Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                            ­      At Rao’s Bakery -
                 Coffee, Croissants, Children, and the Constitution

At dawn - hot coffee and a fresh croissant
A family grouping at the table next
And a little child whispering to her mother
The Preamble to the Constitution

I turned and said, “Oh, I want to hear that again”
Proudly the little girl stood beside her mom
And in a strong, clear voice began: “We the People…”


We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.


I can’t do that anymore. Can you?

The child certainly earned an ‘A’ today
This coffee / croissant / American day

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                       A Road Crew Singing “Red, Red Wine”

On a road cratered with holes and emptied dreams

A road crew of only two riding with the fill
In the bed of a county pickup truck
Patching potholes in the late summer heat
Singing “Red, Red Wine” over and over

“Red, Red, Wine”

One takes off his sweat-soaked striped shirt
A voice from the cab tells him to put it back on
They stop and take shovels and out they leap
To shovel with the shovels fill into holes

“Red, Red Wine”

They sing those three words over and over
The only words of that song they know

“Red, Red Wine.”

On a road cratered with holes and emptied dreams

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                     If Mr. Vance Says You Ate Someone’s Pet Cat
                     Then Obviously You Ate Someone’s Pet Cat


                 “Show me the man and I will show you the crime.”

  -many attributions, usually to Lavrentia Beria, sometimes to Stalin


      "In Springfield, they're eating the dogs…They're eating the cats.
       They're eating the pets of the people that live there.”

        -Presidential candidate Donald Trump, 10 September 2024


             "If I have to create stories so that the American media
              actually pays attention to the suffering of the American
              people, then that's what I'm going to do."

               -Vice presidential candidate J. D. Vance on CNN,
                                Sunday, 15 September 2024


Little children in school are threatened with bombs

Because someone said that someone said
That someone ate someone else’s pet cat

Patients in hospitals are threatened with bombs

Because someone said that someone said
That someone ate someone else’s pet cat

City office workers are threatened with bombs

Because someone said that someone said
That someone ate someone else’s pet cat

A Lutheran university is threatened with bombs

Because someone said that someone said
That someone ate someone else’s pet cat

A few Proud Boys [sic] stumble around in the street

Because two Heroic Men of Destiny said
That someone ate someone else’s pet cat

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                      I Want to Know What You Want to Know

What the Big Corporations Don’t Want You to Know

Big pharma
Big tech
Big medicine
Big tobacco

The adverts say that Big Whatever don’t want us to know
Whatever it is they don’t want us to know
All major and minor credit cards looted

But I don’t know what I want to know
You too?
We could take a walk this autumn day
And compare our notes with falling leaves
And with each other about what we don’t know
And maybe learn from a shy touch of hands
And from the gentle breeze whispering to us

I don’t know what Big Anything doesn’t want us to know
But I want to know what you want to know

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                      Runes Recently Discovered

We have mysterious runic messages still
Appearing this morning – there, on the road – see them?
Some say these irregular scrawls mark utilities
But you know, there are Wee Folk in these woods

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                   I’m Proud of My Childless Cat Lady Daughter

Some call her a childless cat lady
At work the staff call her “Doctor”

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                         The Secret Service Whisking Away

The Secret Service are often said
To whisk their suspects away

The Secret Service are sometimes said
To whisk a president away

Do they use those little brooms?