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April 2023

Aunt Bette

(x = space)

x

x

Aunt Bette

x

My Aunt Bette

Died

My cousin reported

And reported

Well

Inside paper

And electronic

News

After communicating

With the family

x

Bette had a long life

Much longer than

Her sister

My mother

x

There were only two of them

In fact

For a long while

Growing up

x

Each sister had children

Four and five

Bette and my mother

x

We used to get together

At what they called

The camp

By the river

x

River swimming’s

Interesting

x

The water’s dark

The river’s wide

As famously understood

x

There was an amusement park

On the other side

x

My cousin Beth

Keeps the family

Wedges doors

So we might know what’s happening

On the other side

x

I’m thankful

x

I’m sorry

My aunt Bette is

No longer here

x

Her absence is a sadness

Though

I knew her less

x

Sometimes that happens

As we age

x

Welcome

Bette

To the other side

x

Age is no longer an issue

Or health

Or other challenges

x

Everything is new

For you

x

Made ready for

The wonders of

What’s next

x

‘Bye for now

Aunt Bette

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Ashkan Forouzani on Unsplash

x

1

prose poem about an—

(x = space)

x

x

prose poem about an—

x

–found and read a story about an angel.  A long time ago, I had a book of stories about angels.  As far as I know, I don’t have that book now; and I don’t know where I got it.  I don’t where I was when I read this story.  I seem to recall an institution-like place, a school cafeteria or something, though the light was not widespread and where it was was divided starkly between itself and shadow.  Maybe I’m imagining my imagining of the setting of the story.  This angel looked like a tramp.  He appeared in tattered clothes with a tattered raincoat over all.  He didn’t like where he was or that he had to look and feel this way.  I think he tended not to like his assignments all that much.  In this story, he saved someone; and I think he did this rather often, saving people.  At the moment just before salvation, he manifested as an angel.  As an angel should be.  He was majesty, all power and fear.  His wings were wide and they reached high.  There was great light through him (hmm, I guess he was depicted as male); and the evil in the story was overwhelmed, the human client rescued.  Afterward, he felt some contentment as an angel, though he knew he would be leaving and would be changing into whatever the next place and time required—not by his reckoning.  So he was about to leave and then—and this was the style of the writer—vanish in the middle of a–.

x

this story was written I believe by Stephen Donaldson who has composed the chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever; if I’m wrong then I apologize all around; I don’t recall the name of the anthology or the particular story cited, and I don’t know who else wrote the other stories—the theme was angels, that’s what I know and that I often think of this story, this time strongly enough to set something down

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Ramez E. Nassif on Unsplash

x

1

Gestation

(x = space)

x

x

Gestation

x

I don’t know

It’s Friday

It’s raining

We need the rain

The clouds have little texture

At least from here

x

Nothing much to look at

A wet street

Spatter on the windows

We need the rain

x

There is war

In Ukraine

More death today

More wounded

And in Sudan

We’re drawing up our diplomats

Telling tourists

To go home

Choose another

(for now)

x

We know there’s trafficking

Where

Here

Of drugs

Of people

Contraband things that

Otherwise

Could be all right

x

But you know

People

Never people

Sold

Which means someone is

Buying

Where

Here

x

Struggles for freedom’s

Hard enough

On good days in

(relative)

Safe places

x

And they

The captured

Kidnapped

Bought and sold

Are not all

But tend to be

Children

Women

Who

We know

Struggle for freedom

Already

Hard enough

More than should be

Enough

x

On Friday I could cry

But the sky

Provides

As if behooving

I could say

Nature weeps for me

As in

Instead of me

And that

Nature weeps for all of us

In distress

But it is nature’s

Well

Nature

x

That’s all

And that’s enough

The rain

Provides

Other good things

x

But I’m thinking now

There should be

Laws

For freedom

To work within one’s

Bearing

Bearing

Who we are

What can we do

x

And freedom of our bodes

Politic

Personal

That many of us

Think we have

x

Let’s check the laws of nature

And our charters

I think it’s there

Many

Freedoms

Already

There

Officially

And by

Who made rain

x

We may read wet leaves

Or our own pages

Fearfully

Consider

Wonderfully made

And what

To do

With what and whom

When made

When with accountability

Co-making

x

Rain

Tears

Freedoms

Fridays

Notions

Not like the old

Department-store

Departments

(but) Full-blown

Like glass

Full-grown

Into ideas

x

We do

Need these

A good weekend

Please

For you

You deserve it

It’s deserved

x

Does rain mean freedom

I don’t think so

Sometimes

It’s relaxing to watch

To hear

Sometimes

It’s fearful

The median response

Might have something to do

With inconvenience

Maybe this is part

Part Friday

Too

Of freedom

x

C L Couch

x

x

Psalm 139:14

x

Photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash

x

1

Imaginaria

Imaginaria

(insight, sci-fi, speculation)

