And other poems by Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall (Rated G)
A Dixon Ticonderoga #2 Pencil from 1955
Neither plans nor bathroom vents last forever
The workmen pulled down the old one from ‘55
Amid a tumble of old nails and bits of wood:
A Dixon Ticonderoga #2
The yellow paint a little aged now
The green metal ring a little bit dull
The eraser now hardened beyond all use
The point well-sharpened with a pocketknife
What sturdy craftsman from the long ago
Measured out his work – I’d like to know
On Being a Still Life Today
No outside duties have called me away today
And so I have become a still life entitled “Ennui”
Or perhaps “Weltschmerz with a Pet Dog”
Two dogs, actually, and they have napped the hours
The rain has fallen day after day after day
A parallel to the Ancient Mariner’s sun
Tree frogs cling to the algae-green window panes
As if they too have lost interest in life
Even so
With my little world all rainy and grey
I am happy to be a still life today
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It’s clanky, clunky, and out-of-date – it’s British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
Assembling a Metal Lawn Chair with Great Care (and a Ball-Peen Hammer)
A friend gave me a lawn chair in tangerine
Bright tangerine, with instructions in English
Which I followed most assiduously
Which parts of the chair most surely did not
The instructions did not mention a ball-Peen hammer
With brutality and words which must not be spoken
(Think of Vulcan and his mighty strokes)
I finally assembled the chair to my satisfaction
And then I sat down
Boeing, Studebaker, John Deere, and my Tupperware Coffee Cup
“The days are gone… When wonderful things were worked among them,” -The Seafarer, trans. Burton Raffel
My Tupperware coffee cup is as a chalice
With which I salute the beginning of each day
Cool, colorful, comforting craftsmanship
An honest, utilitarian work of art
We are told such things will be no more
“Made in USA” is “Factorum Romae”
Younger nations will find us camping among the ruins
Of works and arts we no longer comprehend
A colonial soldier might note that once we were a great people
His colonel will reply, “Tosh! They’re simple savages.”
LogoSophia Magazine 