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July 2022

The Violence

(x = space)

x

x

The Violence

x

I guess nowadays

It seems to me

Not to wax

Not in a rant but with

Cold observation

x

A reader

And a hearer

And a watcher

x

We go to

Wicked without order

(yes, we know it’s good

in New England)

No vision

No plan

Make war not love

x

As if we’ve taken all the virtue

All the good things out of

Everything,

Which leaves us

(ask Oedipus

Creon

even Antigone)

Vanity

And hubris

A particular kind of cowardice

For bullying

An awful war

Frankly, an awful peace

x

On the inside first

Then interpersonal

x

Having arranged

For all of us

By all of us

Easy access to deadlier weapons

Lacking safeties

And restraints

And moderation

x

Intentions once machined

To the center

Now lathed

At a slant

Until the work breaks

In the machine

Our better parts left

Ragged

Rough

Deadly points

Untreated

Left unsmoothed

x

And then the other weapons

Too easy

x

C L Couch

x

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Antigone. Ismene, dear sister,

You would think that we had already suffered enough

For the curse on Oedipus:

I cannot imagine any grief

That you and I have not gone through. And now—

Have they told you the new decree of our king Creon?

(Antigone by Sophocles)

x

Photo by Amber Kipp on Unsplash

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0

The Wonder Dog

(x = space)

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The Wonder Dog

x

I used to let

The dog go

In the creek

Taking off the leash

Once we were behind

The houses

What a happy dog

Upstream was all right

There was freedom in that,

Too

x

Muscles got used

That needed using

The shaking of the chain

Hanging in the closet meant

That

All this could happen

x

Once released

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C L Couch

x

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Water Flowing over Rocks

Photo by Robert Zunikoff on Unsplash

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2

Arts and Sciences

(x = space)

x

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Arts and Sciences

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It used to be

That art was the vision

Science the practice

(of the vision)

Thus there was connection

As between birth

And grown-up life

That was not ineffable

But practical

Workable

For visioning, producing

Of an age

x

Now we don’t like each other

The theoretical

The practical

We grumble and we look

The other way

Well, to our way

If we must, we sigh

Whisper nearly sotto voce

For a bit of theory

Or a bit of usefulness

Or industry

x

Music, math

The Renaissance

Philosophy

Reading, writing

How to build community

Through argument

And pipes

And water fountains

Statuary for the ages

Buildings that make sense

Can be maintained

And are beautiful

x

They’re coming back, perhaps

I see new works in small towns

Better than returning is

Moving forward

Time for a new alliance

New connections

New community

x

Make new friends

And keep the old;

One is silver

And the other gold

Not bad for an age

Every day a merger

Every breath a hope

In vision

Words

Plans

Building

And-or preserving

The streets, the place,

And planet

We all live along

Each one

Each other

x

C L Couch

x

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Light in the Law Quad

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

x

“Make New Friends” is a scout and camp song (a round) whose creators are unknown and whose lyrics have variations.

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0

armageddon morning

(x = space)

x

x

armageddon morning

x

all earthly alliances

whose treaties are for war

in violation

with a claim

to win the world

x

God will fight us

weeping

with the rain

no doubt of victory,

would rather gather us

on a field

for celebration

will take the victory

if we shall give it

insisting we are right

in no other way

x

dawn after

final skirmishes at night

surrendered remnants will

be healed

and taken home

surprising what was won

in defeat

who was the foe

we battered in the dark

who struck

who struck

we have forgotten

or will forget

with a will

x

the place is clean

Earth an altar

all other altars served

without knowing

the template

last sacrifices needed

and these weren’t

x

we will come home

quiet first

names

and wounds

the celebration shall come

later when renewed

x

when we awake forever

a universe

to get to know

and new assignments

x

there is a party

only for an age or so

inside new heaven

over new Earth

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by Dan Senior on Unsplash

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2

Abe Shinzō

(x = space)

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Abe Shinzō

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Shinzo Abe

I’m sorry that he’s gone

Taken by insanity

And criminality

x

Two questions remain:

What made the killer

(first question

x

and second)

What may we remember

And be changed by

From the living

From Abe’s having lived

x

For

He is among the generations

Now

x

C L Couch

x

安倍晋三

Abe Shinzō

x

x

Photo by Daniel Seßler on Unsplash

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2

On the Ecumenism of Species

(x = space)

x

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On the Ecumenism of Species

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Dogs and cats should share

Often, they do

They share heat when it’s cold

They can share toys

They can treat each other

As toys

Food is another matter

Their systems are different

So unless it’s An Incredible Journey

Situation,

They should eat apart

And eat apart

Be who each other is

They can rest together

Often, they do

And enjoy God’s-creature status

Both, together

All, together

Now

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Madalyn Cox on Unsplash

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2

Sextant

(x = space)

x

x

Sextant

x

I have no idea how

One works

Somehow the sextants

Set

The way we need to take

In relation to

The stars’ own courses

x

Like the lodestone

The sunstone

A compass

Or the stars themselves,

We go with an absurdity

Of faith

Considering how wide

The water

x

How minimal the shorelines

And they

Save us against

The ocean’s

Featureless horizon

x

A journey by design

Or an irony of pressing,

A crossing by

The sextant’s parsecs

Tentatively ending at

A port-of-call

x

And the decision not

To yield but

To carry on,

Wayward sailors

Wayward children

x

Seeking the

Navigator’s colors

x

C L Couch

x

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U.S. Navy Quartermaster 3rd Class, practices using a sextant as part of a navigation training aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), 2018

By National Museum of the U.S. Navy – 180423-N-DL434-149, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70793138

x

0

Dog Days Days of Dogs

(x = space)

x

x

Dog Days Days of Dogs

x

I imagine dog days

In August,

But it’s been so hazy

And it’s been hot

I think of dogs

Such as bloodhound

Dogs (whatever looming,

drooping species)

Owning dropped places on

Front porches,

The kind of porch that drapes

From end to end

Or side to side

x

And the dogs, they are

Listless shapes of

Tired, teaching something

To the rest of us

About not being

In the way

When the way is not

A deal

And we do better

Owning places

Away from doors

And under windows

x

Like the dogs of summer

Something for

The cats of winter, too

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Francesca Albert on Unsplash

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0

5 July

(x = space)

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x

5 July

x

Post-parade

As we must be

After battle

We have to count the wounded

On the field

The dying

And the dead

x

In Chicago

And across New York

Wherever we commit

And find,

To make the discovery

Again

x

That we are bestial

Worse than,

Since we weaponize

Our extensions

Limb

Tooth and claw

For killing

Over distances

And up close

x

Conviction is an odd word

That cuts at us two ways

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

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