x

x

Machine Life

x

Ain’t devices grand

Until they’re not

And how long is

A generation, anyway

Things work

They slow down

There is no message

Though the problems could be

Indications as they are

In old age

The old age of us,

That is

x

Machine life

Oxymoron

Maybe

Maybe with A-I for real

The opposite are nearer

To the same thing

In us all

Man and machine

They (ubiquitous) used to say

But let the women try

All shall be well

As a woman said

x

x

note

x

Saint Julian of Norwich

(we ubiquitous do not know her name—maybe her cat sussed it through any sublimation)

x

x

Visitors

x

They landed

And found a plethora

Of DNA

On our machines

On the insides

Even blood

Inside

Who were these people, then,

Was soon discovered

Helixes reconstructed

And their features

And their colors

And the shapes of

So many of them

x

The machines they talk to

And brought them here

In fact

Shall interpret

And reconstitute

Everything

Planetside

As well as

From the things in orbit

That have been falling

While a few remain

For boarding

Or retrieval

x

This was a race

Or races

Many kinds of one race

They covered themselves

For the atmospheres

And seasons

Up to four of these

It seems

They were preventive

Though mostly reactive,

Waiting for a crisis

Then responding

x

There might have been those

(translating documents

reshaping the shaping

of their flesh

and all the things they made

for prosperity

or expression)

Who tried in sciences

And arts

To say something

Warn them about

How to live

And what might be coming

x

Well,

Library these

Revive some as we can

Or may

They had the rudiments

A-I and androids

We can work off of these

As templates

The name

Many references to ground

And we have encountered

Worlds named water,

Fire, and air

Smoke and fog

Pollution

And clarity

x

x

Prophecy

x

Three kinds

I was taught this

I’ve thought about it

(these)

Maybe I’ve done some

Merging

On the inside

All about it, too

x

There is the kind

That foretells the future,

Which is the kind

We think about

The most

It seems

x

There is the kind

That foretells the present

That tells the monarchs

There is invasion

Here

Or a great fire there

x

Then there is the kind

That interprets

The present

With insight

And a voice

That can serve the queen

And should they arrange it

Assist today’s administration

Well

And overall

Overall

And well

x

But then prophets

Often get into trouble

Even in democracies

Who are they

Why should we listen

Are they saying

What we want

To hear

Is prosperity promised

And God’s approval

Because God is in our side

Because

We say so

x

Go to the launchpads

Go to the modern museums

Enjoy

Be warned

Grow

Live better

x

As for disagreements

Or outraged

If not ignorant

(usually ignorant)

Confusion

Well,

Weather that

And try not to burn

The saints

x

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Nathan Duck on Unsplash

x

0

(haiku)

(x = space)

x

x

new breast cancer bills

pink flow’rs on a living tree

nature yeas the text

x

c l couch

x

x

today in Pennsylvania, a bipartisan passing of two bills that support research as well as life with breast cancer; I guess haikus are not supposed to serve as news reporters; but on hearing this report at noon, three lines came to mind

x

photo by Susan G. Komen 3-Day on Unsplash

x

2

To My Friends Back from Antarctica

(x = space)

x

x

for fun—no penguins were brought back or harmed in these productions, though penguin company was enjoyed “chez lui”

x

x

To My Friends Back from Antarctica

x

It’s

World Penguin Day

(25 April)

You may let the penguin out

Whom you’ve been keeping:

x

With all the

Mechanicals

Around,

Who’s to know?

x

If you remove the lid from

Your freezer,

Then to the room

The machine

Is in

Close the door,

x

Will you have

A habitat?

x

Remember to keep throwing

Fish

Inside

From time to time

x

All the time,

The bird reminds me

(all the time)

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Jay on Unsplash

x

2

“The Smallest Things,” “Peace Relative”

