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October 2023

Poetry and Senses (3 poems)

(x = space)

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Poetry and Senses (3 poems)

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Upstart Clay

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God will help us through

By being quiet

Leaving all the noise to us

Except the wind

Maybe the water that descends

To strike the surface

Maybe on the ancient

Mountaintop

That moans

Or the young one that must explode

Or pushing geysers through

The scalding

Earth

x

So there

God might be noisy

After all

To take a part in all this

And remind us

Of the presence

And natural participation

Of the maker

And the making

Which is us

Fashioning our noise

Into making something

Too

x

x

The Color Wheel

x

There is yellow

There is red

Then blue

There are the colors

In between

Orange

Purple

Green

And there we are

x

No white

Or pink carnation

For a crayon

No black to see

Though depending on perspective

Black might be suffuse

x

We love our color wheel

Couldn’t get along

To see

Without it

And the colors might turn concepts

To explain

x

To touch sometimes

Though there is no distinction

Doing that

To smell the color

Which is to smell the paint

Nothing to hear

Unless the wheel

Be turning

And there is humming from an engine

Or a supplicating gear

x

Imagine Earth the wheel

Us the fashioners

How are we doing

Are we colorful

Do we six colors

Bordered

Unattended

Or do we mix and blend

And have a globe

Outstanding

Then when turning

Make a noise

Send a message

To the others

Here we are

Introduce us to yourselves

x

x

Wheels within Wheels

x

Wheels within wheels

That had been said

As it’s been invented

With clay

With metal

In the mind

Over centuries

x

As a metaphor

Plots within plots

Every smaller

Going out

Ever larger

So that families

And nations

Are affected

Even over thrown

Reinvented

From parts left over

Rounded

And toothed

To have new rhythms

And redesigned

Noise

x

Wheels that press

Or parts caught

Inside gears

Or there’s so much pressure

So much lack of space

That something crushes

Unless so difficult itself

Breaks the gear

Breaks the wheel

x

And someone

Victor

I suppose

Must rework everything

So that we’re round again

And might make music

This time

As we turn

Through space

And time

x

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Matt Seymour on Unsplash

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nether campaigning

(x = space)

x

x

nether campaigning

x

the demon

knows a gun

or a Bible

and what shape

a trench might take

and the cosmic trouble

when a soul is gone

then how to argue

for salvation

of the other

the wide pathway

into hell

x

demon thwarted

demon satisfied

a report for

adversaries

smallest of decrees

ringing through

one judgment

or the other

x

two kinds of howls

for outcomes

two kinds of retributions

for the work

in afterlife

after a soul is counted

one way

or the other

x

they lose

you know

the demons

finally

they have contracted

signing by descent

to grasp for

less and less

until after last battles

when the aftermath

is simply

nothing

x

c l couch

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one might read The Great Divorce or Revelation 22 of the Christian testament

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photo by Jani Kaasinen on Unsplash

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1

Rising Seasons

(x = space)

x

x

Rising Seasons

x

I wasn’t counting

But there are vehicles that do

And they and their movers are

Confident

It will be another

Weekend of rain

Eighth in a row

Tomorrow

Saturday

And Sunday

And certainly

The sky just outside now

Is gray

The leaves are wet upon the ground

This time of day

It’s fall

x

It’s fall

We should expect some damp

Maybe in all seasons

But this is chill

Descends with leaves

Dissembling

That is

Dissolving

That we’d rather drive through

In sunlight

Brilliant light

And also dry

To pass through

All the colors

Dryly

Reclining

Divinely resting

Into winter

x

Our weekend sights

Set

For somewhere in New England

x

We want what we can’t have

Enough rain

To build the tables up

Again

Dry days and dry roads

For touring

And school

And time off

Simultaneously satisfied

As well

x

Well

Why not want things

There are always ponchos

And we need the rain

And schools have holidays

Sometimes

Sometimes that work

x

Then

Elsewhere

South of here

Or west

Or in another region

Of America

All Americas

Or in Africa

Or Europe

Far-flung Asia

The Pacific Rim

Or an extremity

Of white bears

Or the other

Where the penguins

In the photographs

Line civilly

Awaiting who is next

To slide into

Salt water

x

For you

In any of these regions

It must be so different

So wonderful and different

Where you are

And now

x

And maybe you will share

The weather and the climate

With those of us

Not there

But here

x

Meaning in the MidAtlantic

The Northeast

The Midwest

The Northwest

The northern South

And wide parts

Of Canada as well

x

Dry or damp

Let’s move

Adroitly on

All and any

All the pathways

That we have

Any of which

In any part

We hope

Might lead toward peace

x

As any of us might

Might wander

There and figure

In the sunshine

Or the rainshine

Depending on an attitude

A tolerance

Endurance

For the weather

Errant sunlight

Or the shade

For the interests they support

And for our own

About peacemaking

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Daniel Frank on Unsplash

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Standing By, Maybe Sitting

(x = space)

x

x

Standing By, Maybe Sitting

(maybe kneeling)

x

So what do we know

From presence

Though it’s present

x

Something outside ourselves

Is present

Staying close

Trying to pull us out

Into the world

x

Remind us the making of it

Was community in motion

A nation of the angels

Then of us

Starting with two

x

And the wives of Cain somewhere

x

Miracle

And mysteries

Our bodies otherwise

Would form

Boundaries that won’t give way

Except for weapons

x

But we know there is more

Through the intrusion

Of companionship

Wonderful companionship

Surprise at first

And then we might get used to it

For fondness

And for learning

Of the world

x

A world

As we say

(paraphrase)

