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Lawrence Hall Dec 2016
Pilgrimage Along The A1

For all DeBeauvilles, Beauvilles, Bevilles, and Bevils Everywhere

From Peterborough drops a road
Across the Fens, into the past
(Where wary wraiths still wear the woad);
It comes to Chesterton at last.

And we will walk along that track,
Or hop a bus, perhaps; you know
How hard it is to sling a pack
When one is sixty-old, and slow.

That mapped blue line across our land
Follows along a Roman way
Where Hereward the Wake made stand
In mists where secret islands lay.

In Chesterton a Norman tower
Beside Saint Michael’s guards the fields;
Though clockless, still it counts slow hours
And centuries long hidden and sealed.

And there before a looted tomb,
Long bare of candles, flowers, and prayers,
We will in our poor Latin resume
Aves for old de Beauville’s cares.
Lawrence Hall Sep 2018
A calendar knows little of a day,
Of any day; its arbitrary squares
Mark seasons as they amble on their way
From holy Advent ‘til the harvest fairs

When summer’s crops, all red and gold and blue
Along with piglets, ducks, some well-fed hens
Are carted squeaking, squealing, creaking to
Saint Michael’s fields in the Anglian fens

Old Father William lifts a pint (no less!)
With farmers selling cows and chicks and corn
For he is merry too, and quick to bless
The laboring marsh-folk on this autumn morn

Earth, sky, and air mark seasons as they fall,
And soon comes Martinmas, joyfully, for all
Chesterton, in ancient Huntingdonshire (only those who know not God claim that Hunts is but a division of Cambridgeshire), is the home of my de Beauville / Beauville / Beville / Bevil ancestors.  

St. Michael’s Church was built ca. 1295 and contains several memorials to the Bevilles and the tomb of William Beville, +1487.  I do not know if there was ever any bit of land designated as “Saint Michael’s Fields”; I wrote that in for the sake of an autumn fair.
Lawrence Hall Dec 2017
Pilgrimage Along the A1

From Peterborough drops a road
Across the Fens, into the past
(Where wary wraiths still wear the woad);
It comes to Chesterton at last.

And we will walk along that track,
Or hop a bus, perhaps; you know
How hard it is to sling a pack
When one is sixty-old, and slow.

That mapped blue line across our land
Follows along a Roman way
Where Hereward the Wake made stand
In mists where secret islands lay.

In Chesterton a Norman tower
Beside Saint Michael’s guards the fields;
Though clockless, still it counts slow hours
And centuries hidden long, and sealed.

And there before a looted tomb,
Long bare of candles, flowers, and prayers,
We will in our poor Latin resume
Aves for old de Beauville’s cares.
Lawrence Hall Nov 2016
Harvest Time in the Fens

St. Michael’s Church, Chesterton

A calendar knows little of a day,
Of any day; its arbitrary squares
Mark seasons as they amble on their way
From holy Advent ‘til the harvest fairs,

When summer’s crops, all red and gold and blue,
Along with piglets, ducks, some well-fed hens,
Are carted squeaking, squealing, creaking to
Saint Michael’s fields in the Anglian fens.

Old Father William lifts a pint (no less!)
With farmers selling cows and chicks and corn,
For he is merry too, and quick to bless
The laboring marsh-folk on this autumn morn.

Earth, sky, and air mark seasons as they fall,
And now comes Martinmas, joyfully, for all.
Lawrence Hall Dec 2018
Not much longer now before we and Keats
Must pack up all our impedimenta
Into a photocopier paper box
And after a Wal-Mart-cake reception – leave

No one will notice us, and that’s okay
Thomas and Frost will meet us with the car
Greene will suggest that we go for a drink
The designated driver might be Shakespeare

With Fermor beside him reading the map
Guareschi and Wodehouse laughing in the back
Lewis and Chesterton will bring the beer
And Leonard Cohen will adjust his hat

In God’s name we will sit under the apple trees
And tell merry tales of the lives of kings


          And whether we shall meet again I know not.
          Therefore our everlasting farewell take:
          For ever, and for ever, farewell…
          If we do meet again, why, we shall smile;
          If not, why, then, this parting was well made.

                             -Julius Caesar V.1.115-119
After a year of rumors and contradictory communications, the once-busy satellite campus of my little community college surrendered the buildings today.  In the event I was granted a stay because of certain commitments among the several controlling institutions and agencies and, like the Ghost of Marley, will rattle around a mostly empty building for a few more months.

As for the staff, good and loyal employees, one of them for the past eighteen years - unemployment.

