Palm Sunday without Air-Raid Warnings
Palm Sunday is easy for the rest of us
A procession with palms from the parking lot
Praising God through an asphalt Jerusalem
A Subaru on His right hand, a Dodge on His left
Tag: Lawrence Hall
To Ask to be Exempt Would be Unreasonable
We all have lists of absent friends Who were with us one week and Covid the next With unfinished stories and little jokes We meant to tell each other the next time we met
Read MoreWe All Dream of Our Own Library Someday
We all dream of our own library someday
Shelf after shelf of finely bound editions
An oak-paneled room with a stone fireplace
And French windows that open to the sea
Select All Images with Traffic Lights
When the ink on his Gospel had barely dried
Saint Matthew was interrupted by angelic sights
And then to him a Voice from Heaven cried:
“Select all images with traffic lights!”
Shifting the Clockfoolery Forward
This is the day we search out all the clocks:
Two in the den (in which no animals live)
One in the kitchen above the dishy sink…
Covid Memory Gaps
A child in the second grade might be missing this part of his development: he doesn’t remember a time when there weren’t face masks and nervous and sometimes angry discussions about Covid, immunizations, symptoms, isolation, and what’s not available at the grocery store this week.
Read MoreI Grew Up In Mayberry
I passed two men who were building a fence
With hands and tools and strength and uncommon sense…
Geographically Speaking
Sweet little bunnies browse and squirrels climb
And tiny mice and fairies give delight
To all the little ones of Newfoundland
Who visit Peter Pan in Bowring Park
A Question I Must Ask of Myself
The question is asked: What good shall I do today?
It is a fair question. I don’t know who asked it first
But this morning the only importance
Is that I ask this question of myself
TAB Cola
This week we read that TAB Cola will no longer be manufactured. This comes as a surprise to most of us, who didn’t know it still existed. TAB Cola, a product of the Coca-Cola company, dates back to ye olden days of the IBM Selectric Typewriter and Sears…
Read MoreWorship at the Super Bowl
There are few crimes more likely to drive a man
A man, a sensitive man, a thinking man
To existential despair
On the Unlocking of Words
The art of oratory is little studied now, and so speeches are seldom about stating the facts and coming to a conclusion, but rather a matter of posturing and yelling and chanting. The ultimate failure to persuade is in the use of a bullhorn.
Read MoreBut is it True? Modern Mayhem & More
Let’s unpack the cliches and hyperbole
The nuclear option and we’ve got this
What we know now we have our options frontline
Off the table Armageddon option
Snow Clouds for Children on a January Dawn
There could be snow later, and that would be nice
Children can grow up here and never see snow
Today they might go out and play in it
While we old folks tut-tut, “You’ll catch your death…”
First Responders: Gifts of Service
Many of our first responders are volunteers, and so in addition to their support-the-family jobs they also serve the community on their own time and often at their own expense. We need them.
Read MoreWho Betrayed Anne Frank?
A spokesman for the F.B.I. /
Notes that Jewish hostages were taken…
Butch and Sundance: The Latest Remake
Well, now, Butch and Sundance (I’ll tell you no lies) /
Stop the U.P. right in its trackages…
A Time Capsule for our Noblest Soldier
If there must be time capsules buried beneath /
Statues of bold men wearing uniforms /
As a remembrance of man’s noblest ideals /
Let us have one for dear ol’ Sergeant Schultz
We’ll Write a New Idyll This Year
Janus faces both ways, and so do we /
A last, lingering look at the year that was /
And then a turn to the year we must meet /
Marching to it through Janus Pater’s doors
Toy Trains, Grandmother’s Good China, and Children
Childhood Christmases are often the metaphorical benchmark for our present Christmases, and that won’t do. The magic of opening a package under the tree on Christmas morning is for little children; it won’t work for us and it’s not meant to.
Read More
LogoSophia Magazine 