August 2021

Machine Languages

(x = space)

Machine Languages

Too much heat

A killing metaphor

But for now

I have the benefit of machines

The kind that cool,

The kind that distract

I’m lucky

Don’t I know it

In several months

I’ll need machines

The other way

And won’t I know it

To warm my food

To warm the rest of me

Against a northern

Winter

I have to thank machines

That bide my time

That give me time

To heal

To forget

To move through seasons

In a constant state

Like quicksilver

Like the cardinal

That, up here,

Flies through seasons

C L Couch

Cardinal diving down from tree.

Photo by gerhard crous on Unsplash

August 13, 2021 1

Peace Talk

(x = space)

Peace Talk

What does God demand?

We say humility

In walking

That sounds good

We could let go our weapons

And the meanness

On our faces

And go our way

Not as if

Everyone’s our friend

But that the world

And the world’s God

Anticipates

Agendas,

Don’t make a face

That gets you beat

Or killed

And with a face

That says that, should we meet,

It might go all right

The thing is

And I guess you know

This is a rule

First for the strong

C L Couch

Micah 6:8

Photo by Timothy Barlin on Unsplash

(nice face)

August 12, 2021 2

Love Song of the Mendicant

(x = space)

Love Song of the Mendicant

I sit by the side

Begging bread for my bowl

I drink thin liquid,

Hoping to sustain me

Is it Egypt

Of long ago,

A curb in Cairo

Or in Rome

Or New York City?

We dream,

And in our dreams

We look for many things

Gold, perhaps—

More so for love, I think

The love of God

Of one another

Of those we know

And those we knew

Who have been away

For a long while,

Now

We wake

And everything begins again

We are cast outside

By the world’s demand

To beg for bread

And something cool

To drink

And that, with enough,

We can share with

Others

In our group,

With our family

C L Couch

Photo by Viviane Okubo on Unsplash

Palhano, Brazil

August 11, 2021 0

After I Believe

(x = space)

After I Believe

I don’t know how

to live for you

I wish I did

I know

the Spirit is supposed

To guide me,

Though what are

the steps to take

And practices

to follow

I don’t know or am

out of practice

(hah)

Or never knew and need

Companions

also in the flesh

To help me

C L Couch

Photo taken from The Nue Co. marketing campaign.

Photo by Finn on Unsplash

August 10, 2021 1

seven at a blow

(x = space)

seven at a blow

99,000

new cases here

on Friday

don’t know how it is

where you are

here we’re still denying

we want to go to bars

though barkeeps

are smart

and want to know

how safe

each patron is

we want it to be over

so much so

some say

it never happened

it’s not happening

but for the family

the friends

we’ll never see again

this side,

what are we to say

that

the multi-million deaths

from the same thing

was not

is not

it isn’t happening?

what kind of remembrance

it’s nice

that we don’t want

to hear about it

and it’s cruel

we could apologize

the COVID series doesn’t care

numbers on the news

numbers in my family

and yours

I don’t know

where it started

I heard a bat

and I like bats

for all they consume that

I’d rather not have

around

in numbers

China?

sure

made up maybe

in a lab,

who’s to know?

I don’t know

I’ll care later

for now,

I want you to be safe

I want us all

to move on to health

then I’ll gladly buy

the next round

oh, there is a story

about numbers

seven at a blow

to keep us

frosty

to keep us

skeptical

and, hey,

I want you to be well

c l couch

Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash

Published on March 22, 2020

August 9, 2021 2

Chaotica

(x = space)

Chaotica

Lord,

It’s a good day

For normal praying

In churches everywhere

There will be choruses

That say it right

But my prayer

Is cacophony,

Nothing regular

Or regularly rhythmed out

I hope you will forgive that,

All the off-pitch, off-key

Murmuring,

Uneven humming through

The perfect angel-layering

Of formal prayers

But I need you;

I need your company

You could simply sit close by,

And maybe we’d say nothing

To each other

And somehow know

Eternity is hearing

Everything as it should

Everything that’s needed

To respond just right

To an uneven,

Lopsided,

Person praying badly

Out of place

In whatever place

C L Couch

Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash

August 8, 2021 2

Why Sometimes There’s a ? Mark

(x = space)

Why Sometimes There’s a ? Mark

The ending of a movie

Doesn’t say

“The End” so

Much, which

Might be just as well

Stories go on:

An event has an ending

However it might

Dwindle

Toward an emptiness of

Time and company

While the next thing is in

Motion

Motion, motion—

Investment of potential,

Expenditure

Of energy,

Profit of contribution toward the

Turning of the Earth

And shall we say it,

Joy

Yes, using

The “eternal delight”

Of Blake

Amid the envying of

All unmoving things that want

To be introduced

Into the

Calling rushing of the universe

And so it seems

Never the end

C L Couch

On Set

Photo by Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash

Portland, United States

August 7, 2021 2

A Game of Go

(x = space)

A Game of Go

I should go

And now I must

Hello, Captain Spaulding,

And now

I must be going

Where I do not know

(I think the

captain

meant to stay)

And I must balance

Coins upon a plate

Upon a stick

Held high

That somehow starts a kind

Of arch

Maybe an energetic

Ley line

That on the other side

Under the same sky

Is a place

To land

With only a few more things

Broken

C L Couch

(English-teachery note)

Captain Spaulding is a character performed by Groucho Marx in the movie (first the play) Animal Crackers.

A Korean couple playing Go in traditional dress. Photographed between 1910 and 1920.

Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs divisionunder the digital ID cph.3b26994.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2871048

August 6, 2021 0