Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                 A Reformation Wheeze – No Smoking, Please!

Should Catholics grow nervous if invited to
A good old-fashioned Smithfield barbecue?




NB: In the USA Smithfield Foods is a highly regarded purveyor of foodstuffs, most notably pork.

Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                         When We Re-Read Our Childhood Books

When we re-read our childhood books, we are
Children again, barefoot children, we are
Roaming Sherwood with Robin Hood, we are
Standing watch on the Hispaniola, we are

Stalking deer in the forest primeval, we are
Walking with Aslan in Narnia, we are
Studying with Anne in Avonlea, we are
Coursing stars with Podkayne of Mars, we are

Dancing with princes and princesses, we are
Because when we re-read our childhood books

We are

Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                        “Ladies…or Should I say Astronauts…”

                                         -as heard on the CBC

Shriek! Cackle! Giggle! Omigod! Ohmigoddess! Omigod! Omigod! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Omigod! Omigoddess! Shriek! Cackle! Omigod! Omigod! Giggle! Omigod! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Giggle! Omigod! Shriek! Cackle! Omigod! Omigod! That’s our pink moon! Omigod! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Ohmigoddess! Giggle! Shriek! Cackle! Omigod! Omigod! Omigoddess! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Shriek! Cackle! Omigodess! Omigod! Omigod! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Shriek! Cackle! Giggle! Omigod! Omigod! Omigod! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Omigod! Shriek! Cackle! Omigoddess! Omigod! Omigod! Giggle! Omigod! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Giggle! Omigod! Shriek! Cackle! Omigod! Omigod! Omigod! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Giggle! Shriek! Cackle! Omigod! Omigodess! Omigod! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Shriek! Cackle! Omigod! Omigod! Omigoddess! I can’t believe what I’m seeing!

Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                              A Roadside Snapping Turtle in April

If you’d spent the winter
Sleeping deep down in the mud
You’d be snappish too!

Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                                                   God’s Wounds

                                     Sumy, Ukraine, Palm Sunday 2025

Ukraine wanted to welcome Jesus today
To welcome Him with the branches of willows
As is their custom on Palm Sunday, for they have no palms
But this holy day brought them Putin and bombs

Little children wanted to welcome Jesus today
They died with willows in their tiny hands
Burning in the wreckage, in their Sunday best
Sirens and explosions, screams and blood

The faithful of Sumy wanted to welcome Jesus today
But what Putin has written he has written -
                                               he has written them away

Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                  Palm Sunday Processional and a Volkswagen

We’re along the four-lane, no village street
And so in the parking lot with our palms we meet
We begin our hymn at a Fiat, mama mia!
And step off from alongside my brother’s new Kia

I suppose we could sing, “O Cadillac, My Destiny”
While waving our fronds over a wingless Mercury
Watch your step; there’s a Honda Accord
Oh, look; I found a penny – praise the Lord!

We have only the four-lane, no village street
But at the church door we have Jesus to greet

Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                   Existentialism and Schrodinger’s Eyeglasses


                “…books and music and circling philosophies”

                                       -Mary Oliver, “Answers”


Not even the Pascaline could sort things out -
The whirlings and circlings of discrete stimuli
As when you are commanded, judged, rebuked
Rewarded, shamed, and praised, all at the same time

Where are the little wheels that could line them out
In order mechanical and neatly filed
Then catalogued by order of the mind
Ready for good service to God and man?

Not even the Pascaline could sort things out –
And has anyone seen my glasses about?