Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
If This Gets into the Hands of the Russians...
Prince Caspian: “Have you pen
and ink, Master Doctor?”
Doctor Cornelius: “A scholar
is never without them, your majesty.”
-C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
My notebook – my little
pocket notebook
A worthy habit from my
long-ago youth
If this gets into the hands
of the Russians –
They’ll know all about my
dental appointments
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
An LGBTRDCST Deconstruction of Gainsborough’s Blue
Boy
Blue Boy must be examined through the lens
Of neo-post-colonial queer
theory
and LGBT hegemonism
Inverted as bourgeois
sentimentalism
It subverts the trope of
trans-feminism
As a patriarchal gesture of
scorn
Plasticized in pale
iridescent blue
And transgressive in its
imposture
Or maybe it’s some kid bribed
with a shilling
To pose for this picture, however
unwilling
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
That Woman on a Pedestal Thing
I tried to put her on a pedestal
But I didn’t have one, and
anyway
She reminded me that I was
out of line
In feeling that anyone but
herself
Could put her anywhere
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
A Master’s Degree from the Dairy Queen in Huntington,
Texas
And for The Ataman, Dr. Barbara Carr
of Happy Memory
Well, not exactly, but the
Dairy Queen
Was my late-night coffee stop
on the way home
From all those evening
classes in Nacogdoches
I should have asked the girls
to sign the diploma
(Is the juke box still broken?)
I worked on that degree for
seven years
One class at a time, sweet
Jesus, oh, yeah
And God bless Dr. Carr for
all those extensions
And the fluorescent-lit
journeys through Mother Russia
(Does the ice cream machine still make that
funny grinding noise?)
Seven years! I’m not all that
smart
But persistence is its own
kind of art
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
More
Real and More Beautiful
“This is still Narnia, and more real and more
beautiful than the Narnia down below, just as it was more real and more beautiful
than the Narnia outside the stable door!”
-Lucy in C. S. Lewis’ The
Last Battle
More of the old family land is to be sold off
Forests of my childhood and happy fields
Where breezes still ripple the summer grass
Soon to be beaten and carved as lots and plots
The bales of hay, each barefoot day – all lost
And down the hill where runs a magic rill
My Sherwood Forest will be cleared of good
trees
Its dreaming paths overlaid with sewers and
streets
And along the fence little tufts of grass
Where all those noble dogs of long ago lie
buried
My companions in all adventures
Awaiting my whistle to roam with me again
Well, I will pack them and all my childhood up
-
And someday pour them from a golden Cup
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Camouflage in Trump Country
I walk into the cafe’ wearing
a boonie hat
Although the boonies were
fifty years ago
But I don’t look like a
worthy comrade -
In Trump country you need
good camouflage
I walk into the store wearing
a barn coat
Although I have never owned a
barn
But I don’t look like an
NRA-rade -
In Trump country you need
good camouflage
A patriot shouldn’t need to
be a mirage
but -
In Trump country you need
good camouflage
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Participation Ribbons
John Wayne as Steve Williams:
“How'd you do last season?”
Charles Coburn as Father Malone: “We showed up for every
game.”
Steve Williams: “I'd say that was raw courage.”
-Trouble Along the Way (1953)
I’ve heard of participation
ribbons
But I’ve never seen one. Do
they exist?
People seem to disapprove of
them
But participation means
showing up
There are those who wake up
every morning
Feed the kids breakfast, fire
up an old car
Make the school run, and then
are off to work
At the cafe’, the store, or
the auto shop
That’s participation, all
right, and courage
A ribbon? Most folks deserve
a medal
As a farm boy, a university
dropout, a brown-water sailor, an ambulance driver, an offshore worker, a
factory hand, an LVN, a teacher, and a father I have never seen a participation
ribbon. If you, dear reader, were ever given one of those mythological constructs
I’d sure like to hear from you. And I do mean you, about the one you received,
not what you’ve read or heard.
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Each Altar is Minas Tirith
Each Altar is Minas Tirith
these days
A city of kings and of the
true King
Behind whose twice-barred
gates and golden doors
The faithful may find refuge
for a time
From here the King,
enthroned, rules over us
At his Table He gives us
seats of honor
And serves Himself to us as
food and truth
Even as dark armies swarm
outside
We are often told that we are
hopeless romantics
Oh, no
For we are hopeful romantics,
and will not yield
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
For Jack on his 16th Birthday
Music, Magic, and Father Brown
In the long ago I was reading
a book
(And doubtless thinking many
brilliant thoughts)
Sitting in my car outside Our
Lady’s Church
Waiting for some old-lady
meeting to end
And suddenly, silently, there
you were
A little boy standing at my
shoulder
Peering through the window,
and then you said
These thoughtful words: “You
look like Father Brown.”
And suddenly, silently, here
I am
Standing at your shoulder and
looking up
For now you are taller than I
– and that
Is in the nature of how
things should be
But a blessing now on your
birthday, you see
For you and Cate are always a
blessing to me!
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Of Course I Didn’t Worship at The Super Bowl
As a man who had better tend
to his soul
Of course I didn’t worship at
the Super Bowl
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Disney’s Macbeth
Upon the release of Joel Coen’s version
I want to see Macbeth
in Technicolor
Almost Disney-ish, in cheery
pastels,
With bright-lit halls and
sunny fields of flowers
And maybe Annette as Lady
Macbeth
And let Macbeth be a comely
youth
With muscular hands that
wield both sword and pen
An honest merry face that
smiles with ease
Sweet words and penitent Aves
on his lips
The world is well-lit ever
since the ark -
It is the human heart that
lurks in the dark
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
We Few, We Abandoned Few
“...the dead uncharitably enclosed in nuclear
dust...”
-not Henry V
Let us not go to war this
week or the next
Poking our explosives into
other folks’ business
Military contractors shedding
the blood of families
(Hell hath no fury like a balance sheet)
Let us not go to war this
week or the next
Flinging the children of the
poor to their deaths
While the rich party through
graduate school
(They say the fighting is
rough in Harvard Yard)
Let us not go to war this
week or the next
But instead offer up all
issues to God
Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The Morning of the Funeral
Mostly waiting. Coat and tie,
Sunday shoes
Quiet conversation. How was
your breakfast
Who’s driving the cousins to
the airport later
Do the animals have water and
food
He’s in a better place now.
Have you got the readings
Sunlight slanting to the
floor where the puppies sleep
Who’s going to unlock the
church for the flowers
Who wants a breath mint. Are
we ready to go
I’m glad we’re having a Mass.
Fr. Ron is so good
Mostly waiting. Coat and tie,
Sunday shoes
Lawrence
Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Everybody’s
Subversive Now
Speaking truth to power my truth your truth
Interrogating the great reset iconic
The Davos crowd the world economic forum
Break the rules no wrong answers deep state disruptive
Buzzwords without borders globalist power
Synod on synodality
Social media toolkit inclusive
Sustainable neocolonial
Decolonise postcolonialism
Finding your voice authentic community
