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June 2023

Arborism

(x = space)

x

x

Arborism

x

What will God tell us

To do good

x

Well, to do good

x

What if we’re feeling

Old and sick

x

And virtue

Seems too hard

x

After surgery and all

Or simply years

Of needing the investment

To get by

x

I don’t want excuses

Or to have them

Excused

I want resources

Energy

And time

x

Great things to consider

Though not so much when

We have them

We complain

We grow complacent

We choose bored

x

We all have something

For the whining

A tonic

Say

Say

Reality

Sometimes admittedly

A herculean lifting

Of a desert screen or

Something we believe

Might be on

Fire

To keep it there

Like Atlas with the world

Or the elephant upon

The wheel

Upon the turtle

x

Balancing

Then yes

With risk

Reaching under

That heavy

Skim

Detritus and illusion

To deal in the truth

To clear the roots

Spruce up

Our perception

Look at

What’s holding up

The holding up

And what is healthy

What needs

Pruning

What needs sliding off the top

For good

x

Maybe we leave the balance

Then

Clear roots

Above which

Sits our world

Our own

If there is something

x

A little easier

Or at least more visible

Atlas might not shrug so much

But smile

(the turtle, too)

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Clint McKoy on Unsplash

x

0

The Redness of Alerts

(x = space)

x

x

The Redness of Alerts

x

I don’t know what comes next

Another heart attack

Ambulance

Lights without sirens

The sky at a glimpse filled with

Canadian fire smoke

Inside

To a small place

And then a bigger place

And then a bigger place

In which to operation

I dozed

I don’t think they talked to me

That was all for each other

Then I’m back upstairs

And in that second bigger place

I picked at food

I was glad I was allowed

To have ice chips

Then water

Then water itself

(such progress)

All the nitroglycerin meant

Emergency relief for my heart

And a worsening headache

Via the pills and paste

I tried to eat

I will feel rather nauseous

So much blood drawn

And bandages all over

Wires

Machine noises

Through pretty quiet

After all

Nursing staff

Aids

Doctors

Tripartite

And a visitor

Who would take me away

When allowed

I got my orders

Plans for the days to come

New medications

Consultations

It started in the middle of the night

Now three nights later

I am back

There were those who prayed for me

I am grateful

I prayed for me

Too

New parts

New repair work

Like an old car

The aptness of a metaphor

I am fixed

No warrantee

But let’s keep hoping

Shall we

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

x

3

Prevaricating Sharks

(x = space)

x

x

Prevaricating Sharks

x

I don’t know what

To share

With you today

x

How are things with you

How is your health

x

How are your

Relations

And your story

x

I hope you’re really well

x

I’m not sure what

To ask

Without specifics

x

I don’t know what

To ask

But we can pray for friends

And strangers

Can’t we

x

Sure

We can

And I hope

This day is grand for you

x

The sharks swim closely to us

But they’re not

Attacking

Without meaning

Without purpose

x

Let’s not give them

A reason

Today

x

Live in cooperation

Maybe with nature as the

Romantics

Sought

The Victorians eschewed

x

In harmony with nature

x

Certainly

Let’s live out

The contracts natural

With each other

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

x

1

Wars that Cannot End All Wars

(x = space)

x

x

Wars that Cannot End All Wars

(on D-Day citing Second, other wars)

x

I can’t imagine

All the dead and dying on

That day

I won’t see or hear

Private Ryan

(or

by the way

Titanic)

I’ve known some injury and

Death

From crashes and

From cancer

The

Suicides

By people I have known

x

Sardined into a craft and then

The craft

By planes above

Or guns on shore

Explodes

On its way

To shore

Or those who leave

The boats

And are cut down

Unused guns

Held

Grenades

At hand

x

By the numbers the

Campaign

Was successful

In that the Allies

Overwhelmed the beaches

Finally

Finally

The parts once come together

A hold by hand

As far as

The living and the dead can

Hold

A military grasp

On the edge of Europe

x

A return

As when

MacArthur would return

An axis away

To the Philippines

x

Military plans

And executions

When it’s

Time

We go

x

Citizen expectations

Change

The accepted loss

In Desert Storm

Was zero

(under two

hundred

died)

Though we lingered

In Afghanistan through

Presidents

The war on terror

By the numbers

And at home

x

These were their homes

The beaches

On into

Farms and towns

War anymore

Is always a home

Matter

Your home

Or mine

x

Imagine that

And live it in

Ukraine

And all the burning places

That could be called

Without PR

Sites

Homes

For war

x

Trenches

Chlorine gas

Same place

Years before

That is

France

Greater numbers next

Nuclear

Numbers

In Japan

Winning

Losing

Graves attest

x

Mostly

We try

Nowadays

To keep all of it conventional

Though there are strategies

And plans

That

We must hope

Stay shelved

Recalling

Greater victory is peace

Living on

These same places

This

Same planet

After

x

C L Couch

x

x

6 June 1944

x

as soon as I realized the date there was a Western (admittedly) instinctive resonance—that something enormous, consequential happened on this date when it was a day a long time ago

