after some hours at this today

it’s darkened
I should go for another light

the close work has
made my eyesight blurry
too

and my lower back from bending over
well
not blurry
well
maybe
as pain might haze ambition

and I have said
and say
all kinds of things
in
other verses
though the moralizing’s heavy
maybe
from blurriness and pain

sigh
what should you like to hear
not
to curry
necessarily
but
to meet and interest or a need

you know that God is love or should
since the message is
ready enough
available

do you know that you are love as well
or at least have it in you
to carry outside
to
have your life better
and the world
too
so small at first

and then who knows how
wide the circles go

and you might be close to all this
as well
catch it when you see something land
on the smooth water of
a pond when
still
or other
water

maybe it’s the gospel of the small
that isn’t nearly big enough
realizing
the inevitable

the practice we don’t get away from
or
even the accountability

that
the word
the act
change things from ourselves to the world

no
matter what we’re told we matter
in this way

and so do small good
a motto
how about a bumper sticker

or what to adhere to our hearts
(I have a machine
inside
that might have
a sticker-place)
not
because the words are mine
but that they’re wise
regardless
and promise for the Earth
what should be healthy things to say
and
do
for a change
(hale
changes)

c l couch


photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash