walk to freedom
the Underground Railroad
there is an image of Lincoln
and of
a burgeoned tree in
front of the house
I borrow
and sometimes I wonder at these
the basement is connected and apart
a dirt-floored room with
a further alcove
also
rude but accessible
unnoticed and attached
and could there be a place of hiding
in this place
and
did it work
and are there untold stories of
escape
and respite on the way
to much more
lasting
freedom
that with Confederates occupying
the region could afford
or
were there failures
time to time
and no one got out
to live
except to go back south and
lack of life
to breathe the mottled air
humidity with
captivity
even the molecules would not be free
but paid for through blood released
and
freedom kept
inside
c l couch
photo by 85mm.ca on Unsplash
"Toronto Blue Jay Black Juneteenth Celebration"
Toronto, Canada
published on June 19, 2025
tropical
not really
I’m simply thinking of the song
that folk like me
who
don’t care for big heat
are thinking of
that’s all
today is a matter for endurance
which
somehow I think cheats
the gift
of the day
and isn’t there more
I should do than
simply
get by
moving slowly like
reptiles after lunch
or us
except
and except
the reptiles look for even hotter
blank spaces
say
on rocks
by which to sleep and risk
the afternoon
sorry
lizard and snake folk
I’m
wanting air-conditioning
that right now doesn’t work
in
my poor place
and otherwise to lie in the coolest place
I know
or
might fashion
and so
a wish you might not want
a cooler day
bless us
everyone
c l couch
(it was certainly cold enough in Dickensian winter and there, I’m whining for a fictive place and season
“Heat Wave” a song written by Irving Berlin)
photo by Chris Abney on Unsplash
offerings uncontrived
I closed the window
Prufrock-like
since
I don’t know it will make a difference
in
mythology
I hope to keep the heat out
and
the air comes in the back
where I left the window open
some
and there
“The Open Window”
and
was that by Saki
so I’m thinking of stories
while
mind unwinds
as
in manifest
a time
and shall the muses without offering
nonetheless be pleased
with me
well
here are time and energy and my
one coffee of
the morning while dealing with
illness
to hope there’s a libation in there
somewhere
c l couch
(“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot; “The Open Window” by H. H. Munro, “Saki”; the muses in the ether and when they visit Earth upon our heads and in our hearts)
photo by Ciocan Ciprian on Unsplash
discretion
a prayer
1
I’m not sure what
to say
what would you like to hear
what
would be good
what would be loving
I wish I were an expert
in
what I am unsure
theology
perhaps
mathematics of the mind
or
of philosophy
if I knew church law
or
could know business far better
than I do and the business of
two people
God
human
spirit
and through all
too much for one
as the world is excessive for
one person
and yet I don’t understand
the two
much less the three
in one
with one of me
too much
I know too little
2
yet who
receives faith but anyone
and
faith must go this way
neither trick
nor contest
but acceptance
and
decision
yet even those who cannot choose
might be as
saved as any other
so there should be hope
well
all around
and I might know you
too
at least enough
to pray
and live in a bit of expectation
of some health
some peace
at last
c l couch
photo by Brendan Church on Unsplash
first through last message
I don’t know what
to say to you
today
which I know I say many times
at least
to me
but I don’t
I could speak of a-gap-e
the kind of love
that has no terms except to manifest
itself
the kind that comes from God
as all that’s good has come
from God
while evil is allowed
for now
and agape ruins that agenda if it seems
that evil wins for now
since
that is the illusion
that what is bad is victorious
and lasting
which is
regardless
how I feel sometimes
and maybe you do
too
from time to time
but what is bad will not persist
and what is love continues
to be chosen
as
it’s always available
as it’s in us
and as we decide
not only dwells but gets out
rather well
sometimes in surprise
always
in small wonder
if
sussed
yet it’s real and even ordinary
that is
to the loving
maybe is confounding to the wrong
who are loved
anyway
and
wrong’s agenda
which we may not love
so much
but
by praying for confiners
when
confined
who is confined
as far as victory might have to be
concerned
then
love wins
c l couch
photo by Vanna Phon on Unsplash
it could be Perelandra
I’d like to say
war does not belong
or
evil in any obvious form
as well as some
sometimes
the insidious
I’d like to go on to say
rampant fire does not belong
whatever
the origin
and
lava flows
eruptions overall
then there are floods
sometimes
seasonal
sometimes otherwise
at hand
in other words
all the problems that destroy the body
try will
with severity
challenge the virtue of the spirit
what promises bad ends
and tries to take us
there
does not belong
could we have a world of this
instead
and what belongs
is
good
and easy
and airy
and practical
and makes a world worthy
from which to explore
and is there
doctrine
or a selling point
that says we’re there already
but
we’re not
and have to deal in all
the evil
with the good
the war
the fire and the flood
and
what goes on inside us
shall we be saved
while everything is motley
to
our spirit-sight
our senses
to celebrate inherent goodness
and
to bring it out
c l couch
Perelandra is a novel by C. S. Lewis. It is considered science fiction and is about a world facing a choice and so be fallen (as a world) or not.
photo by Qingbao Meng on Unsplash
a smallish lay prognosis
after writing feeling ill
1
so
it’s an ending
to some wondering
and
like the song
to wander
all the while
and is there anything to say
to do
I’m thinking
drink more water
then
promote
to juice
2
I guess I should say I’ve been very sick for a while. It’s not heart disease, though heart disease complicates everything else. For instance, what had been prescribed for me had to be taken back, with apologies, once it was discovered that my heart or heart treatment can’t have that medication. Anyway, it seems I’ve been posting, though I told myself I could take time off plus, in fact, the posts have been rather scattered in content, sort of (more so) like parts of my taking part in the blog go scattered on good days.
I might be past the nadir though I hardly feel the zenith. But I thought I should share with you what’s going on.
3
and
yes
I know it’s worse out there
in so many places
and I’m not running for my life
from fire
or when it’s worse
what we’re doing to each other
and
I don’t always get the balance
to care for
a fallen world
and deal in fallen me
i
think too much to choose
rather than embrace
the paradox
of
dealing with the flesh and
dealing in the world
that has its flesh
as well
and so
should not everything relate
everything belong
c l couch
(the phrase has been around, and Richard Rohr wrote a book called Everything Belongs, so you know—and William Blake writes of embracing contraries, that phrase or term becoming the title of a book by Peter Elbow)
photo by mrjn Photography on Unsplash
the green is greener
summer lush is on the way
so much trying growth
c l couch
photo by Hans on Unsplash
“Green Delight”
the procedure if not an end of diagnosis
through the pain
through what the heart allows
urgent care
some good was done and
I was treted well
with
nothing new but good guesses about
dehydration and how awful is
the atmosphere of
where I live at
present
my guess about the atmosphere and no one
disagreed
and after rides and therapy supplies from
friends
and something of
the usual visit
I was returned
maybe
to sleep this time and hope for anyodyne
out of the help I have
received
if
an uncertain diagnosis beyond
hydration
plus change the atmosphere
c l couch
day after the worst night
(a little more versicle)
photo by Zongnan Bao on Unsplash
clcouch123 
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