The Psalmist advises us not to put our trust in princes.  I would add "...or elected bodies."
nivek Oct 2019
knifing is commonplace in London
common in every city
and its getting more and more commonplace
and who has the answer?
Capitalism? Marxism?
"its true, Christianity has not been tried and found wanting,
it has not been tried" G.K  Chesterton.
Qualyxian Quest May 2019
The ascetic medieval saint
Noticed Mr. Chesterton
Is indeed all skin and bones
Much like other religious men

But if you look quite carefully
You may become surprised
For in his evident torture
You see he opens wide his eyes

His gaze it ventures forth
A world is what he sees
He kneels as Christians do
But when he rises from his knees

He walks upon the Earth
Sees creatures large and small
And if his name is Francis
He loves them each and all

We have mysteries within
I can feel them too
I revere true Buddhist wisdom
No dualism between me and you

But Chesterton is quite right
A mystery most profound
When we open wide our eyes
Being itself indeed abounds

The very Soul of the Universe
Still yet another name for God
Contracts and then creates
Gives birth to things so odd

Hummingbirds and herons
Chartres cathedral found in France
My uncle Marty, a man for others
Beautiful women who love to dance

We awaken in a world
We ourselves did not create
We gaze in wonder for a brief moment
And with joy we patiently wait

What will we discover?
Are cosmic seas near distant stars?
Do they also teem with Fish?
Is their Creator One like ours?
Lawrence Hall Mar 2019
Hart-Bevil Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas



From service as Companions of the Conqueror
To the democracy of death and dust


This was family land in the long ago
Now alienated from the living
Accessible through permissions and locks
But we and the ghosts are okay with that

They say that only four of them were hanged
The dealer in false deeds died of old age
Some possibly were saints; hard to believe
For after all, we are de Beauville’s kin

From Normandy, and then green Chesterton
And then dispersed to the colonies
At the convenience of His Majesty
De Beauvilles and Bevilles and then Bevils

And some are buried on this lonely knoll
Dim mossy bones and stones among the pines
Across the fence a little heap of glass
Broken flower vases from the dime store


Now the democracy of dust and death
But once
                    Companions of the Conqueror
Your ‘umble scrivener’s site is:
Reactionarydrivel.blogspot.com.
It’s not at all reactionary, tho’ it might be drivel.

Lawrence Hall’s vanity publications are available on amazon.com as Kindle and on bits of dead tree:  The Road to Magdalena, Paleo-Hippies at Work and Play, Lady with a Dead Turtle, Don’t Forget Your Shoes and Grapes, Coffee and a Dead Alligator to Go, and Dispatches from the Colonial Office.
Em Glass Apr 2013
"The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." — Gilbert K. Chesterton

Weren't meant to be,
you said.
Lame excuse.
Like chocolate and cheese*,
you said.
But we get to choose.
We are people,
sure,
and we cannot change
who we are.
But we can change how we are.
Opposites attract and likes repel
but there is covalence,
too,
like things that share.
So you are the chocolate,
for you are sweeter than I,
and I will be the cheese-
of the cream variety,
rich like you,
and spreadable, flexible,
and that way we
can make it work.

There is no need
for this awful silence
between you and me.
Silence is beautiful
but it is neither here nor there.
We do what we like.
We'll break it.
Just like we'll break
the rule
of chocolate and cheese.
and it will be easy. [dare I give up the opportunity for a "piece of cake" joke. a piece of chocolate cheesecake.]
Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                            The British Army Pocket Knife

A great big chunk of folded Sheffield steel
For pocket, backpack, toolbox, or workbench
Rope work, leather work, awning work, rifle repair
Gutting a rabbit for dinner if it comes to that

No plastic-y Swiss gimcrackery for us
One tightens the blade by taking a hammer to the rivets
And sharpens it hastily on a handy rock
Wash off the mud and the blood and it’s good to go

It’s clanky, clunky, and out of date – it’s British
As British as can be - and so are we




I’m not British, but I needed a voice. My Hall ancestors were transported from Northern England to the New World for being bad, and the same for my deBeauville / Beauville / Beville / Bevil ancestors from Chesterton and my McQueen ancestors from Scotland.

I love my nifty British Army knife.

I will never eat rabbit again. Ich.
nivek May 2017
"There is no such thing as an uninteresting subject
only an uninterested person"
Lawrence Hall Oct 2018
In stately conclave met 1, each in his chair
The board of school trustees arrange their notes
And after an approved, appropriate prayer
They nod in their wisdom, then “aye” their votes

Entrusted with the dear, sweet children’s learning
With attendance down and the taxes up
The trustees feel a deep and mystical yearning
To make your child p*ss in a plastic cup

History, literature – what need of these?
(Make sure the valedictorian pees)

1 Chesterton
Your ‘umble scrivener’s site is:
Reactionarydrivel.blogspot.com.
It’s not at all reactionary, tho’ it might be drivel.
nivek May 2017
"Its not that Christianity has been tried and left wanting,
its not been tried"
L Scott Jan 2014
January’s coarse kiss
has buried me.
not unlike the Flesh of a man long dead,
whom I had given more than gold
and amputated members.

so, i think of spring,
lessons from Chesterton,
collared dresses and cloth shoes,
an open window,

and of June,
when i’ve been stripped down to bare bone,
the mind and body released under the sun,

i’ll sew my arms back on
with silver and string.

but not tonight.

and not tomorrow.

the needle sings songs
of things too sweet and lustrous.

and the sun,
it pains my skin,
made pale by lack of embrace.

so, i think of morning,
dreaming and waking,
warm socks and soft hands,
a closed door.

January’s coarse kiss
buried me.
the dirt rose like a wave,
only to cover my feet
and desist.
Qualyxian Quest Aug 2020
The Christ child lay on Mary's lap
His hair was like a light
(O weary, weary were the world,
but here all is aright)

The Christ child lay on Mary's breast
His hair was like a star
(O stern and cunning are the kings,
but here the true hearts are)

The Christ child lay on Mary's heart
His hair was like a fire
(O weary, weary is the world,
but here the world's desire)

The Christ child stood at Mary's knee
On his head there was a crown
And all the flowers looked up at Him
And all the stars looked down.

        - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
             " A Christmas Carol"
Qualyxian Quest Nov 2019
The ascetic medieval saint
Noticed Mr. Chesterton
Is indeed all skin and bones
Much like other religious men

But if you look quite carefully
You may become surprised
For in his evident torture
You see he opens wide his eyes

His gaze it ventures forth
A world is what he sees
He kneels as Christians do
But when he rises from his knees

He walks upon the Earth
Sees creatures large and small
And if his name is Francis
He loves them each and all

We have mysteries within
I can feel them too
I revere true Buddhist wisdom
No dualism between me and you

But Chesterton is quite right
A mystery most profound
When we open wide our eyes
Being itself abounds

The Very Soul of the Universe
Still yet another name for God
Contracts and then creates
Gives birth to things so odd

Hummingbirds and herons
Chartres cathedral found in France
My uncle Marty, a man for others
Beautiful women who love to dance

We awaken in a world
We ourselves did not create
We gaze in wonder for a brief moment
And with joy we patiently wait

What will we discover?
Are cosmic seas near distant stars?
Do they also teem with Fish?
Is their Creator One like ours?
Lawrence Hall Nov 2018
A Manifesto Against Manifestos

          “You can silence me, but you can never convince me”
                    -graffiti on a bulkhead in Viet-Nam

I am not woke; I am awake. No one
Commands me how to see and think and write
I am not one of The Masses.  I am.
I am not one of The People.  I am.

I choose as my teachers Dostoyevsky
And Byron, too, and Shelley, Keats, and Waugh
Ahkmatova, Shakespeare, Chesterton, and Lewis -
Not some embalm’ed face upon a screen

I am not obedient, and no one
Commands me how to see and think and write
Ken Pepiton Sep 2020
Art is the signature of man,
wombed and un;
the creature or construct of time and chance, which
thinks and uses things to make things, ****.

Okeh, mere glance away, we see
two yellow feathered birds, in a bush, but
the body of each, surely delicate,
creature, is not
all yellow, even the yellow
part is graded,
more or less yellow where it fades
in to white, or nearly white, which fades to fully
grey, graying gradually to black,

but seen, closer than Audubon could,
though he did
imagine, who could help? who could stop
seeing how deep the beauty of almost, almost, almost
perfection of graduated choruses of color
shades life at every level?

GK Chesterton appeared in my feed today, as he has done
in yourn, ye'll note, on this line.
I happened to have heard of him, so I listened and he said:
Art is the signature of man, and…

I felt the tug, not the hook, the net, is closing
as the fishing forces draw us closer.

Mere reality.
Signature effect after exposure to one's own kind.
Swans are never merely black and white,
no line, in living things, is sharp,
merely graded to reflect in
angles as waves,
from distant shores revolving spirals in spirals,
seen from the surface as
as near perfect circles pulsing from many suns.

