Breakfast in Constantinople
The waitress greeted us in Saint Petersburg / We drank strong coffee in Alexandria / Our omelets were served in Cambridgeshire / As we gossiped in the narthex of Hagia Sophia
Read MoreTag: Lawrence Hall
An Active School Meeting in Progress
This morning I drove by my old school / A staff meeting was being committed inside / Perpetrating crimes against intelligence / “HELLO MY NAME IS” / 10,000 years of civilization?
Read MoreCurious Events
At the gas station I bought a Chinese rocket / And worried that a lottery might fall from the sky / I tucked away the ticket into my pocket / Or tucked my pocket into my ticket – but why?
Read MoreThe Passing of The Queen
Few constants obtain in our shifting world / And even those constants must leave us at last / Even as the mists of September obscure / The golden days of a summer now past
Read MoreHuman Intelligence, Human Ethics
If the weather services are hacked, the power fails, or that far-away thermometer is down, you can still observe your thermometer. The same obtains with your mechanical clock, your hygrometer, and your barometer. There are no third parties between you and them—no computers, no satellite signals, no radio waves, no electrical lines, no hackers.
Read MoreThe Prince-Poet-Cat of Gatineau, Quebec
In an ice-cream summer in the long ago / I met a marvelous cat in Gatineau / Pushkin by name, a fastidious Russian / His shiny fur coat never needed brushin’…
Read MorePoetry in the Desert
A story told about Field Marshal Wavell is that while throwing some things into a bag for a field tour of soldiers defending India from invasion by the Japanese, he asked if anyone had seen his Browning. When someone pointed out that he was wearing it – his Browning 9mm – he said that he was looking for his copy of the poems of Robert Browning. In all his campaigns, Wavell always carried poetry with him.
Read MoreLight Raindrops Upon the Withered World
After months of dreary drought and heat / Light raindrops fall upon the withered world
Read MoreHer Majesty the Queen and her Good and Faithful Bear
Last week I took my few gas cans to the station to fill them up after the first round of summertime mowing. The pump stopped at $100.01. The pump’s computer program is set for $100 for each purchase; I suppose the extra cent was a “so there” at my expense.
Read MoreLike Candles When They Quietly Go Out
When we were young / A friend once showed me a passage in a book / In which the monks of a certain cloistered order / Were often blessed with wonderfully peaceful deaths / Like candles when they quietly go out
Read MoreHurricane Disaster Relief Kits
This summer the Bishop of Beaumont is promoting a good idea and the organizational skills to make it so throughout the diocese: small, easily transportable plastic bags of needful items for anyone displaced by hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, or other disasters.
Read MoreA Violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics
A day so hot that ordinary tasks / Exhaust the body and the soul; to grasp / The handle of a water tap wearies the mind / To grasp a simple thought eludes one’s will /
Read MoreBeowulf and the Danish Passport Officer
The clapped-out Boeing / wheezed to the gate // The ground crew jumped / name-tags rattling // And swiftly moored / the shining ocean-bird
Read MoreSeven Haiku for the Pleiades
All in the same sky:
Luna, Venus, Jupiter
While the soft winds sigh…
But Which Jaw Drops?
An advert assures us its product is jaw-dropping
If true, this loss of body parts would be painful
And which part of the purchaser’s jaw drops?
A Discarded Cat
She adopted us several weeks ago And after the usual hissings and spittings Was accepted by the other cats…
Read MorePipe Tobacco and Memories
Today I smelled tobacco from a pipe
Although there was no one around except
Perhaps the ghost of the hardware store savant
Whose wisdom filled the air along with smoke
The Truth Is At An Undisclosed Location
Books have many authors, and the Author of All Blesses them and us with their waves of words
Read MoreTime is But the Livestream I Go a-Programming In
Someone near and dear to my pancreas gave (“gifted” is not a verb) me one of those clever aluminum MeWatches that claim to make one’s life more interesting in many ways and which come without any instructions because not sending instructions with a product is such a cool thing now.
Read MoreThe Stillness of the Summer Solstice
Short strings of words that breathe and sigh as songs
Sunflowers fainting in the afternoon
A treefrog pulsing on the windowpane
Ladybugs drowsing on a tomato leaf
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