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

                 Child Injured after Accidentally Shooting Himself

                                                       -headline

I’m sorry, Daddy
I didn’t mean to bleed all over the rug
I’m sorry, Daddy
It really hurts
I’m sorry, Daddy
I only wanted to play with your favorite toy
I’m sorry, Daddy
Why is everybody yelling?
I’m sorry, Daddy
I don’t feel good, Daddy…

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

                       The New Poets of England and America


                        Young poetry is the breath of parted lips.

                                    -Robert Frost, introduction
                         The New Poets of England and America


They’re no longer new; they’re not even alive
Those post-war young voices of strength and hope
Working through the wastelands after men of destiny
Blitzed beauty with bullets, bombers, and barbed wire

Some of them soldiers, and war-weary all
They were worn out, but determined and young
Digging out the words they had hidden away
Cleaning them up for service to humanity

They were young; they were very much like you
Doing their duty as artists and poets must do


The New Poets of England and America
Ed. Donald Hall et al
Introduction by Robert Frost
New York: Meridian Books, 1957

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

                                     The True First Day of Summer

                                “This is the day the Lord hath made…”

When teachers fold their leathery wings and sleep
Hidden away in their bat-cave deep
In the darkness where foul things lurk and creep -
Only then may children freely laugh and leap

No more tiresome lessons about “lie” and “lay’
A child may lie in the glass or lay in the hay
Run out to the lawns and fields to play
And joy in the freedom of each summer day

The 20th of June? A fallacious rule -
Summer begins on the last day of school!

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

                                The Texas Sanhedrin


          Sponsored by Sen. Phil King, a Republican from Weatherford,            
          the bill requires every classroom to visibly display a poster [of
          The Ten Commandments] sized at least 16 by 20 inches. The
          poster can’t include any text other than the language laid out
          in the bill, and no other similar posters may be displayed.

                   -Ten Commandments in every classroom:
                    Texas bill nearing law | The Texas Tribune


Our legislature suppresses the pilgrims’ way
They’ve established a government church; we must obey
And from its edicts free Texans dare not stray
(Though the lawmakers work on the Sabbath day!)

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

                                       At the Barracks Gate


                  “Underneath the lantern by the barracks gate”

                                                 -"Lili Marlene"


There were two lanterns at our barracks gate
After standing inspection for Cinderella Liberty
We passed beneath them to catch the Number 7 bus
Past Balboa’s eucalyptus trees, into downtown

Where sins of the flesh awaited our E-1 fantasies
But instead we went to Mass, found a coffee shop
Nervously walked along Lower Broadway
Tried desperately to look like old salts

Carefully stayed away from Lili Marlene
And ‘phoned our parents from the lobby of the U. S. Grant

Lawrence Hall 1d
"And the Moonbeams Kiss the Sea"
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                               “And the Moonbeams Kiss the Sea”


               For A.V on the Happy Occasion of Her Graduation


I hope and believe that at Harvard still
In the springtime of their golden youth
Lovers sit upon the lawn’s green morning grass
Before class
                           and read Shelley to each other