Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
1970
When I came home I was asked
by a boyhood friend
“I haven’t seen you lately;
where have you been?”
I’m still wondering about
that
Friday, July 18, 2025
1970 - poem
Death Falls Apart in White - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Death Falls Apart in White
Snow does not fall in July,
and yet there is white
White falling like large snowflakes
or small flower petals
White scatterings across the
summer lawn
Ghostly among the leafy sheltering
oaks
The hawks are back
An egret about her business
of bugs and snakes
Sudden violence high up in
the gentle air
Flesh and life claw-ripped,
torn, and devoured
Unheard below, only feathers falling
like snow
The hawks are back
This artificial paradise of
feeders and seeders
And flower-bordered lawn is a
scape of death
From which the gentle
rabbits, birds, and squirrels
Withdraw in silent fear
The hawks are back
The Last Nights of Club Ozymandias - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
The Last Nights of Club Ozymandias in
San Diego
Shelley always makes
one think
(often about how to
pronounce his middle name)
I met a tout along
a darkening street
Who said –
“two trunkless legs of neon dance
There, upon
that wall, on neon feet
An electromechanical
contrivance to prance
In remnants,
but wiggling hips and pouty lips
Tell that the
artisan well caught the lust
Of lonely sailors
as a pretty girl strips -
In time those
young men and the dancer will be dust
These letters
appear, written in cold fire:
I am the
Queen of Club Ozymandias
Look upon me
with your hot desire
Look upon me,
and imagine us…
Tomorrow all
will be leveled
A housing
estate will arise, a planner’s scar
Nothing will
remain of laughter and drinks
Of sailors
flinging their pay upon the bar
For a dancing
girl now silent as the Sphinx”
Thursday, July 17, 2025
Highway Patrol - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Highway Patrol
An episode of Highway Patrol appears -
(With Broderick Crawford it should be widescreen)
Iron-jawed Bill Boyette as his sergeant
Today’s show features a passenger train
A man in a coat and tie, smoking a cigarette
Stops his DeSoto at a telephone booth
Wildly high fins (the DeSoto, not the telephone booth)
Inserts a dime and, turning a dial, he places a call
And Grandpa takes some time to explain
To his grandchild
The telephone, the tie, the passenger train
I Have the Epstein Files - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
I Have the Epstein Files
I carry the Epstein files in
my pocket
A paperback edition from City
Lights
You said you were going to
hitchhike to Big Sur
With a dude named Gautama. I
have the files
I thought you’d like to know
Monday, July 14, 2025
Hallowed be Thy App - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Hallowed be Thy App
“…that unmistakable English church-going pace…holding, bound in black lamb-skin and white celluloid, the liturgies of a half dozen conflicting sects…”
-Waugh, Brideshead Revisited
One sees a Bible only occasionally
Even more rarely a Sunday missal
Which, with coat and tie and the mantilla
Are relics of a courtlier, more dignified time
The faithful now carry the scriptures as apps
The rosary the same (maybe next to Candy Crush)
An electronic conscience funded by an investment firm
And available at a low introductory price
A talking box - it must be Godly and true
And just as eternal as the Apple II
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Will CBS Now Broadcast from Fox Studios? poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Will CBS Now Broadcast from Fox
Studios?
Every morning the editors of the Berlin daily
newspapers and the correspondents of those published elsewhere in the Reich
gathered at the Propaganda Ministry to be told by Dr. Goebbels or by one of his
aides what news to print…
-Shirer, The Rise
and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 245
CBS is now as
obedient as Fox
Who would
have imagined? Who woulda thunk?
