a case or two, promoting
TAB as a health drink because it contained artificial sweeteners instead of
sugar.
In those days, when Studebakers still roamed the earth,
TAB came in a glass bottle with sharp serrations so you wouldn’t drop it. The
design of its last container clearly dates from the late 1960s or early 1970s, a
bright purplish-red can with ‘way-cool happenin’ lettering. The container
itself would be worth keeping as an artifact of its time.
Another surprise is that Coca-Cola’s awful Fresca drink
still exists. That is inexplicable, because I don’t know that anyone ever
finished a Fresca. For a time I was stationed at the last outpost (kinda like
that Ronald Reagan movie, only with boats instead of horses and swamp instead of
desert) on this side of the Cambodian border.
Because we were at the end of the supply line we received
only whatever had not been taken off the boat by the previous posts. They got
the Coca-Cola and we got the Fresca.
We threw the Fresca over the wire to the children, who
promptly threw it back with some language that was probably rude.
We often shared our food with them, but their reaction to
the ham-and-lima-beans in C-rations was pretty much the same. But they weren’t
doing without; it was ironic to see a ten-year-old smoking Marlboros when the smokers
among us couldn’t get any cigarettes at all. Some Navy storekeeper back down
the river probably paid for a new car to be waiting for him stateside with his
profits from the black market.
But the Fresca was always safe.
CNN (yes, yes, I know...) says (Coke killed Tab soda. Meet the superfans trying to save it -
CNN) that Coca-Cola offers hundreds of different brands of
belly-wash, and most of them just don’t sell well. They have to go.
Maybe the last cases of TAB will be delivered in AMC
Pacers or Ford Pintos.
-30-
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
When the Ambulance Arrived
When the
ambulance arrived the medics
Pushing
and pulling the gurney in and out
Knocked
the latch from the jamb, which no one noticed
But
later someone else found the door open
I walked
across the road with a bag of tools
And
fixed the latch with a couple of screws
Easily enough,
a wooden door that opened
To
Christmases and homecomings and life
The door
is now secure, but I don’t think
The
owner will ever walk through it again
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Remembering Rod McKuen
But of course some are vituperative
– they aren’t him
The young still read his
books, discreetly now
Because he isn’t cool in this
unhappy time
The old still read his books
– he saved their youth
But of course some are
vituperative – they aren’t you
The young will read your books
someday and know
That you have captured on
paper their lives
And they will give their
hearts freely to you
I hear that you are thinking
of giving up poetry
You shouldn’t, you know –
because while it is true
That you have a gift, you
should always remember
That you are a gift,
and the young need you
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Loved Expressed Through Committee Assignments
Do people really love each
other today
Or do they negotiate
partnering
As if falling in love, or out
again
Requires codicils and
signatures
Is a rumpled sheet evidence
of passion
Or that the party of the
second part
Neglected to observe the
laundry schedule
Worked out in the last
committee meeting
No
There is love
When one hand shyly reaches
out to another
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
No
When you say no
To a baby or a dachshund
Someone’s feelings are hurt
So you pick up the baby or
the dachshund
And apologize
Which doesn’t make sense
Because sometimes no
Is what needs to be said
But still it hurts
Even though you say
I’m sorry
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The Shooter Possessed
He clutches his demonic delusions
While yelping out his
programmed three-beat chants
In a closed loop of mindless
obedience
Celebrating the poison fed to
him
He clutches his envies and
resentments
Until they explode from his
magic gun -
When vanities collapse in blood and smoke
And he is abandoned, a howling soul
He clutches at his weeping concrete blocks
While
those who sent him clutch their single-malt
Cf. Dostoyevsky’s The
Possessed / The Devils
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
