(x = space)
x
x
The Loneliness of God
x
God is not alone
For God is
In three parts
And always
One
And always three
x
Jesus in the flesh
Could leave
And left
For hillsides
Other isolated places
Divine agony
And privilege
For sorrow
Things to feel the first time
All alone
x
Divine surprise
Pain
And maybe
Astonishment
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Alex Blăjan on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Inside Armageddon
x
Forget the prophecy for now:
Sometimes
Most of the time
We have other things to do
x
There are the newly or ongoing
Wounded
Disenfranchised
So many who need
Our domestic help
And we can think the larger thoughts
As well
To offer courage
Without indictment
x
Things are awful
We need help
That is enough
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
love alters not
x
. . . Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
(from) Sonnet 116
x
now the next chapter
x
love alters not
has come to mind
I’m not sure why
x
the poet claims
in poem’s voice
that as we change
love doesn’t change
x
I wonder also that
we might do better than
(more in addition to)
the fixed mark
x
love doesn’t change
when we encounter change
because we will
it will happen in us, too
age, talent
insight
dreams fulfilled
or unfilled
x
will we love the same,
shall we?
x
and I’m wondering
with time and change
set on a frantic world against us
yet
in all the deeper layers of endearment,
if we change
might we evolve
(I know, that word)
into our earthy, better loves
x
so that both
both adapt
as well as remain
(and well-remain)
and like the roots
of earnest Earth
unreached, reached,
and reaching
all directions
(the extents of our exchange)
we last ages
in age
x
trust doesn’t change in time
it seasons with the seasons
more reliant
and more comfortable
resolute in crisis
and with good drinks
set at table
seated by the sea
that dreams with us
of better earth
in redeemed entirety
x
thanking each other
for the love
that has not changed
and changed
x
c l couch
x
x
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
(upside-down heart to look like a triangle; triangle meaning delta; delta meaning change after heat is applied—whew, sorry; maybe on a t-shirt)
x
(x = space)
x
x
Smart People Eschew Politics
x
It is said
I’ve cited this before
That smart people
No longer run
For anything in politics
They are repulsed
They are not chosen, anyway
The crisis is
Bipartisan
The last smart person said
Was Adlai Stevenson
Who is before my
Voting time
x
Labels don’t count
(smart is as smart does)
Neither degrees
Nor Rhodes
Nor anything metal
Or on paper
(smart is as smart does)
x
Let the intelligence in
Again
(not referring to spies
you know that)
With some reach toward relevance
Un-degreed
Degreed
Either, more, less
I hear smart is as smart does
Journey to Hodgenville
To start
x
Where someone looked up
At the stars there,
Too
x
C L Couch
x
x
Direct image of a supermassive black hole at the core of Messier 87.
x
(x = space)
x
x
Meet You at the Place by the Sign
x
At the end
We find ourselves,
Which is why I do not understand
The quest
Yes, it must be in the journey
Why not take a journey?
Find an agent, first
x
We don’t want to kill a dragon
There are too few
We don’t really want the Arkenstone
Too hard to find a buyer for
Too much destruction
In the selling
Or the having
x
The map is fun
We’ll take the treasure map
Though we might have to earn
Some credibility
For display
x
Sigh, all right
We’ll go
Make our final preparations
In the evening
Leave in the morning
Our weariness shall be
The last convincing item
For the start
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
sure things
x
the child
dressed up as a cowboy
or a football player
dream and irony
x
even then
the heart
might be folded badly
not closing right
or opening
for blood and air
x
and did I feel it?
ask the child
I’m asking later
I don’t know
no one told me
maybe no one knew
until later
x
when the heart attacks
and surgeries
and the device implanted
were and are
sure things in
the older self
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by elias maurer on unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Homely Revelation
(Psalm 19:2)
x
Maybe
It will start
On what we’d call
A clear, calm day
In fact, cerulean
x
The armies might be
Lined up, anyway
In the desert
x
On all borders
x
A day for maintenance,
Patrols
With no shots fired,
Nothing pointed launching
x
Mary out of blue
(cerulean)
Shedding all colors
For us
Might come first
With John and Michael,
All directing
That the fighters clear their vehicles
While things are peaceful,
Rather easy
Before a miracle
Of rust shall have the
Armor and the gears,
The nuclei of fuel
Returned to earth
x
Before a rain shall fall
That satisfies the thirsty
While frustrating
All the radar,
All the targeting procedures
x
Like the cartoon
In which the prey
Like a magician
Causes flowers to appear
Inside the muzzle
Of the hunter’s gun,
Children shall be
Fed and entertained while
Parousia take
The unexpected
And frustrating
Lack of determined war,
The crazy metaphors
Made real
That taught us for an age
To give us
Love and time
x
Frightening things
Might happen:
God’s arrival in
Healed flesh and sprit,
The judgment of the wicked,
Victory in nothing gained
But love’s perfection
x
Awful as in awesome,
These should be
Enough;
The day shall satisfy
As water and air cover
And fulfill
The valley before
Baucis and Philemon
And perfectly
The entire Earth
Of us
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Andrew Sterling on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Magician’s Children
x
Lately,
I’ve been seeing my face
In other faces
I look for a few moments
Sometimes stare
Then realize
I’m looking for
More signs of me
In you
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Guillaume Bleyer on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Narrative for Veteran’s Day
x
I hope the veterans
Have a good day today
They served
Time to be serving them
Certain restaurants
Will do that literally
(track the ads)
x
There was a draft
I was in school
A war for oil fomenting
As if primordial
Muck were heating
In the gulf
(not that war
in the gulf
or the next one)
There was an energy crisis
Hiding profits
x
I didn’t want to fight
For companies’ oil
But when on the application
I was asked
If there were anything I would fight for
I had to answer yes
And so ruin the deal for c-o
And the draft board changed
My status
(they won’t admit to punishment)
From 1-H to 1-A
x
Well, that war didn’t start
There were numbers
But no draft
I finished school
And then the next one
And with Watergate
Had reasons to feel bitter
Toward my government,
Which since then
Has become increasingly
Stupid and useless
x
But love of country
All the stickers
All the posters
The Bicentennial
If we forget who is in charge
There are superlative reasons
To be serving
And they have served
Time to be serving them
x
My brother
And my father
And my grandfathers
Came back
My friend Patricia
Returned, retired
A full colonel
x
There are those
The many, many those
Who did not return
And have their days
And who cannot remember them?
Anytime and every time
We should?
x
Red poppies will festoon
And sides of buildings carry
Words of verses
“In Flanders Fields”
And that is London today
Here there will be flowers, too,
And flags
And I hope everywhere
That she has served
And he
And they
And all the fields
Nourished by remembrance
With all the hopes
And wishful strategies
To change
x
C L Couch
x
x
carrying the burden of a nation
Photo by Joel Rivera-Camacho on Unsplash
U.S. Marines with Combat Logistics Regiment 17, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, conduct vehicle recovery drills on Camp Pendleton, California, Apr. 6, 2021.The Marines of Motor Transportation Platoon pride themselves not only on their vehicles, but on each Marines’ hard work, dedication, and drive to excel in all they do.
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Fallbrook, United States
x
clcouch123 
Recent Comments