Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

               “Remember, Remember, THIS Fifth of November”

Guy Fawkes is lurking beneath the assembly again
Barrels of resentments all set to scorch
Same plan, same plot, same ploy, same wicked grin
But this time there is no one
                                                       to take away his torch

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                 Election Night 2024: Dry Bones


                “All we are, basically, are monkeys with car keys”

    -Grandma Woody in Northern Exposure, “Animals R Us,” 1991


An early dusk falls under clouds from the Gulf
Yellow houselights wink on as daylight winks off
Supper in greasy bags from fast-fooderies
That everyone argues they can’t afford

Then like the lozenge in A Space Odyssey
A screen appears and dominates all
And family groupings center themselves around it
In excited cavortings before the images

Of brightly-colored cultic election scores
As fists swinging dry bones crush enemy skulls

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                 A Buddhist and a Methodist Walk into a Bore


                     “…whose faith is known to You alone”


After Mass

I met a man who was desperately afraid
That God might err and welcome into His peace
A Buddhist (unless he repented and said the magic words)
Or even worse than that, a Methodist!

I met a man who was angry and bitter
That the priest spoke kindly of other faiths
In quoting Saint Paul and the canon of the Mass
But this unhappy man knew better than they

I met a man who felt he was God’s boss
And thus rebuked Our Lord upon the Cross

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

         By Reading This Content You Agree to Our Privacy Policy


          It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander
          when you were…within range of a telescreen.

                                             -Orwell, 1984


But your privacy? Nah; deal with it, you see
Baked beans, magazines and mountain scenes
Vacation trips and handy houseware tips -
They see you, they know you, they hunt you

Podcasts, partisan views, gossipy news
Engine parts, how-to vids, and funny kids
Treating head lice, tax advice, dancing mice
They see you, they know you, they hunt you

Through your made-in-Shanghai Palantir
Adverts will forever make you fear,
                         My Precious



(“Palantir” is here an allusion to Tolkien’s genius, not to the software people.)

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                      Nora, Theo, and Pushkin-the-Rescue-Cat

After rough adventures Pushkin has found his way home
The children celebrate with him his happy new life
By crowning their purring prince with vines and flowers
And he is pleased to accept their adoration and love

Too soon children must leave their merriments
And rebuild civilization among the wreckages
In a time of hatreds and ideologies
When all seem to have forgotten the way to Jerusalem

And so for now

May children enjoy the springtime of their lives
For they (and the cat) remind us of our appointed path

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                            ­     Porta Coeli

                        “I pray you, sir, remember the porter”

                                          -Macbeth II.iii.20ff

We are all porters; we open doors for others
Sometimes we open them for ourselves
If we close a door, it is against the rain and cold
And not against each other


(Yes, in Macbeth the Porter is drunk and inept, and when he says “remember the porter” he is asking for a tip in spite of his incompetence. I put the line in anyway because porters, actual or metaphorical, are servants, as are we all.)

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

      People Who Give Children Jack Chick Tracts for Halloween


    Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?

                                          -Saint Matthew 7: 9


If someone gives your child a Jack Chick
That is not a well-intentioned mistake
He is giving your child bigotry and fear
Hellish hatred, existential despair

If someone gives your child a Jack Chick
He is giving your child demons to haunt her dreams
Crude visions of sin to blight her happiness
His own satanic fears to destroy her hopes

If someone gives your child a Jack Chick
He is telling her that Jesus judges her ******