Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

How Many People Didn’t Vote in the 2024 Election? | National News | U.S. News

“A Republic, Madam, If You Can Keep It”

-attributed to Ben Frankling and many others

Americans, please take time for reflection -

While watching the rioting we might take note

That in the last presidential election

35% of the people did not bother to vote

Where We Grew Up is not Where We Are - against ICE

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Where We Grew Up is not Where We Are

Our fathers strong, home from Europe and the Pacific

Worked confidently at building a peaceful America

Lean, weathered, war-weary men in chambray shirts

Who sweated to make their crops and cattle grow

But the feed store shut up shop in the 60s

The gas station pushes eight-liners and vapes

The old picture show where John Wayne rode

Is now a missionary Christian fellowship or something

The drugstore with the best comic books burned long ago

Once-busy sidewalks are mostly weeds and grass

Our favorite rocker on the A.M. radio

Has long since been Forest Lawned in bronze

Our fathers are buried, and on the palantir

A man in an SS coat orders us to report each other

Antibiotic-Go-'Round - doggerel

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Antibiotic-Go-‘Round

The dermatologist cut away part of my ear

Truth!

The maxillo-facial surgeon cut out my impacted

Tooth!

They negotiate now which antibiotic to use

To void the chances of infection or bruise

“Gentlemen,” I say,

“Weigh each certainty against a doubt

But both the original ear and tooth are out!”

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Hecho en China - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Hecho en China

New hiking shoes from Wal-Mart say what?

They say, “Cubierta de Cuero y Sintetico”

Does that mean

“Made by Prisoner X7741?”

“Made of Prisoner X7741?”

January - Soup and Peace for all - poem

Lawrence Hall

mhall46184@aol.com

January – Soup and Peace for All

As the winter winds flail, soup on the stove

Blessing the kitchen with all its summery scents

An all-morning bouquet of comfort and peace

Simmering against the grey and dreary cold

Sleet rattles against the window panes

Sharp ice metastasizes on the skeletal trees

But inside we ladle up happiness and love

With Momma’s prayers over each comforting bowl

Veggies and beef – could I have a little more, please?

As the old gag goes, visualize whirled peas!

Monday, January 26, 2026

It's All Anne Frank's Fault - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

It’s All Anne Frank’s Fault

Imagine escaping the brick-pits of Goshen

Trekking the deserts with Joshua and Moses

Learning the Commandments, feeding on Mannah

Crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land

Imagine chanting the Psalms, learning from Isaiah

Teaching Proverbs and Wisdom to your children

Telling the ancient stories while working the fields

Braving the adventures God has given us

Imagine stepping outside after Mass

After sharing the body and blood of the Christ

And complaining that all the world’s problems

Are caused by “th’ Jews”

Sunday, January 25, 2026

Thank Your for Your Attention to This Matter - doggerel

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Thank You for Your Attention to This Matter

Both sides waving American flags

Bodies in the streets like bundles of rags

Saturday, January 24, 2026

Laundry on a Snowy Day - poem

Lawrence Hall

mhall 46184@aol.com

Laundry on a Snowy Day

Little fluffs of white floating through the air

Swirling and drifting and dancing merrily

Falling upon us as gently as a prayer

One landing on your nose momentarily

But this is not from the January snow

This puffy white stuff all over the floor

Because it has nowhere else to go

Except for Hoovering it up (a tiresome chore)

It flies from the dryer much like a rocket

Because

Someone always leaves Kleenex in her pocket!

Friday, January 23, 2026

The Coming Ice Storm - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

The Coming Ice Storm

Wood for the fireplace stacked inside and out

Sterno for the camp stove, bottled water everywhere

Batteries, portable radios, toilet paper, lanterns

The outside faucets covered with plastic and old towels

Bedding for the pets in the laundry room

Mothball-scented blankets disposed here and there

The questions come as quickly as the wind:

What if…? What about…? What if…? What about…?

The day is grey and darkens even more

As strange blue light falls upon us from the north

Can You Describe This? - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Can You Describe This?

