September 2024

Round Numbers

Everything is ringed
Starting with the noise
That some of us
Must have
Inside our ears

Though meaning more
The matter of
Rings upon the water
In the rain
The ring-edge of the Earth
Around it
And through it
The circular movements of
Well
Everything

The ringness of orbits
‘Round the sun
The shape and movements
Kept inside
Of asteroids
And comets

How many planets
Each world
Is ringed as well
With its own attributes
And energies

Then watch
(or have the artist’s
replication)
The spiral movement of the galaxy
The rounded shapes of all
The galaxies
Of turning stars

And the dancing pas de deux of
Nebulae passing
Around
And by its own
Rule for ballet
Sometimes through each other

Maybe to shout
Or loudly
Sing
Like on that sunny street
ROUND
Is extraordinary
Necessary

Consider all the curvature that must
Be on
The faces of God

C L Couch

Photo by John Peters on Unsplash
I threw a rock into the lake with the intent of photographing the ripple effect and with the thought of how when we are kind to others it grows out in ripples to others who in turn spread kindness (still) to others.
[photographer's caption, revised]

Unlikely Sabbath
(a kind of call to worship)

We
Understand
Misunderstand
(together)
The sabbath
As a time to go to church
To pray
Officially
For things we might remember
Afterward

Then be free of all of it
For food
For games
For preparing all the real time
To follow
The next day
Or
Instantly
As we might be driven
Driving
That is
Ourselves

But is the sabbath more than services
And really
Was it ever
Well
Ancient reminders
I suppose
The priests to the people
Saying
Or as if to say
By the tent
Then by the temple

In here is the
Holy of holies
Don’t forget it

Don’t forget
Our dedication

So
What is the sabbath
We might
Wonder
Being first
A seventh day
Created

A day for God to rest
And so
A model for
Ourselves

Modeled after God
After all

And so
First week
Completed
And so
Laid out for us
Six days of creating
Then a day
This day

To keep it holy
As in set apart
For
A spiritual reason
Like the fruits of
Field and vine
Set apart
For spiritual
Remembrance

And
I don’t know what
To say
Anymore
Except that it was
Said
Thank goodness not by me
To remember
As in have
The sabbath

It’s a discipline
To rest
An invitation
To play well
To remember
The source
Of love
And everything
That’s good

C L Couch

Photo by Sai De Silva on Unsplash

A Little Fancifully

I don’t know why I’m
Thinking about dragons
And then about
Stories from
Sunday School
Like the story about Gideon
Who broke pitchers
Inside which were fires
Having surrounded
Even a greater
Force
But through the effect
Defeated foes
With faith
And then with fear

And fire
Is the connection
I suppose

The fire from the dragon
And also from the pitchers
And it’s the weekend
Time for wondering
Perhaps
Of characters and stories that are
Fanciful
And that also
Invite us
Fictively and
Non
To keep the faith

I guess these
Break the tension
Just a little

Outside stories
In the world of worries
That we occupy
Certainly
More often

C L Couch

(any story with a dragon, say, Farmer Giles of Ham, or a dragon of your own internal making—also Judges 6 for Gideon regarding faith and fire)

Photo by 順平黃 on Unsplash

(the Asian dragon commands respect as an aspect of religion and what I would call real myth, because there is such a thing--and so my advice is never belittle dragons, maybe anywhere)

Hi,

I keep meaning to include this as a note in a verse post, but I kept forgetting, and then the thing occurs again. Which is that when I read a post of yours, often when I click on “Like” (with the blue star), nothing happens. The star next to the “Like” disappears; but when I check to see if the “Like” registered–well, it hasn’t happened. Of course, I don’t why this is happening (or not happening). Maybe you have experienced this as well. If you’ve had this problem and then got it fixed, maybe you could tell me how. I like the “Like” feature as a way to acknowledge that I’m reading your work (as well). I apologize for the unintentional silence the lack of sign conveys.

I hope each of you is really well.

