August as a Yellow Flame

August 22, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … This August is indeed like a yellow flame / Death writhes among brown-burnt withering leaves / The grass is as sere as Macbeth’s acrid soul / And garden hoses drip in futility

The Fuel Pump Screen Queen

August 15, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … She’s fresh and lovely on the television screen / Promoting a recipe for a sugar-free treat / And fashion tips for being In The Scene – / Her face on the fuel pump is ever so sweet…

Half-Awake in Moonlight

August 8, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … No one is fully awake in this strange moonlight / The magic won’t work if we think of it / Pirate ships can’t fly if there’s logic about / And lovers would never touch hands

Summer 2023: An Issue of Patriotism

August 5, 2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

Join us as we explore the issues of Patriotism! Our staff is all American, but we’ve focused largely on international or historical ideas. Don’t forget to check out the photo contest, Scripture Search, book & media recommendations, and Bible trivia!

Everybody Writes a Poem About the Moon

August 1, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Everybody writes about the moon / Often trying to force a balky rhyme / Along the continuum of spoon and croon / Which just won’t fill the bill, the quill, or the time

In Nature We are Only a Menu Item

July 25, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Purporting to love nature is a commonplace / This does not mean that nature loves us back / We often look for nature’s smiling face / But nature looks for us as a tasty snack

Builders of Empires

July 18, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Great men of thought, of character and strength / Have built from time to time empires of industry / Empires of soldiers and sailors forcing conquests / Of ancient lands and nations for their own purposes

An Amazon Driver with Skull Earrings

July 11, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall No, of course he’s not an Amazon; he’s a manNavigating a big ol’ delivery truck through lifeFerrying to addresses this side of the StyxBrown pasteboard boxes and white plastic envelopes I wanted to ask him about his goal in lifeBut he was in a hurry to turn aroundAnd continue […]

Come Laughing Home at Twilight

July 3, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … He was my beautiful boy, and, sure, / The girls they thought so too: his eyes, his walk; / A man of Newfoundland, my small big man, / Just seventeen, but strong and bold and sure.

Saint Joseph and Ice Cream

June 27, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Every man is a father after the Order of Saint Joseph / Every child is his to nurture and protect / A man must practice wisdom and honor / In order to pass them on to a new generation

In Search of Lost Timepieces

June 19, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … When clocks were electric and mechanical / They almost never agreed with each other

A Field Guide to Fields

June 13, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … the most glorious field is in midsummer hay…

Is Peter Rabbit a Democrat or a Republican?

June 10, 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Once upon a time people regarded public and school libraries as repositories of thousands of years of civilization, open to all, with John Milton shelved uneasily close to Geoffrey Chaucer and with Phyllis Wheatley a few aisles away from Margaret Mitchell. An old saying is that if a library doesn’t contain books with which you vehemently disagree, it’s not a good library.

A Dream About Birdcage Walk

June 6, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … In the perfection of an impossibility / I was tagging along behind Margaret Thatcher

Lest Our Old Shoes Sit Easier Than Our New

May 30, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … When we were children we were proud of our new shoes / Our once-a-year shoes in situational poverty / Although we went barefootin’ most of the time / As long as the weather and parents allowed

“Remarkably Like Any Other Place”

May 23, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Life is a pilgrimage from cell to cell: / The bedroom of one’s childhood, the college dorm / The noisy barracks, merry in spite of all / Eighty conscript soldiers bunked out in rows

Time is a Falling Leaf (Battery not Included)

May 16, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … A child and a puppy playing on the lawn / Tumbling through soft grass in the bliss of June / We joy in their celebration of life / Everything is new / Except that it isn’t

The Pale Lady of the Well

May 9, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall …when outside at dusk with poetry and pipe / And a whisper of single-malt offered to the earth / Sometimes I seem to see visions proper to a Celt / And hear soft songs from the dawn of time

Spring 2023: An Issue of Liberty

May 6, 2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

Join us as we explore the issues of Life! In this issue you will find thoughts on history, Jesus, the prison system, motherhood, and plenty more!

The Saturday Morning Tee-Ball Hero

April 25, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … A little moppet scampers around the tee / Waving her plastic bat as a warrior’s sword / Or as a fairy-wand to magic the day / Her first-ever tee-ball lesson with Dad…