Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
10 August 2024

                    Why Are the Presidential Candidates Yelling at Us?

The candidates bluster and scream on TV
But I will never vote for anyone, you see,
Whose concept of leadership is yelling at me

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                              The Boy in White

He paused in the sun, unsure where to go
His uniform was new and neatly pressed
He carried a new blue mattress and two plastic bags
Containing his prison issue for the next three years

No guards were near so I talked with him
I didn’t ask him; he wanted to be heard
He told me his story; it might be true
And then
Authority told me to move on. I wished him well

He was paused in life, unsure what to do
A frightened teenager in new prison whites

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                            The British Army Pocket Knife

A great big chunk of folded Sheffield steel
For pocket, backpack, toolbox, or workbench
Rope work, leather work, awning work, rifle repair
Gutting a rabbit for dinner if it comes to that

No plastic-y Swiss gimcrackery for us
One tightens the blade by taking a hammer to the rivets
And sharpens it hastily on a handy rock
Wash off the mud and the blood and it’s good to go

It’s clanky, clunky, and out of date – it’s British
As British as can be - and so are we




I’m not British, but I needed a voice. My Hall ancestors were transported from Northern England to the New World for being bad, and the same for my deBeauville / Beauville / Beville / Bevil ancestors from Chesterton and my McQueen ancestors from Scotland.

I love my nifty British Army knife.

I will never eat rabbit again. Ich.

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                      A Garden is a Department of Metaphysics

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.

-Rumi


A garden is a Department of Metaphysics
Promethean fire and shadows in a cave of light
Leaves of trees falling upon more leaves
The leaves of books left open to the sun

The lecture lawn is furnished with old chairs
Old garden chairs rusty with wisdom and age
From duty to weather and men, the several cathedrae
Of the learned Order of Gaffer Swanthold

Athena’s owl calls from the nearby wood
Calling all men to silence and reflection

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com


                                           ­  Bar-and-Chain Oil


                                      “Here, sir, The People govern.”

                                    -attributed to Alexander Hamilton


Do our wise and more equal-than-equal equals
In all three branches (barren now) of government
Flying from luxury offices to luxury homes
In luxury aircraft they know to be their due

Pause between delicate porcelain cups
Of rare and precious Jamaica Blue Mountain
And single-malt in hand-cut Waterford crystal
And delicacies arranged on silver trays

Look down upon their lesser-than-equal equals
And suddenly remember
“I forgot to buy some bar-and-chain oil!”

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                            About That Reed Shaken with the Wind


                       What went ye out into the wilderness to see?
                                      A reed shaken with the wind?

                                      -Saint Matthew 11:8


A swaying riverside reed is a marvelous thing
In its proper service to our gracious Lord
A stalk of grass honoring its Creator
In quiet, unassuming dignity

Symbolisms are laid upon the reed
In power-point sermons and learned texts
But first of all it is but a nice little reed
Joining its labors with those of the whispering wind

Until Our Lord Himself calls upon that reed
Even as He calls upon us for some small deed

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                          Teaching Whose Bible in Public School?

                  A Rebuke to Miz Grundy and Reverend Gantry

Surely a teacher could choose his own Bible
This shouldn’t be as difficult as it seems
It couldn’t possibly be forbidden or liable
To teach the children from the Douay-Rheims