Of all the possibilities

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by David Tomaseti on Unsplash

(a candle for companionship)

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The USA President in Israel

(x = space)

x

x

The USA President in Israel

x

The President speaks in Israel,

There’s something popping with

Small flames

Outside the embassy;

He speaks mostly in support of Israel

Though he speaks to

Civil and civilian losses

On both sides,

All sides

x

Because there are sides

Having removed from each other

Because

There is a war

x

Hamas should not have done what it did

To start;

That was sinful

And stupid:

It was followed by

The deaths of many citizens

Around Hamas

(I mean geographically

and also

dis-strategically),

The destruction of homes

In Gaza,

Hospitals

And so many lives together

And the lives alone

x

The Israelis

Suffered

First,

Others underneath

Or beside

The missiles

And the bombs,

All the bullets fired;

And Israel responds with wrath

x

Hamas keeps fighting,

There is a war

x

Are there promised weapons

For Hamas?

Promised philosophy?

The codes–

The Jewish, Muslim–

Say

To love the neighbor,

Welcome the stranger,

Understand that creation

Is an act of love

x

The greatest power

Behind success of nations

As it is behind

The cosmos

And the reason

For the cosmos

x

On the devil’s table,

Looking one way or the other,

Is now a bullet-point,

A mark

For thoughts and plans

Of genocide

Believing that

We get rid

Of a people

Then all shall be well

x

And so the fighting

In this hellish hope

And demons’ cause;

They cheer infernally

x

It’s people

Not agendas

Killed:

The abstract, ersatz

Notions remain

Weaving a web

And also caught up in it,

An ouroboros

That consumes itself

To add a symbol

To the metaphor

x

We have nowhere else to go

Said Golda Meir to

Senator Biden

Some years ago,

And it is true

And also true

In fact and spirit

For many Palestinians

x

Both of us are there,

Both are home

x

How could diasporas

Be on the table, too?

x

What Hamas did

Was stupid

And sinful

Warfare on a quietish,

Tense day

Like any other there

And now there are fronts

Fighting also on mixed lines

With and beside the plans

x

People

Ununiformed

And uniformed

Suffering the most

On all sides

Of the weapons

x

There shall be an end,

Cessations maybe

Then the end

And what then shall happen?

Who shall win?

We think there shall be a winner

And with reason

But crazy to believe

Anything shall be resolved

For good

(for good)

In victory

x

The losers shall be punished

And might be promised

Through back doors

Into dark rooms

That nothing is over

When there shall be new campaigns

From promises

x

Cessation might

Overlay a mask of peace

That for relief

Might be suitable

For a while

x

I’m sorry,

I’m afraid,

We are afraid

Victimized by terror and by war

Who pray

Who petition for

Practical peace

x

Out of love that is not sweetness,

Well,

Is sweetness

But wears a skin of wounds

With scars

Still persists

Far more real than

We tend to think

Instead

Of worldly power

x

Please come to the right

Even righteous table

x

End the war

With tense

Satisfaction

Then go for peace for real

On this side of everyone’s

Parousial paradise

Ungained

Maybe blasted,

Might be apocalypsed

But not yet lost

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by ritesh singh on Unsplash

x

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The Way to God

(x = space)

x

x

The Way to God

(or, Mystics Are Confounding)

x

God guide us

Does God guide us

Seems

We decide

To take the step

To the right

Or to the left

x

How much is up to us

Why

(and then)

Why

Just about everything

I think

We might want

To go on the path of God

To God

And there might be clues

Insight

Perhaps

Bristly sensation

‘Cause a treasure hunt

If run

And this would be

The richest one

To have

To hoard

Perhaps

(though hoarding really

is no fun)

Better to share

Especially as some of it

Is news

x

But

Come on

Too much is invisible

A code

Without an artifact

Some books that might be changing

And we argue all the time

x

So maybe we hope

For approval

On the way and afterward

Which isn’t gold

But is heaven

That in jazz of virtue

Sometimes perplexing

Ain’t all bad

x

Don’t mean a thing

If it ain’t got that

Je ne se pas

Karl someone said that

(with an “It” as in “It don’t”)

Paas (like eggs)

Haas

Or who is Schickele

A syllable

A couple of Es away

From an adverb

x

Well

Someone

Something

Help us

Please

Maybe a map

On the pages

Or inside a leaf

Inspired (for the books)