Nothing more than this, nothing less than that
mere perfection,
in these little, grey birds, now, outside my window,
far from the maddened crowd,
I thank goodness you may freely call a name,
the goodness is the same.

I thank the cause of time and chance that I may
watch the dance as if this is my task,
my reason to exist, the act
of my being merely real.

Mere, as a word deserves, as a friend de-
serves, and becomes familiar,
a friend that sticks closer than a brother, in a word;
mere serves no man,
mere is free to mean more than idle minds insist when
calling any word or man or living thing, mere.
Pure is mere's sister. Wisdom is wit's mom.

Mere reality, if we agree,
in realms of only words, mere feathers on thoughts,
form fins we fly with to escape the net,

and see,
this is life, at the edge of all that was, it fades into ever
ever after, as the breezes draw bats back to their
cave,
already to be as any bat is in the daytime,
as the world turns…

yes, child. The world turns,
and winds return, long-I, short-I, wound around
a reason, winding threads from
a merest of whys, wist ye not?

Grave decisions, are cuts. Cessions in skins,
letting go the tie that binds
this thread to that,
this point to that,
ripping tides,
mere reality.
Minds wander, much as winds and rivers, meander.
Art is the signature of man, wombed and un;
the creature or construct of time and chance, which
thinks and uses things to make things, ****.

This is that, man as we agree we are, as a species,
a kind, like no other kind;
a kind, with whom we procreate and imagine
mmm who
are you, if you are not me, at the moment hearing an
insistent bird, seeming to wish
my attention, then at the mention, it flies,
I think I felt it laugh, like
Maijalookmaimaijalook.

Sapience, mindfulness, sense, to the degree
given birds in my mind,

save in a formation of birds, like starlings or geese,
each bird flits or swoops or soars
at will, on whims not pushed,
nor pulled by winds, but
lifted, it appears by will of the bird, not the wisp.

Whisper hearer, hearing me, have we any wool,
have we gathered, since the summer, all the holly held?

Shall we sit and twist it into thread and take
a sabbath's journey
sitting in the shade
of this great rock our home sits upon? If we agree
we may,. any may, any one, may
imagine might-as-well- be tales to sweep away lies left to seem
as true any tale a crow can tell,
when she's in the mood.
At the core, we age gracefully or rot. Mere reality.
Qualyxian Quest Oct 2019
the mystery of where our thoughts come from
       the intimate alien sometimes plumbs
                          whispers!
Lawrence Hall Jan 2019
The cleaning lady pushes her cart about
Among administrative whisperings
And teachers sneak out of in-service
For an electronic moment in the head

The cleaning lady pushes her cart about
Computers in their wireless conclave met 1
Exchange that hushed arcana passed through PEIMS 2
And sticky notes – they seem to reproduce

Youth is reduced to a computer printout

And

The cleaning lady pushes her cart about






1 cf. G. K. Chesterton’s “Elegy in a Country Churchyard”

2 The Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) encompasses all data requested and received by TEA about public education, including student demographic and academic performance, personnel, financial, and organizational information. (https://tea.texas.gov/.../DataSubmission/PEIMS/PEIMS-_Overview)
Your ‘umble scrivener’s site is:
Reactionarydrivel.blogspot.com.
It’s not at all reactionary, tho’ it might be drivel.


Lawrence Hall’s vanity publications are available on amazon.com as Kindle and on bits of dead tree:  The Road to Magdalena, Paleo-Hippies at Work and Play, Lady with a Dead Turtle, Don’t Forget Your Shoes and Grapes, Coffee and a Dead Alligator to Go, and Dispatches from the Colonial Office.
Qualyxian Quest Jun 2023
Probably it doesn't make sense
But I still pray
At times
Even when I can't believe in God

I like Albert Camus
My favorite French atheist
Unde Malum?
North Africa. Berber Mother.

Me at JMU
Lonely as the rain
Her boyfriends studlier than I
Might place Life of Pi

The Shinkansen is impressive
Chesterton aggressive
I tend toward confessive
Like Augustine. But still shy.

