Lawrence Hall Mhall46184@aol.com https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/ poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
A Brief and Self-Indulgent Morning Offering
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this day I ask you that I may Pray it Play it And Work it Most to your pleasure To the pleasure of those whom I love To the pleasure of everyone I meet today Rather more for me that you did yesterday (but we’ll say nothing more about that) And nothing for Satan ‘Cause he’s an ***
Lawrence Hall Mhall46184@aol.com https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/ poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
A Poor Attempt at a Kinda-Sorta Tang Quatrain
Ink fluttering across cheap notebook pages A candle guttering across a thousand nights In exile he finds a school of poets and sages Far from his home along the swift Mekong
Lawrence Hall Mhall46184@aol.com https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/ poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Lingering Death by Medical Office Telephone Tree
“The marshal’s been shot! Somebody get Doc!”
“Hello. You have reached Polysyllabic Medical Associates Our hours are (mumble, mumble, mumble) Our fax number is (mumble, mumble, mumble) We are located up the stairs on Front Street Next to the Long Branch Therapeutic Outreach Centre And boutique, Florals by Miss Kitty All patients and visitors are required to wear masks If this is a medical emergency Hang up and telegraph 911 from the depot If you need a refill, contact your pharmacist If you are a doctor, dial 1 If you know your party’s extension, dial it now
(Beep) That number is not recognized; please try again (Beep) That number is not recognized; please try again (Beep) That number is not recognized; please try again (Beep)
If this is for an appointment, dial 4
(Beep) That number is not recognized; please try again (Beep) That number is not recognized; please try again (Beep) That number is not recognized; please try again (Beep)
If you would like to speak with a nurse, dial 5
(Beep) That number is not recognized; please try again (Beep) That number is not recognized; please try again (Beep) That number is not recognized; please try again (Beep)”
“Somebody, go get the undertaker.”
“Hello. You have reached The Garden of Memories Formerly known as Boot Hill Our hours are (mumble, mumble, mumble)…”
"That number is not recognized; please try again" (beep).
Lawrence Hall Mhall46184@aol.com https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/ poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Little Corpses Everywhere
Woman kept child’s corpse in a plastic storage tote
-CNN
Little corpses decaying in storage totes Little corpses by the hundreds in unmarked graves Little corpses by the abortuary thousands In bags neatly labeled “Medical Waste”
Little corpses with shrivelled ****-tainted lungs Little corpses dropped discreetly in the creek Little corpses all chopped and dropped and flushed So that graduation night won’t be ruined
Little corpses in factories, mere skin and bones Their agonies haunting our new smart phones
Lawrence Hall Mhall46184@aol.com https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/ poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
The End-of-Term School Literary Magazine
She wrote that her poem had been inspired By the Holy spirit, Who spoke to her And guided then her hand upon the page In a competition for Most Original Work
But the reflective reader cannot imagine That the Third Person of the Trinity Writes in free verse and says “Cerulean” And splits infinitives in bludgeoned rhymes
In metaphors borrowed and rather tired She wrote that her poem had been inspired
As we are Famed for hypocrisy Do allow us to Lecture you About democracy Though we know Prior to us You have the practice In the timeline, upstarts Usurping the know-all Permit us About democracy to Goad you please!
The divide-and-rule Machiavellian gesture As an adventure We admit And still exercise it Fomenting Ethnic-based conflict.
We adore to fish In troubled water To sure meet Own objective faster. Just like a canopy feeder With our wings Eclipsing the water Striking out light helps us Unsuspecting fishes To pick better.
In a System of governance And religiosity You took the lead But our piece of advice How to dine, how To put on attires You have to heed, Forget not Boiled-wheat aid You may need. Disgraced, it is better For food your pride You barter.
Don’t think Humanitarian issues Or aid Is what first comes To our head. The economically weak Their mind we— Hooligan hypocrites— Don’t Allow them to speak Leave alone Their own roadmap To design and God-bestowed Wealth to tap. Worshippers of devil Head- to -toe We are evil.
It is our duty To exhume a Terrorist party That shows alacrity To execute assigned task The reason behind its back Remiss to ask. TPLF is our right arm We don’t want On it to happen Any harm.
We don’t mind For genocide A hotbed TPLF members Or dissenters may find. Introducing Modern colonization Is our covert intention. ///
For those who poke their nose in the affair of a sovereign country
e t m i o m s e s all you have to l to is what the sound i n s e t
v a e of the w s tells you to do.
"Keep your eyes closed, love. sometimes all you have to listen is to what the sound of the waves tells you to do."
When I was much younger, beaches were my second favorite places. I still love watching waves as they go by, crashing against each other and the whole process repeating all over again.
Lawrence Hall Mhall46184@aol.com https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/ poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
For Training Purposes this Life May be Monitored
An examination of conscience is good Thinking about things at the end of each day Hail Marys mixed in with exasperation Rough words that should never have been spoken
Reading casual cruelties on the InterGossip Whatever God’s plan might be, that wasn’t it Gratitude for work, gratitude for meals Gratitude for peace at the end of the day
And as for the occasional bitter cup Your Mother taught you right: offer it up
What if each of us is a designated Big Brother watching each other and reporting to Big Antisocial Media?