By the leaf

That falls

These days

From trees

And set some kind of standard

x

They

Often fall on paths

While one path of the paths

We seek

Who knows

Nature might show the way

Overall

x

Or at least in part

Or parts

Sigh

Where are the arrows

Where is the angel

Pointing

Not much for a duty

But then

One has been assigned

To raise a flaming sword

Outside of Eden

Since the

Lapsarian

Moment

x

So many mysteries

And what we want

Is God-directed

Without mystic

Understanding

(though Ms Underhill

teaches

we all might

have it to use)

x

Well

We find our way

We do our best

Maybe we rather

Act like blocks

Sculpted

Undivinely

Because we favor

Hammers

Of agendas

x

The rest of us

Then

Try

To find a way

To go a way

To find the treasure

Of the Lord

Which is the same

As one who’s somehow

With us

Now

x

C L Couch

x

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Karl Haas composed and hosted a radio show about Classical music; he was famous for his deeply-intoned greeting, “Hello, everyone.”  Peter Schickele also hosted (hosts) a radio show wherein (for the closing) he told us to remember that, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that je ne se pas.”  (A comic re-rendering of the line (and title) “I don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing” by Duke Ellington.)

Evelyn Underhill was a mystic and writer who composed Practical Mysticism: A Little Book for Normal People.

And may I annotate myself?

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Photo by Gabriel Jimenez on Unsplash

Ancient Stump

x

1

my favorite holiday

(x = space)

x

x

my favorite holiday

x

my favorite holiday

ever

I heard someone say

x

Christmas trees

x

or forlorn branches

in a Hallowe’en sky

x

triumphant Easter morning

whether or not

there’s sunlight

x

Groundhog Day

for fun

inside shadows

x

I don’t know

x

say

how about today

this day

for a holiday

x

for a holiday

a holy day

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by Clay LeConey on Unsplash

x

2

Tolkien paean (2 poems)

(x = space)

x

x

Tricksy

x

Not the wife of Norton

More like the creature

In the cave

On an island

In the lake

Who paddled

Throttled fish

Or goblins

And had one precious thing

That in the contest for it

He was sure

He had been hoodwinked

Of it

x

Which is an approach

To life

For some

To foresee and draft

A plan for taking

What’s desired

Or escape

Or something else from Earth

To own

Maybe to give away

The planet as a medium

For catch-and-release

x

Or an item

To pull out

From time to time

Like a jewel from the safe

Of one’s own

Righteous things

x

Something not to adjudicate

But to employ

When the thick is thin

And we in

The thick and thin of it

And this recourse will help

With or without

Preamble

Or an ongoing commentary

To say

Look at this clever thing I’m doing

It will save our bacon

Should we have any bacon

Either way

Quandary resolved

Some measure of escape

And I picked up something helpful

On the way out

Into daylight

x

The thief’s

The hero’s testimony

And we allow

What’s taken

As an exigent chapter

In the story

Of the quest

That passed under mountains

In the dark

x

x

x

Go Westmarch, Young Hobbit

(paean-ish)

x

Silly hobbit

Writing as if at Bree

In a room above

The raucous tributes

Below

x

Not in the study

Preparing contributions

To the read book

That is so important

It is red

x

But there is time

For twilight

And smoke rings

Beer and cake

Or something better

x

Maybe watch

For someone to come by

Whom we anticipate

Especially

When not there

x

And Middle-Earth goes by

And we ponder

Dancing steps

That might please Bombadil

While Goldberry

Marks the time

With other details

Of the party

x

x

Photo by T L on Unsplash

x

(title a corruption of advice by Horace Greeley)

x

x

x

C L Couch

x

0

Sizable Gratitude for Small

(x = space)

x

x

Sizable Gratitude for Small

x

That’s it

I guess

I have something to share

Maybe kind of usual

For trope

If not cliché

I even mention weather

x

Well

I’m sipping

And I feel kind of easy

I know God is here

And maybe

My near angel

x

The hall is quiet

For a change

Our small humanity

Easy

Too

Or absent

x

I’m breathing easier

Might be the new

Medication

Or-and

The added rest

I got this morning

After waking up

The first time

x

I don’t know

I’m drinking water

When I cough

I hope that’s smart enough

Because I want

To feel grateful

For the smallest

Better changes

In this day

x

coda

x

And

Yes

I know

This is not the day

That others have the day

x

Wounded by so many

Things that wound

x

There’s even terror

Too much

In too many places

Great

Or small

Letting the first page show

The way

x

For our remembrance

Supplication

Specific

Book-driven

Petitioning

To love our neighbors

And ourselves

When either needs a dire prayer

For safety

And for healing

For reckoning

Still decency

Still

In the world

Great or

In spite of intimate abdications

The smaller things we lose

In wider things

x

As some have tried

Aberrantly

To move the world

Another way

In spite of natural paths

Natural gains and losses

We must expect

Along the way

x

Pray for the world

Frankly

Lord

That we snap-to like soldiers

Even minutely

x

Only immediately

Waking up

To start to change

The errors

In certain plans

To raise up

And take care of

Real need instead

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Fleur on Unsplash

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