               Thank you, Ry.
Lawrence Hall Jan 2018
The Poets Have Been Remarkably Silent on the Subject of Firewood

(as Chesterton did not say)

“…’on back…’on back…’on back…WHOA! **** the motor.”
Leaning on the side of a pickup truck
Remembering the arcana of youth
On the farm: White Mule gloves, axe, splitting maul

Red oak, white oak, live oak, pine knot kindling
Three of us loading wood in the cloudy-cold
With practiced skill setting ranks of good oak
From the tailgate forward, settling the tires

Loading, unloading, stacking, and burning:
This winter’s firewood will warm us four times
nivek Dec 2020
Uninteresting subject?
not so!
only an uninterested person.
Qualyxian Quest Jul 2020
Conversation with Mark in California
And Paul, the man in black
As I walk from the campus home

Memories, maybe a mission
maybe not: still I ramble and roam

Tonight solitude and Moby ****
Tomorrow Chesterton and Thomas More

               Ohm manepadme Ohm.
Qualyxian Quest Jul 2020
Men are born mad about ***
and they do not reach sanity
until reach sanctity.

I'm still on the Way G.K.

And it's also true: women too.
Qualyxian Quest Apr 2020
little clearing
      green grass, brown Earth
             natural selection


                    hidden mirth?
Qualyxian Quest Mar 2021
The ascetic medieval saint
Noticed Mr. Chesterton
Is indeed all skin and bones
Much like other religious men

But if you look quite closely
You may become surprised
For despite his evident torture
You see he opens wide his eyes

His gaze it ventures forth
A world is what he sees
He kneels as Christians do
But when he rises from his knees

He walks the garden path
Sees creatures great and small
And if his name is Francis
He loves them each and all

We have mysteries within
I can feel them too
I revere true Buddhist wisdom
No dualism between me and you

But Chesterton is too correct
A mystery most profound
When we open wide our eyes
Being itself abounds

The Very Soul of the Universe
Still yet another Name for God
Contracts and then creates
Gives birth to such wondrous odd

Hummingbirds and herons
Chartres Cathedral found in France
My Uncle Marty, a man for others
Beautiful women who love to dance

We waken in a world
We ourselves did not create
We open wide our eyes
And with joy we patiently wait

What will we discover?
Are cosmic seas near distant stars?
Do they also teem with Fish?
Is their Creator One like ours?
Qualyxian Quest Feb 2023
I continue to wait
Listen, learn, and read
The Dark Knight's Chicago
A pal's last need a thing to heed

When the kairotic moment comes
Strike while strike you may
Gilbert Keith Chesterton
Daniel Berrigan. Dorothy Day.

Another Wizards game
Might get to see the Greek Freak
Judi, Wendy, Alex
Susan Darlene Meek

Catteleya in the morning
She reads North and South
Sullivan's Island beach
Somethin' brave from your mouth

                    Lai la Lai!
Lawrence Hall Dec 2020
Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com

                      A Midnight Appointment of Shame

                 “Where greed is an ape and pride is an ***”

                 -Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse

You poor man –

You are not the first to use Truth as a *****
With which to dig for yourself mouth-honors and wealth
A tyrant piped, and now you dance for him
His toy, his poppet, his puppet, his pet

You poor man –

Who pottage-messed stout honesty for toys
To descend in a brazen elevator
To an evil that didn’t even have to try
For you were so eager to go to it

You poor man –

You poor, poor man: the **** will not crow for you -
You have betrayed only your wretched self


https:///www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint the Following Individuals to Key Administration Posts | The White House-120320/
A poem is itself. A man should be himself.
Borges Sep 2021
La muchacha ideal me sospecho desde el primer momento.
Bolaño

Quiero ser balaciado de chistes por una mujer interminable, y acostarme en el desierto después de haber tomado agua.
Y reírme de chistes indesifrables, tosiendo cuotas de Cervantes tomando sopa de caracol. Leyendo a Chesterton aunque no conozca yo a cual individuo.

Comiendo purple haze, y echándome comidas de libros astronómicos.
no la tiene
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2022
The madman is the man
Who has lost everything except his reason
Chesterton was right.
The heart has its reasons:
Emily's dress was white

Grey day blues in Maryland
Ordinary ugly
But basketball with my boys
Tonight two green lights

Barnes and Noble bookstore
Billy Crystal knows a hassle
Barnes is alright
But that Noble is a real ******* :)

I read a biology book
The evolution of the mammals
I remember Lou Whitaker
And shortstop Allen Trammell

9th grade biology
Mr. Crabtree's Florida class
Judi and I lab partners
Sometimes saw her at Mass

      She was a grand wee lass.
Qualyxian Quest Nov 2019
Chesterton resisted and denounced that which is too old to die
   He also loved England, Ireland, Friar Thomas, and Francis
                                        So do I.

— The End —