x

Photo by Eric HOARAU on Unsplash

Le Tréport, France

x

0

Many Deaths in India All at Once

(x = space)

x

x

Many Deaths in India All at Once

x

The electric signals

For the trains

Went wrong

Crash

Crash

Crash

Who knows how many times

And many died

And this means hundreds

Hundreds of people died

Because of this

And we who were not there

Will wonder briefly

About trains

Except we’ll keep them

And make more

Like bullets

That carry us

From guns

Which is fine

Trains are better for us

x

Pages and pages

Filled

All the names of the dead

How many names

Did each one carry

I have three

And you

And I’m still here

We are here

I’m dancing ‘round

The tragedy

Because I can’t make the math

Turn into people

x

I saw one photograph

Tracks and smoke

The right side went dark

There were the bodies

I suppose

Parts of trains

Yes

But unmechanical

Blood and organs

Separated flesh

With all the spirits gone

Released by death

In horror

Nothing like timorous gentility

In age or temerity

Of faith

x

What time for prayer

Seconds to turn

And turn

And turn

Challenge to our consciousness

Our bodies thrown

Moments of discomfort

Injury

Where are our own

Then silence

Even while

The fire of earth

Rage on

x

And we shall rage

And wonder

About planners

Admin. Folk

Even inventors

And

Yes

We have logistics

Everything to deal with

After

Which is us

And now

x

We’ll keep ourselves

We’ll try to keep the earth

And these

Close by

Until way over here

By tomorrow

Maybe tomorrow

x

One life

Let’s save one life

Over this

Then do that

Hundreds of times

Everyone

Everywhere

x

C L Couch

x

x

Despair and Anguish Stalk Hospitals as India Reels from Devastating Train Crash

Story by Ivan Watson • 2h ago

(CNN)

x

‘I Am Haunted by It’: Survivors of Deadly Train Crash in India Recount Trauma

by Krutika Pathis and Rish Lekhi

5 June 2023, 6:29 a.m.

(Time)

x

Photo by Ashwini Chaudhary(Monty) on Unsplash

x

0

dedication holy

(x = space)

x

x

dedication holy

x

do we love these people?

yes, we do

each one

every one

you have made it this far

now let us go with you

in everything

all circumstances

light and shadow

as God is there

we commit

to be there, too

x

(add now

our prayers and meditations

from our

part of the family

new fam’ly

for the one)

x

amen

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Daniel Seßler on Unsplash

x

0

Join

(x = space)

x

x

Join

x

The way a building

Comes together

With everything that fastens

Nails

Glue

Screws and bolts

Certain guns and drills

That drive

The music

And a harmony

Until

Complete

x

I don’t mean

Cathedrals built

To music

Who knows about that

x

I mean the real noises

We provide

The voices of machines

With our own

Collaborations

x

Metaphor

Or three-

Dimensional

The houses goes up

The people

Or some others

If it’s a shelter for

Some animals

Live

Inside

x

There is a game

With fingers playing nicely

That emblemize

A steeple

When inside the church

The people

x

Join

In building

All good ways

To shelter

All creation

Needing cover

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by John Salvino on Unsplash

x

0

Consider It All Joy

(x = space)

x

x

Consider It All Joy

x

Let the outside

Be awful

If it must

For princes of the world

Might have their own way

There

(not letting

princesses rise

by the way)

If only

There

x

Be good on the inside

Your own realm

Where you have willed

Let in

Avowed

God to rule

While you serve God

Servant

Steward before monarch

Even when pressed

Persecuted

Outside

Sigh

Sometimes devilishly

On the inside, too

x

Consider it all joy

The paradox of life and death

And resurrection

Final joy

Complete

And unrelenting

Even

In new tasks

Assignments from

A celestial magisterium

Or shall we say

The will beneath the crown

Of the Lord

x

Doing what God says

Because

The glass is clear and

We can hear

x

x

Consider it all joy when we must have trials, knowing that this testing of our faith makes endurance.  And let endurance be complete even by trials so that we are whole, lacking nothing that we really need especially inside.

James 1:2-4 (paraphrased a little)

x

Photo by Sam Mgrdichian on Unsplash

x

0

Juneteenth in Days

(x = space)

x

x

Juneteenth in Days

x

Juneteenth

Again

It’s coming

Don’t you like the sound

There might be

A proclamation

Somewhere

But we know how it sounds

It sounds for freedom

Ring a bell

On the day

Those who know

Shall know

And shall proclaim

Inside the heart

That this was a good day

A needful day

Against the tragedy

Of people

Who possess the sin

Believing

We may own another person

Other people

x

Treating

Counting them

As assets

Treating them

Like harvest

From the field

Or the factory

While building

Cities

Homely or large

Across the nation

In the heart

Of the land

And air and water

So many things

That should be willing

At no cost

x

Burn

Then

For freedom

Have good days

And set

Domestic fires

Carefully

For warmth

And for tomorrow

The twentieth

And then midsummer

And all seasons

To be free

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Wolf Zimmermann on Unsplash

x

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