Christopher

Photo by Kristina Tripkovic on Unsplash

“Unsurvivable”

Hurricane
Helene
Has killed through
Its own force

And
Maybe we’re complicit
For
The lack of means
We should
Provide
Even
Long before

I don’t know
And in the moment
Don’t care
Probably as much
As
I should

But I have family in its way
And maybe you do
Too

How about we pray
Then find
Additional ways to
Help

How about no matter
Who we are
Or where
We pray
Then find
Additional ways to
Help

C L Couch

Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash


a telling of creation

what is the sense of things
in creation

first nothing
we suppose
and then something

a sound
perhaps
and then some light
to they
could see
what they were doing
though I imagine
angels who were
blind
or deaf
could know something
was happening

the light from dark
or light and
dark
that is

two halves
both being worthy

then some water
black
and barely lit
and then some land
pushed up
somehow
by a hand
that might like molding
or making
in another way

and the land shall need
the sun and moon
water already
extant

and now some creatures
on the land
there already being
beings
in the water

and everyone will need fed
and so have plants
for food
as well as beauty

and we shall say that
this is good
and who shall say

hmm
we need someone
on Earth
to day

and so we make some people
mold them wondrously
such beauty
from the ground

and they shall have five senses
mainly
though not all
with all

and they shall speak
who can
or gesture
or express in another way

everything
to say the act of making
to a lesser degree
but make that noise
anyway

and then settle into
utterances
that God can understand
(having made language)
and they
and we
can understand each other

understanding
being a first feature
in the mind
of creation
and to degrees
our own

based on something else
the riskiest thing
to have been made
and how the angels
might have argue
over this

a thing
it seems
they do not have
though
once beholding
might argue
for
in angel-workers
negotiating with
the boss

and it’s will
of course
the wish
the dream
the mind
the spirit
and the choice
to think

and also feel
to decide

and first
one’s course through Eden
and then
the names of animals

then after
all the sadnesses
a course on Earth
and all the things on Earth
to get
to know

c l couch


photo by Elvis Bekmanis on Unsplash

(haiku for fall, starting in a grumpy mood, I guess)

(1)
well that’s enough of
haiku play and fancy with
no work proof for pay

(2)
the hour is done now
leaves have fallen into water
growing into green

(3)
old and new worlds tilt
leaning could be tree-delight
as dancing solstice

(4)
water purify
as on our other planets
with true air command

c l couch

photo by Mathias Reding on Unsplash

A Plain and Fancy War

I’ve made
Notations
On the weather
Even risking
A mood
Based on the same

While all the hundreds
Are new victims
Anywhere there’s war
Or war
On deck
As if to step up to
The devil’s plate
In a game against a team
From hell

And this is stupid
Reasoning
So far
Foolish metaphors
Of weather
And of games

While in the east of east
From here
And west in Asia
So much is brewing
Like
The witch’s
Stew
That at this time
Is also fanciful

All because
I do not want
To face
With my face
And what's behind it
The real death
The ghost of war
(un-
metaphor)
Come
To haunt again

And everything
That schemes with it
Famine
Hopelessness
Annihilation
Of the body
And the spirit
To win more souls
For hell

Though for now
It’s destruction
Literal
Destruction
That matters most
And
Yes
The devil’s work
In strategies

And I can’t keep from this
I guess
The rhetoric
The discourse
When we have no mouths
And if we had
What we would have said
Gone ignored
And then frankly
Horribly
Set
To detonate
And then
Explode

The tangling
Of war
The limbs
The lies
That both must soar
In gruesome pieces
Through the battlefield
Certainly before
And after
Without doubt
When
Generals and presidents
Defend
Without forfending

And this is one place
And there is more
In more
Places
With all the consequences
To the body
As we say
And the soul
Cliché for closeness
And the truth of things
We must have one
And have
The other

Losing one
Or both
A battle
On the plains
Or any parts of middle Earth
With all the forces
Human and human-like
Divine and like divine
Assembled
Frankly
Like Megiddo
And now
To consider
What shall happen

C L Couch

Photo by Zihao Wang on Unsplash