-Anna Ahkmatova, Requiem

Supplicants waiting in long lines in the snow

Hoping to give their children some sense of truth

Among the gassings of electronic screens

Protestors and federals bellowing in turn

The news blows in as Siberian flurries

Some flailing this way, and some trailing that

Footprints disappear among the drifts

Rasputin’s body might float up in the spring

Describe each human as a number, as a stat

“Truth?” sneered Pontius Pilate, “now what is that?”

“Can you describe this?” a woman asked Ahkmatova

“Yes, I can,” she spoke, she wrote, she lived

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

A Children's Bedtime Liturgy for 2026 - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

A Children’s Bedtime Litany for 2026

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

From the ICE-men who break into our homes and beat up our families

Deliver us, O Lord

From the anti-ICE who invade our churches on Sunday mornings

Deliver us, O Lord

From the ICE gunfire in our streets

Deliver us, O Lord

From the anti-ICE gunfire in our streets

Deliver us, O Lord

From the tear gas on our playgrounds

Deliver us, O Lord

From government-sponsored kidnappings

Deliver us, O Lord

From fires and looting

Deliver us, O Lord

From explosions in the night

Deliver us, O Lord

From strangers roaming around with guns

Deliver us, O Lord

From the unmarked SUVs that circle our block

Deliver us, O Lord

From the violence-pornographers who take our pictures

Deliver us, O Lord

Grant your children rest this night, O Lord

Or if we must be wakeful

Make the shooting stop

Amen

In the Name of…shhhhh!...they’re beating on the door…don’t let them hear you…

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

A Complimentary Tote - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

A Complimentary Tote

How very nice of you to check me out

Of all the things you could have bought today

You purchased a tote, which shows your good sense

And you picked me, which shows your good taste

Those are some great shoes you’re wearing

And your watch is a study in elegance

Proper dress is all about the accessories

I’m proud to be seen with such a classy lady

Wait – diapers? I gotta carry dirty diapers!?

And those dirty baby-bottom wipers!?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Combat Patrol on the Borders of the Empire - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Combat Patrol on the Borders of the Empire

There were nasty people in the army; but…[e]very few days one seemed to meet a scholar, an original, a poet, a cheery buffoon, a raconteur, or at least a man of good will.

-C. S. Lewis, “Guns and Good Company,” Surprised by Joy

Muffle-armored like Heinlein’s starship troopers

What attributes of civilization

Can the soldiers of our armies carry

Carefully tucked into their pockets and packs:

Paperback poets, math reviews, Miss January

Letters from home, a Rosary, a Testament

A naughty little short-timer calendar

A creased photograph of someone special

What do young soldiers carry with them

When they are ordered to suppress

Their fellow Americans

Monday, January 19, 2026

Is There a "Board of Peace" for Minnesota? - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Is There a “Board of Peace” for Minnesota?

The president is mobilizing federal soldiers;

The governor, his state’s national guard

Sister and brother to war with each other

While citizens are scarred with bullet and shard

The chief of police makes stirring speeches

The several mobs lock lies into their ‘phones

ICE-men pull guns while a bullhorn screeches

Possibly next they will send up the drones

“We’re better than this,” some official will say –

More smoke to befoul Minnesota today

My Friends and Okra - rhyming couplete

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

My Friends and Okra

Give my share to the cats, the sea-bass, and the seal!

I have a dear friend who loves her okra

But those rubbery things just make me choke-ra!

Evil is Afraid of You - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Evil is Afraid of You

That in the world which is evil despises you

Mostly because you never give up
Evil sends you hopeless dreams and despair

And leaves your pillow stained with sour tears

That in the world which is evil despises you

Because in the morning you wake up strong

Greet the new day with your own songs of hope

And work at your purposes with joyful intent

That in the world which is evil despises you

Because it can never be you

The Doomsday Clock and Watch Collection - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

The Doomsday Clock and Watch Collection

Since 1947 the image of a doomsday clock

Has haunted our dreams and possibilities

First nuclear war, then global cooling

Then global warming, and now A EYE

If we continue to date and time our doom

Let’s have it as an app, or a clever watch

Strapping the end of time to our wrists

Or entombed in an Orwellian telescreen

The Doomsday Clock has been frozen for eighty years -

Let’s wear as a fashion our existential fears

Poetry is an Uncommon Good - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love