Search

clcouch123

I talk you talk we'll talk

Open Search
Month

April 2016

East of Eden

East of Eden

 

Earthquakes split (6.4,

7.4), volcanoes feared

In a paradisal land that

Has such virtue in

Nature and humanity

 

Anger of nature, the

Patron’s rightful wrath

For it has been a place

Of crushing empire, too

 

Or is it in imitations of

The west, of surrendering

Ancient code, ritual, and

Ceremony to impose

New rule of the

Incorporated world

 

Residents sleeping inside

Comb-shaped cells like

Unfeeling bee-keeping

 

Perilous excesses in

Manufacturing and energy

Production, making Japan

Truly like the rest

 

In the wake of nature’s

Lightning crevassing the

Land in whatever form

Is invoked, attitudes

And disposition are not

Enough to take on

Now

 

Our neighbors need

And though we might

Cry that we’re not able

Or we are too far

No excuse is enough

 

Our neighbors need

6

MachinE

MachinE

 

form that serves itselF

like bureaucracy that’s lost its waY

calculation and summatioN

records of everythinG

charts everything but coursE

never showing us the waY

has credibility for the shape it iS

and because it works more efficiently than uS

 

We pioneer

We tear the paper edges even on waterproof paper

We feel the wind and rain

Spear through our layers of cotton, wool, and stronger new-made stuff

We are sturdy stuff

We try

We try again

 

the machine doesn’t threateN

but it is an alien thinG

We are not made of catalogued parts

Rather creator’s compass

It may know

To us it’s brave chaos

Risk in the unknown

 

machine doesn’t feaR

In wind that incites

We don’t fear

 

To us it is all vague before we explore

Shapeless and clock-incalculable

To which we’ll add

what gear-efficiency cannoT

 

Purpose enough

 

 

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Blogging from A to Z Challenge

7

Lines

Lines

 

I tried to make a cursive h

(If we know what cursive is

 

I hear it’s no longer taught

In school)

 

Anyway (my rant set aside),

I failed to get it right and,

In my attempt to

Write it right,

 

I saw what makes the letter

 

A circle, more an oval

Straight line descending

At an angle, then upon

A simple arch

 

Those three shapes

Make this alphanumeric

Contribution

 

Such plain things make up

The world

 

Lines are bent or remain

Straight, all to recommend

How Earth might be

 

By keepers and expressers

Who delight with beauty in

Design

5

L is for Lyric

L is for Lyric

 

Will you sing with me?

If I start,

If you start,

Shall we sing together?

 

The earth spins off harmony,

A jubilance of sparks—

Fireworks

In the mind

 

Our words become song

And, while orbiting,

An invitation:

 

Into our creating cups,

Ambrosia-better,

Liquid inspiration

 

Not for drinking but for

Utterance,

Music becoming

Current  in the cosmos

 

 

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Blogging from A to Z Challenge

7

The Odd Couple (of Poems)

The Odd Couple (of Poems)

 

 

Me, a Business Teacher?

(there was an ad for this, and I’ve

taught in the discipline)

 

I could teach the business I’ve been in

I could teach how there is no support

For personal goals and idealism

That ethics is cut down by deals in

Secret corners

That all faith should be withdrawn to

Be cared for in other ways

 

Maybe I should teach

 

 

Zilch

 

A forgotten Marx brother

Like Zippo who sold lighters

Gumbo who was really into

Southern soup

 

Or Gumby who found other

Media work

 

And Zilch?  As you can

Imagine,

 

Zilch became nothing

 

just to show I’m not a spoil-sport about everything

oh, and the real Marx Brothers were Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, and Gummo

2

The Last Insult

The Last Insult

 

A homeless man is shot down

It happened in L.A.

It happens anywhere

 

I say man until women are

Shot down, too

 

Having lost

Family, work, wardrobe

One’s own place to stay

Or say

Reliance on water and food

The basics long gone

 

Finally, a move in desperation

Imprudent, maybe

Criminal

But what’s left

 

And the last thing—there

Was one thing—is lost

 

Spirit ascends, offers an

Amish hope

Confidence mitigated

By designed ignorance of

Providence

 

Without doubt, nothing more

To lose here

2

Planet Iks

Planet Iks

 

It might have another

Name but for demotion of

A planetoid, and we really

Haven’t found it yet

 

But there’s good (knowing)

Guessing now that it is

There—

 

A globe ten times the size

Of Earth and more yet

Too far or too errant for

Our scopes to espy

 

Here’s a world in our solar

Home we didn’t know

 

A circle signaling that our

System of counting and

Of comprehending (in both

Ways)

 

Might be far itself from

Being done, even though we

Measure over ages

2

K is for Kalliope

K is for Kalliope

 

Transliterated from old Greek,

Eldest and leader of the Muse

Sisters, Muse of song and

Public articulation—in other

Words, speech-delivery

 

She had a son, an artful maker,

Too—he was killed; and his

Mother took his remains to

Enshrine them on Lesbos, an

Ancient isle, which we might

Visit today

 

Were she to sing in our

Parlance and with our take

On life’s matters:

 

I inspire your song and speech

And go unrecognized

 

Most no longer believe that

Mortal skills come from a sacred

Start

 

I might sing again, though first

Would be the labor in mourning

For all I have lost

 

My boy, who was murdered

For envy or rage (I care not

Which) and whose grave

Molders in an island pit bereft

Of laurel leaves

 

Orpheus, as well my son,

Whose sanctioned journey into

Hell yet lost him his wife in

Petty business of Hades and

The underworld’s rule (I

Respect them not)—his life was

Left to sorrow like mine

 

And your interest? Why would

Gods matter to you?  All

Divinity is mitigated in belief,

Mostly unexpressed, that you

Shall save yourselves—

 

Foolish

 

You will need us, still

 

 

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

6

Day 141

Day 141

 

Today is Day 141

In a one-hundred-eighty day

School year

 

Thirty-nine days to go

 

Thirty-nine?

What a drag!

 

Yes, daughter, but can

You not see what you have

Achieved?

 

Can you not feel progress?

How about some growth?

 

Try to find some joy in

Growing through the

Thirty-nine

 

You’re going anyway,

My dear

 

C L Couch

3

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