Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                    After a Night of Thunderstorms

The zinnias are rich with the works of the bee
Meanwhile the mosquitoes are working on me!

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                            Schrodinger’s Lover

                                      Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnet 48

I have always kept things carefully hidden
Especially the secrets of my heart
But a lover cannot be secreted away
Nor would anyone want this to be so

And because you are no one’s possession
You cannot be kept from the gaze of the world
Locked away in a metaphorical box
Because of anyone’s inappropriate fears

I have always kept things carefully hidden
But you, brave happy spirit, will not be bidden

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                      This Time the Mind and Heart Agree

                               Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnets 46-47

My eyes delight in the beauty of yours
In all the catalogue of your sweet charms
Visions and scents of dreamy summer flowers
Blossomed in anticipation of love

My heart delights in the happiness of yours
The generosity of your saintliness
The rigor of your analytical mind
Your kindnesses to all humanity

There are perceptions and appearances, true
But then there is the perfection in you

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                This is Your Shoulder-Fired, Gas-Operated,
                             Semi-Automatic Metaphor

In wars generals deploy sports metaphors
In sports coaches deploy war metaphors

Why are they being evasive about what they do?

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                     No One Writes Verse about the Precinct Dump

Look for the sign that reads PERCH TRAPS 4 SALE
After a hundred yards take the gravel road to the right
It’ll go down to this stagnant little creek
And that old bridge is stronger than it looks

Then up and to your left; you can’t miss it
Refrigerators and washers to your left a bit
As for the right, you just don’t want to know
But them buzzards today; they’re puttin’ on a show

There was this fat boy who used to work there
Made rhymes about garbage; must have been the air

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                             Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and You

                                  Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnet 45

Fire and air sound like a poetic cliché
A pastiche from half-remembered Elizabethans
Cut from Jonson or Marlowe, or Will himself
And pasted to a puerile plaint of love

But there is a reality in fantasy
And you are the fantasy in reality
There are swift messengers of fire and air
And you are sender, signal, and recipient

Fire and air only sound like a cliché
For you are truth, truth clothed in splendid array

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                      The World is Ending Tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The world is ending tonight! We read it on The Q!
My people are saved, but I’m not sure about you!

The world is ending tonight! We need dried beans!
Cases of toilet paper and some wipey-cleans!

I need some more bullets for my AR gun!
We’ll defend our bottled water; you ain’t gettin’ none!

The world is ending tonight! We’ll be hydrated!
But you’ll die dry; you hadn’t oughter waited!

Sunspots are flaring out from Satan’s maw!
Not to mention lies told by Satan’s paw!

This hasn’t happened since 1854!
When this sinful world was destroyed before!

Oh, yes, our loving God is a-callin’ us home!
Except for them Jews and them sons of Rome!

We’ll all fly to Heaven on the northern lights!
Except for you unbelievers; you ain’t got no rights!

The world is ending tonight! Ash and ember!
(And don’t forget to vote for Trump in November!)