Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com  
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com

    A Master’s Degree from the Dairy Queen in Huntington, Texas

                        And for The Ataman, Dr. Barbara Carr
                                           of Happy Memory

Well, not exactly, but the Dairy Queen
Was my late-night coffee stop on the way home
From all those evening classes in Nacogdoches
I should have asked the girls to sign the diploma

(Is the juke box still broken?)

I worked on that degree for seven years
One class at a time, sweet Jesus, oh, yeah
And God bless Dr. Carr for all those extensions
And the fluorescent-lit journeys through Mother Russia

(Does the ice cream machine still make that funny grinding noise?)

Seven years! I’m not all that smart
But persistence is its own kind of art