Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                Smoke Drifting Across America


                                “Zionists Don’t Deserve to Live”

                        Columbia campus protester apologises for
                            '**** Zionists' comments (bbc.com)


Ash-grey smoke drifts across America

                    “That’s a false narrative”
                    “That’s a false narrative”
                    “That’s a false narrative”

The narrative is metaphorical; the smoke is real -
Ashes and smoke from Auschwitz, from burning Jews

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                      Rhy­mes and Crimes

                                 Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnet 35

I plead guilty as an accessory to crime
In aiding and abetting a violation
Against the peace at a certain time
Arrest me now; write out the citation

For you are both the criminal and the cop
Handcuffs for both the abettor and crook
Don’t let our crimes continue, and yet don’t stop
And please don’t give back the thing that you took

For you are a criminal, the most skilled at your art
You darling little thief: you stole

                                                    my heart

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                            Cloudy with a Chance of Happy Tears

                                       Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnet 34

You have teased me out of the house today
Without Leonard’s Famous Blue Raincoat
Because you said this impossibly sunny day
Would be the sunniest, funniest day of all

I was prepared to rebuke you with the clouds
That roiled and boiled almost immediately
But the dancing tears from your loving eyes
Are magic raindrops fallen from the sun

Not every day is a sunny day -
Except for every day with you

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

The Governor of South Dakota Takes a Shot at the Vice-Presidency

Who is South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem? Dog controversy, more to know (usatoday.com)

Blazing a trail of death and ****** fur
She shot her dog, her goat, three horses too
Somehow they failed her, and so, we must concur  
She executed them in a ****** coup

When her family's animals disappoint her
She shoots them; she feels that’s her duty to do
Silencing each substandard bark, bleat, and purr -
Now what if she becomes disappointed in
                                                        
       ­                                         you?

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                         Every Morning Begins with Sunlit Hope

                                        Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnet 33

Every morning begins with sunlit hope
Perhaps an echo of the Passover seder
“Why is this morning unlike all other mornings?”
Because this day our hope will be fulfilled

But it isn’t

The arrows of the pharaoh darken the sun
His beatings and executions extinguish light
We work and sweat and bleed, and are still found wanting
We take to our beds in exhaustion, and we dream

Next year in Jerusalem

Every morning begins with sunlit hope -
Maybe tomorrow will be the dawn of freedom

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                 Hey! Hey! **! **! Mindless Chants Have Got to Go!

One seeks in vain for a “Hey! Hey! **! **!”
In the Bible, the Torah, the Bhagavad Gita
In Tolkien, Lewis, Frankl, or Yevtushenko
In any declaration of the rights of man

The Greek philosophers never barked “Hey! Hey! **! **!”
Phillis Wheatley would have rebuked that vulgarity
Lincoln yapped no such drivel at Gettysburg
Elizabeth Bishop argued with wit and grace

“Hey! Hey! **! **!” is boorish and ineffectual
And would never be spoken by a true intellectual

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                      Let’s Meet Again Next Week or Next Life

                                  Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnet 32

To ask to be remember’ed is good
Both for the humble asker and for the asked -
For both will pause to consider mortality
And both will pause to enjoy the happy now

We understand this world will pass away
That all created things must collapse and die
And yet we are promised them back again
And each other too, in saecula saeculorum

Then, yes, please, do remember me, if you would -
To ask to be remember’ed is good