Dark clouds come and go,
but the sun always stays.

Yet every dark cloud manages
to leave behind a scar–

one that even the blazing sun
can neither erase nor hide.

Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                                  Betrayed With a Kiss-Cam


                    And the sunlight clasps the earth
                    And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
                    What is all this sweet work worth
                                If thou kiss not me?

                          -Shelly, “Love’s Philosophy”


A kiss is just a kiss, as Dooley Wilson sang
In a Casablanca that never was
A kiss to give one’s life a bit of tang
A kiss to set a lonely heart abuzz

But great unwashed mobs stacked in their masses
Close-looped in a failed sub-culture of dust
Metal in their noses and tattoos on their *sses
Will never find truth without finding trust

For love can never depend upon
The vigilante cruelty of a jumbo-tron




Tech company Astronomer launches investigation into 'kiss cam' moment at Coldplay concert - ABC News

Maybe I will be gone but you wouldn't know,
I am not part of your universe anymore.
You plucked me out of your thoughts
I don't think it matters to me when I am gone.
It just affects me now thinking you will care not,
I admit I cannot force my way into the lives I wish to touch.
I hope you remember me, my dilemma is such.
A person's significance is put to test when he is gone,
But you are significant to me, so much I care about.

One of the first times I
went to jail, it was in
Polk County for
public intox.
Drunk in public.
I was homeless for years,
where else was I supposed
to get drunk?

They took me to the
station booked me, and gave
me my phonecall.
I called the bail bonds.
They wanted collateral.
I didn't have anything.
To act tough, I said,
"*******." and hung up.

The cop asked if I felt suicidal.
I didn't but in my drunken
stupor, I said,
"I wish I were dead, you ******* pig."

My next steps were to a small
room with a drain in the middle of
the floor.  They had me strip all my
clothes off and gave me a paper gown.
It was the worst ten hours in jail I
ever spent.
Then, I did wish I was dead.

I was released the next morning.
Kind of sober, and kind of glad to
be alive.
I changed into my clothes.
I found two valiums in my back pocket.
I took them quickly and thought I
need to find a safer place to
get drunk.

waterfall bathing
concerted rhythm

body caressed
mindscape healing

water nymphs
otherworldly singing

Shut down.
Rejected.
Left out to dry.

Options,
Elective,
Might soon pass you by.

Don’t get
Dejected.
I’ll tell you why.

You’re not
Infected.
You’re still getting by

You just need
Perspective,
Not sugary lies.

So just be
Reflective,
See your limit’s the sky.

Then not to the
Collective,
But to the moonlight,

You’ll be
Connected.
And find peace in the night.

Tribute
Erected.
It’ll all be alright.

fields of lavender
as far as the eye can see,
in rows of scented purple
growing insatiable idiosyncrasies,
our minds are a rich, deep soil
and the children of our thoughts
run free,

run free
and light,
run free
and careless,
like a river to the sea.

the heart is programmed
to be broken,
to let in the light,
and the earth in us is woken,
our heart will open,
it will open,

when we take in our first
breath of this heaven.