Government agitprop
on every Orwellian box -
Shoveling deep
rund into our funk
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Texas Children Die; Texas Authorities Babble - takeout from a press conference on 5 July 2025
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Texas Children Die; Texas Authorities Babble
The governor’s Press Conference
In Which the Press were Shut Down Pretty Quickly
I just can’t say enough about our colleagues I just can’t say enough about we are Texans and we come together as one as a family we come together community share quintessential Texas we unite they could have fallen apart double-down relentless when the job is completed 24/ 7 day and night Texans and Americans everyone what I’m going to sign today every asset magnitude process proclamation immediate and ongoing gratitude in advance to President Trump and all his administration his love for Texas I want to thank Governor Abbott absolutely devastating he loves Texas grieving beautiful children all the resources of the federal government walking alongside each other community I’ve visited with the president already he will honor that assets on the ground crisis weather event alerted airframe coasties Texas assets request customs and border protection skill set resource Department of Homeland Security response flying acronyms entities utilized FEMA standing at an enhanced level plugged in engaged fulfil role amazing you are an example to the nation hearts are with you and walking beside you fixed-wing aircraft airframe helicopters fixed-wing helicopters efforts engaged talking to the president throughout the day families folks number one priority is people process public infrastructure strong you are an example responding helping neighbors hurting grieving God process help prayers are with you President Trump and Melania are praying for you prayer amazing multiple stage agencies partners my thanks to and to and request and thank you for being here an important message I’ve been to a number of disasters impressed with Governor Abbot’s leadership proud grateful for men and women standing behind us here we are all reacquainted rejoined with their family members it’s who your family is we come together as a family as Texas this is who our family is we owe it to them the governor and his team will be relentless family it means a lot we appreciate President Trump and you before I was crazy enough to run for congress ha ha we came down here to blah blah it hits home personally I can’t say enough about extraordinary I can’t say enough I can’t say enough leadership this unfortunate circumstance reached out responding Army corps support and other stuff teamwork collaboration far from finished the job prayerful stuff we’re dealing with finger-pointing and second-guessing and Monday-morning quarterbacking circumstances I understand that parents and media heroic efforts finish the job be with the people pray I’m the only one at this table who lives on the Guadalupe River I barely got home I ushered in a crew fifty-year lawyer I saw first-hand the body bags helicopter ride nobody saw this coming arm in arm hand in hand process time now for recovery toilsome task stay together and we’ll get this done thank you on the behalf of as I look around the room I don’t see differences I see one team working together our community one team those in peril those who are lost sees this day prayer thank God my heart is broken we will not stop Madame Secretary your federal team life saving we will our teams FEMA border patrol partners Coast Guard work forward state personnel one last thing most common word prayer prayers are answered in so many ways prayer might be the reason the water stopped rising prayer does work your prayers have made a difference continued prayers pray so much never imagined prayers matter we thank God almighty God has blessed Texas…
(A few reporters were then allowed to ask a few questions which were, at best, answered only with vagaries and filler-language.)
Note of 8 July. Stephania Jiminez says it much better than I ever could:
KSAT anchor goes viral for 'speaking the truth' about Texas leaders
But, Hey, No King Here - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
But, Hey, No King
The most
lawless ruler is a Man of the People
Posturing upon
some whited balcony
His pouting
lips frozen in a perpetual sneer
While his
toadies cheer their bondage, and call it freedom
The
semi-automatic rifle is their Bible
Barbed wire
is their semi-automatic law
The Constitution
is but the president’s whims
(Let us now pray
for his bowel movements today)
Congress and
the Supreme Court with feet of clay
Await in fear,
in disgrace, in moral decay
For a Murat to
come and brush them away:
“Citizens, you are dismissed.”
If My Daughter Had Been Present at The Last Supper - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
If My Daughter Had Been Present at the Last Supper
And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body…”
-Saint Matthew 26:26-29, Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition via Bible Gateway
And my daughter said unto our Lord,
“Excuse me…excuse me, Sir, but is this matzoh fresh?
Did you check the expiration date?
Is it really kosher? Is it from a fair-trade source?”
(Judas has left the building.)
A Walk Between Worlds - poem about Alzheimer's
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
A Walk Between Worlds
Stage 2 Alzheimer’s
She walked into our house for
lunch today
The puppy gamboled at her
feet in welcome
And was treated to
doggie-kisses and doggie-hugs
She loves the dog
She is no longer sure about us
Laundry Day - The Solemnity of All Stains: poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Laundry Day - The Solemnity
of All Stains
The washing machine baptizes our
busy days:
A shirt freshly stained with
this morning’s coffee
Wrinkledy tees in grimy greens
and greys
A child’s blue jeans all
sticky with toffee
Dish towels we allowed to get
old-food smelly
A nice dress sock on which
the puppy peed
Blankies from the couch in
front of the telly
The terry-cloth that toweled
the shaving bleed
In the laundry room where all
these wreckages convene
There to be made all fresh
and bright and clean –
Let us give thanks for the
washing machine!
Saturday, June 28, 2025
A Shepherd’s Path from the Mountain of La Salette
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
A
Shepherd’s Path from the Mountain of La Salette
For Reverend Ron Foshage, M.S.
