Guardians Of Atlanta Episode 7 – Mirror: The Blessed Twin

By Joshua David Ling … Three Knights stood in her room spread out, / One grabbed her mouth from behind. / She tried to fight back as best she could, / But this plan was perfectly designed. / She suddenly felt tired and looked down to see / A needle in her arm.

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Negotiating Toilet Paper

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Dignity, like treaties, can be broken
In many ways…

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So Fast Thou Growest

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Happy children playing in a roadside ditch / Barefoot and laughing in shorts and tees / A boy grabbing up a frog to frighten the girls/ A girl sloshing the boys with a bucket of muck

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Because They Are Young

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Little children attend the school of Creation: / A stick, a caterpillar upon a leaf / A pine nut spiraling down upon its wing / A yellow butterfly dancing autumn in

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Hobbit Day

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … I read that today is Hobbit Day / On the autumn equinox every year…

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Laundry Day – The Solemnity of All Stains

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … The washing machine baptizes our busy days: / A shirt freshly stained with this morning’s coffee / Wrinkledy tees in grimy greens and greys / A child’s blue jeans all sticky with toffee

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Make Thee Another Self

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … After the Order of Saint Joseph, all men are fathers / Commanded by God to protect all children / Permitted by God to protect all children / Empowered by God to protect all children

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Holy Smokes: Habemus Papem

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Latins and Sabines may have watched for smoke / From the Vatican Hill across the way / Wondering if a careless shepherd had set a fire / Beyond the Seven Hills of holy Rome

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Fragments of Life and Literature 

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … We have mysterious runic messages still / Appearing this morning – there, on the road – see them?

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Fragments of Life

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … The seasons pass and footsteps pass, leaves fall / But nothing changes for those frozen in place / By the decrees of stasis and stagnancy / Progress blocked by torpidity and time

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We Know Where The Holy Grail Is

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … We know where the Holy Grail is / Each Sunday we see it on the Altar / As a cup, indifferent in its origins / In the catalogue of a church supply…

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Your Favorite Author is Nothing Without You 

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … When I was a child I read without discipline: / Robert A. Heinlein, Robin Hood, cowboy yarns / Pirates raiding across the Spanish Main / Penrod and Sam, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn…

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Each Birthday is a Step in the Right Direction

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … A birthday is not the beginning of something new / But rather part of a continuing story / From its Prologue and its Chapter One / Through the dark leaves of Mirkwood and beyond

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Late January is a Time of Grey

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … I read a little in Billy Collins just now / Because Tolkien is in the other room / Along with the laundry and an unmade bed / Late January is a time of grey…

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Another Turn Of The Year

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … About this new year – it doesn’t look so new / But the first sunlight in the bare oak trees / And upon last summer’s ground-shoaling leaves / Lead me to pull on my boots and step outside

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Did You Enjoy Your Christmas?

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … That merry little Christmas that they sing about – / Did you open your gifts around a tree / Tinsel and ornaments and a brilliant star / Pajamas and cocoa and merriment…

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