(x = space)

x

x

The Smallest Things

x

It’s cold

There is a blanket

There are enough things

For morning coffee

And toast

For breakfast later on

There is sunlight

So our whole planet

Has another

Day

There is water

I can drink

x

I can wash things

I can

Wash me

x

I have trash

Lined up in bags

Somewhere to take it

I have other piles

(boxes)

By the door

That should I have the

Help

Can go away

Be useful for others who

Might need some things

I had

x

My

Neighbors

Beat the ceiling

But there are no literal explosions

We are lucky

We have things

We can share

When

We want to

We can live in peace relative

To what’s inside

But peace for war

All

The same

x

C L Couch

x

x

Peace Relative

x

Relative to war

And to shutting doors

To keep things out

As if

We hadn’t seen or heard them

Once before

Or every day

x

Relative to shining in

With sunlight

Rather than

Explosives

Something negligent

Or something planned

x

Maybe not peace everywhere

Not yet

And peace organic

Certainly not remaining

Only

Peace from graves

x

Gravesides are pretty

And they’re quiet,

Mostly

We can do so much better

We should

We must

x

We want

To be there

At the end

And how about

A single turning page

Into the story of

Today?

x

Be there for that

Lift each other

The greater adventure

Is not war

Or even matter turned to energy

(it should go

the other way around)

But matters

Of the story

Withheld until we know

We have

Today

x

Next chapter

Please God

Please

Each other

Please

Let’s have the next

Have the next

Now

x

Now

Now

And now

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Nowshad Arefin on Unsplash

x

0

Surly Cat Blues

(x = space)

x

x

Surly Cat Blues

x

SING with me

Cat

Or let me sing with you

Or beat the cans or something

With the alley cats of night

Do you know

Top Cat?

I use to watch

When I was a child

x

I’ll call you Surly Cat

To avoid any trouble

And sorry

It’s a surly day

I didn’t sleep much

I’ve had some coffee

Do I want some more?

I am

Debating

x

Do you want some

Is that where a

Face comes from

Having caffeine

Or not

x

Maybe chocolate

NO

Not for a cat

(or caffeine of any kind

either)

x

Maybe Andrew Lang

Painted you

Or Christopher Smart

Elegized

As with Jeoffry

But I imagine you

More

A cat

With a guitar

Or base

Plucking

Singing about

Mouse

The adversary

x

I don’t know

You might be a good cat

Avoiding

Everyone

Eschewing toys

Lousy on laps

Except as a surprise

A time of your own choosing

Interest

Combined with

Human inconvenience

x

Now I wonder

HEY

It really does look good

Outside

Temperature is moderate

There is a

Range

Of blue and green

And white and black

And gray

Maybe I could take a walk

You could stay in here

The old glass

Allows for sunlight

You might

Feel

Righter with the

Feline, human

World

x

Or hatch new plans

While you’re asleep

x

C L Couch

x

x

I don’t know if Kliban invented cats who sing the blues, but I can’t help but imagine the two (cats and blues) in Kliban fashion when I think of cats as characters (all kinds) making music in addition to purr, meow, growl.

x

I decided not to cite the famous cat with the famouser face.  Too current, too popular.  So I made up Surly Cat.  It’s mine.  You can’t have it.  Unless you ask nicely.  Imagine a cat with fists and an expression always saying, You should see the other guy.

x

Top Cat is an animated cat, the main character in an eponymous cartoon series in the sixties.  It was a delight of ours when children to meet the actor who was the voice of Top Cat.

x

Photo by Max Simonov on Unsplash

x

7

worship

(x = space)

x

x

worship

x

we sing songs of praise

sometimes we dance

we are led

then

by the arts

sometimes we touch each other

safely and affirmatively

we pray

we confess

we ask for pardon

we pray for others

those we know

to give their names

crises in the world

praying for the stranger

we listen

there is teaching

churches wise as serpents

collect the money first

with more music

sometimes the teaching

takes up half

which means

we have a love of learning

and a need for it

mostly

there is a response

to scripture

verses are selected

and expanded

credence is affirmed

doctrine promoted

our identity

defined

more so

though

we take in points for living

taking up points for life

after the service

x

sometimes we stand

sometimes we kneel

gestures of faith

that say

even without saying

that there is a presence with us

we acknowledge is great

is good

as in virtuous

worthy of our tries

at praise

and obedience

x

is God

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by grant whitty on unsplash

x

happy birthday, bard

x

3

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