Our Lady’s Faithful Missionary
The old order changeth, yielding place to new
-Tennyson, Idylls of the King
We don’t know if the cart drivers have
stopped swearing
Or if the potato crops are doing well
this year
Or if the rocks have indeed become
wheat
Or if everyone prays an Ave
each day
We don’t know if the Field of Coin
still flourishes
Or if the people of Corps faithfully attend
Mass
Or if barefoot boys and girls still
herd sheep
Or if they listen, as did Melanie and
Maximin
But we do know that Our Lady of
La Salette
To care for us through our pilgrimage in
time
In a land far from that holy mountain
Has blessed us with Her most faithful
missionary
Through the ordinal cycles of seasons
and feasts
He served the Table in the Name of the
Lord
He baptized us, taught us, confirmed
us, confessed us
Married us, anointed us, and buried
our dead
Through blessed years and tears and
nights and days –
But now to the Will of God
We surrender him with thanks and
prayers and praise
And God fulfils Himself in many ways
-Tennyson
Tomatoes and Midday Cicadas - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Tomatoes and Midday Cicadas
Where are the songs of Spring?
-Keats
The tomatoes are split and
discolored in the heat
Like bathing beauties who
have beached too long
And gathering up the past totter
home at dusk
Surprised to be all burnt and
wrinkled with age
The sun of April who was a lusty
lover
Caressing and warming their soft
young skin
Is now a middle-aged man
baring his chest
And seeking love in other
vegetable beds
The cicadas of noon mourn in
the withering heat
In remembrance of spring, youthful
and sweet
Friday, June 27, 2025
Surgery in Three Parts - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Surgery in Three Parts
1 - Fear for Tomorrow
I don’t know what will happen to her tomorrow -
The anaesthesia and the surgical trauma
Invading all those organs compromised
Compromised by age and failing health
There’s a contract coffee bar in the lobby main
One could savour a coffee and a croissant
While waiting for a messenger of life or death
Does anyone know where the chapel is?
A marriage should not end in ICU
In the echoing chants of “Code Blue…Code Blue…”
2 - Fear for Today
Morning is filled with possibilities
But today…
Morning is fraught with possibilities
3 – Deo Gratias
The surgeon and the RN visit me
In a cold-as-a-morgue fluorescent-lit room
With their masks loose about their necks
To report that all went well
Sunday, June 22, 2025
Bombs on the First Sunday of Summer - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Bombs – All Sizes
-As Jack Kerouac did not say
If we are all going to be destroyed…let that bomb when it
comes find us doing sensible and human things praying, working, teaching,
reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to
our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened
sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do
that) but they need not dominate our minds.
-C.S. Lewis, “On Living in an Atomic
Age,” 1948
Bombs fall tonight, but then
they fall every night
Conceived over single-malt,
born of the generals
Suffering not at all as their
electronics systems
Guide them in the ways the
Bible salesman deems
Bombs fall tonight, on a
nuclear facility, they say
We can only ask the ashes and
winds
While in our triumphalist
Ozymandian presumption
We fancy that bombs will
never fall on us
Bombs fall tonight – and have
we been doing
Sensible and human things?
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Chopsticks International - Rhyming Couplet
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Chopsticks International
Forgive me for any insensitive remarks
But do piano students in China practice “Forks?”
Friday, June 13, 2025
Will He Borrow Augusto Pinochet's Old Uniform? - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Will He Borrow Augusto Pinochet’s Old Uniform?
While reviewing his troops from
his high platform
Hup! Toop! Threep! Fourp!
Will Our Leader stand tall in
uniform
Right shoulder HARMS!
Glittery with medals and a
shiny firearm
Boom! Tiddy! Boom! Tiddy! Boom-Boom-Boom!
Swelling with pride in his
goosestepping swarm
Ta-ra-ra-BOOM-dee-ay!
Let Us Celebrate NO TYRANTS DAY - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Let Us Celebrate No Tyrants Day
“We have no king but Caesar!”
-A long-ago mob as written in St. John 19:15
Even the King of Kings is under the Law
And too, since Magna Carta, our earthly King -
From the people and their voices he can only draw
Such powers as their assemblies vote to bring
But may God protect us from a Common Man
Slithering to supremacy through serpentine speech
Emboldened by the power of cabal, club, and clan
Mobs chanting for their master, a soul-sucking leech
God gives us His grace in a King and Queen
Republics just give us the guillotine
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Pushing the Envelope - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Pushing the Envelope
What envelope is being pushed?
From whom to whom – across
the room?
And why should it be pushed
at all?
Is the envelope an English
A-1?
An American business-size?
A birthday check for someone
to steal?
Pushing a broom, pushing a
sale
Pushing a pen – some sense in
those
But what is the purpose in
pushing
An envelope?
And did you stamp it?
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