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Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                          The Word’s Fresh Ornaments

                                Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnet 1

The world’s fresh ornaments – children at play
In a springtime glow of iridescent greens
A sweet Creation scene of little bare feet
And puppies’ paws scampering across soft lawns

Bold pirate ships patrol the honeybees’ pool
And mockingbirds offer flights to the tops of the oaks
A line of waving crocus borders this Narnia
Oh, could there ever be a happier world?

The sun, the green, the bees, the endless day
The world’s fresh ornaments – children at play
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

            A Book of Numbers with a Picture of a Naked Man

Once everyone owned a book of numbers
No, not the one in the Bible; that’s still in use
But a book of telephone numbers, four digits each
Although you knew your friends’ numbers anyway

On the cover stood a winged Mercury
A handsome man wearing a funny hat
And nothing else, but no one mentioned it
Too much else going on through the party line

A picture of a handsome naked man -
Really, you’d think someone would have noticed
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                 With the Words of Donald Trump Printed in Red?

The Word of God, or maybe the word of odd
Only sixty dollars – is that real leather?
Including these more recent canonical texts:

           Handwritten chorus to “God Bless The USA” by Lee Greenwood
           The US Constitution
           The Bill of Rights
           The Declaration of Independence
           The Pledge of Allegiance

No copy of the Oath of Enlistment, though






God Bless The USA Bible

Trump endorses a $60 bible one day after comparing himself to Jesus (msn.com)

It's Holy Week, and Trump is comparing himself to Jesus once again – Baptist News Global

Trump Sells $59.99 Bible That Isn’t Even Gold (nymag.com)
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                Children Abandoned in the Rain

I abandon my children to the cold spring rain:
Tomato seedlings in peeling peat pots
Greenhouse-grown marigolds in muck-splashed rows
Poor pitiful peppers paling along the perimeter

I abandon my children to the cold spring rain:
Sunflower seeds in a desolation of mud
Five different varieties, the packet said
Floating among the zinnias and peonies

The sun will come again to warm each chilly grain
But for now
I abandon my children to the cold spring rain
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                   My New Career as a Doorman

                “The Doors! The Doors! In wisdom let us attend!”

               -in the Orthodox liturgy just before the Nicene Creed

I used to light a candle for you before Mass
With a prayer that ascended to Heaven
For as long as the candle remained lit
Even after everyone departed, deep into the night

Now I open the door for you before Mass
Even though you’re not here, so does that count?
With age I am clumsy in so many things
But I can open the door and say hello

And every candle I ever lit for you
Still shines
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                               Old Hippies can be Dangerous

                            (I groove to Rod McKuen myself)

Old hippies can be dangerous, he sez
They’re ready to strike a light, a fire, a pose
If you swing to the right of Joan Baez
Or anywhere left of the Country Joes

They weep nostalgic tears about mary jane
And rattle on about tokes and scores and hits
Waving their walkers to Jefferson Airplane
While shuffling slowly in their tie-dyed outfits

Old hippies can be dangerous – with every breath
They’ll bore you first to tears, and then to death
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                            Make America Pray Again OTTO

We see the bills of their uniform caps
“OTTO” is the legend beneath the peak
Which reads “Make America Pray Again”
The operative word is “Make” – we must be forced

Then who is OTTO, and whence his authoritative voice?
Is he a god come among us with a rod
To beat us down until we bleed and bleat
A great American Ave or Shema?

A cultic cap is neither theology nor art
And I will never invite OTTO into my heart
Patriotism made in Shanghai.
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