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clcouch123

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clcouch123

In conversation, I prefer Christopher. My mom named me after Christopher Robin, after all. In writing, I use “C L Couch” (or, more simply, “c l couch”) because the form is genderless and also frankly easier to use. I have awful writer’s cramp. I am an educator more or less retired, more or less due to disability. At present, I live in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (USA). My writing here I mean to be occasional and also devotional. Either or both. The banner and profile photographs are by my friend and peer Debra Danielson. More of Debbie’s work to be enjoyed is at debradanielson.org. Thanks to each of you and both and all for coming to my blog.

Fine Day

Fine Day

 

After many tries, I’ve found

A cup that right for soup

Shiny with a handle the right size for

The skin between my knuckles

Black, not so heavy, portable

Hot from the microwave

A Prufrock thing, perhaps

I handle the part thing in my hair

But not having so much of one

And I’ve dared to eat the peach,

Preferring clementines

Nothing much

Which is the point

We meet the God of the universe

Through an open orange pit

And stirring a galaxy in coffee

I think Julian might approve

 

C L Couch

 

 

https://pxhere.com/fr/photo/165696

clementines

 

0

Fools

Fools

(Easter 2018)

 

April fool on Easter

Funny, yes

But here’s a chance

To get it right

Christ died a fool, you know

He could have brought an army

Down to slay his persecutors

God can do that

Look up Jericho or Midian

He chose to remain instead

A savior

The world was the prank

That made a joke of him

Tell us, king, who

Hit you, spat on you

And crucified you

The April fool

King for a day, an ancient rite

In which the weakest ruled

In parody

Brief, great dynasty

Before execution, serving the good

Of the community

Because of sacrifice

Sin-eater

Bearer of all burdens

 

Such is the lesson

We have upside on this

Sabbath day

Before the riot

Before eggs and chocolate, flouncy fabric

Best behavior

Ham at home, all

Good things to celebrate

Though the best is yet to come

 

A magic trick, some say, though the brutality

Was real, and he did not

Escape the devil’s feint

The sleight of hand

Faith is foolish to

Those who will not have it

Who are afraid that

What we have

Is not enough

 

We have the choice

We don’t have victory

But we have found an empty tomb

 

C L Couch

 

Tophat

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-35243823

 

 

3

The Day After

The Day After

(Holy Saturday 2018)

 

The Saturday before

And nothing’s going on

 

Is there a signal yet

A code for believers

Not the fish, even though

Remembrance of the feast

Upon the hillside

Could be recalled

 

But the last letters of acrostic

Faithlessly, have not been found

 

In disillusion

Fear of capture

Greater fear of nothingness

 

All that’s left is, what,

Eat something, find a place to

Stop

As darkness of the human heart

Enfolds

 

And doubt in anything that’s good

Or lasts

Washes like acid

Over once-fast believing

 

C L Couch

 

2

Deconstruction

Deconstruction

 

The sky cries into

Chiseled ground

Wedged open by sin

Up on the hill

The day is night

And love is hate

All things turned over

As a shovel upends soil

To dig a grave

 

C L Couch

 

 

crosses Montana

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/194288171402151308/

Jill Lesoing saved to Meet Me In Montana…

 

3

The Message

The Message

 

Strong in words

Is that enough

Strong, if that, but why

There should be virtue

Antique word for an

Old-fashioned notion

Authenticity, what

Young people often

Teach us

A reason would be good

Thought sometimes celebration

Is enough

Sometimes I reach out to

Animals, even though,

You know, allergic

If they like me it must be

Without words

The word is in the touch

The hand that follows contours

And constitutes a message

The quiet voice

And listening, always listening

And so we might get along

The word is in reality

A different language

 

We have words

And always should be

Better with them

Listening

Returning what we’ve heard

Offering something new

Or firming up the

Better part of what

Know is old

And good because it lasted

There is love in

This

There is strength

In the word

 

C L Couch

 

3

Older Love

Older Love

 

It is in the first Christian hymn

Love begotten

As in created

Dropped like ritual paint upon

An unmarked, earthy plank

Moved around in riotous,

Primal aesthetic

Made for pleasure in the universe

Because God knows

It’s not enough minimally

To exist

 

In the pushing of all things

There must be meaning

Not in gnostic sentences

Trying to spell secrets in the skies

But something all of us can have

Without exotic training

Or supernal

Scrying

 

Pointers at best

But knowing there’s a reason

Without the heart

Without first favor

Placed over everything that’s made

Or co-made

Well, that pointing will not

Get us there for being

Easily if not covetously

Sideswiped on the way by

Desires and the vicissitudes of

Living without spirit

Rising from the dwelling of the soul in

Each one

 

We were built, singly and together

One by one and all

We can perceive a universe

And with earnestness take hold

Who we are

Of anything that’s good and sound and loving

You and me embrace

All things ordinarily divine

 

C L Couch

 

 

big world small sketch

https://www.wikihow.com/Capture-a-Big-World-in-Small-Sketches

 

2

Autumning

Autumning

 

On a Sunday night,

we walked some streets in Cambridge.

It was fall.  The streets were wet; the

air was chilled.

We actually found a small place

that served chowder.  It was cheap,

and it was good.  And I

imagined a hundred places like it in

the town.  I think I

was right.

That was my first and so far last trip there,

though she came once to me.  But

at the time, we were set at odds against

each other; there was no way

we could get it right.

 

C L Couch

 

 

cambridge mass

Bicycles in the Rain

Mark Hornbuckle

https://www.cambridgema.gov/traffic/Permits/residentparkingpermit/residentpermitphotocontest/2015residentparkingpermitphotocontestalbum

 

0

Really Far Away

Really Far Away

 

Brown leaves follow green

Then into the ground they go

It’s a happy process, really

And it should be

I know we razor the land

And let our refuse burn into the air

Or breathe it into land and sea

We’re ruining things, really

Have you been to the plastic island

In the Pacific

It’s really gross and really there

It’s not made up

China builds islands in the sea

And claims the territory and

The ocean ‘round

We all built the isle of trash

And no one claims anything about it

Really far away

Unless you’re there

Wait, there’s one in the Atlantic, now

Really

 

C L Couch

 

garbage island

https://rustygarnersmith.wordpress.com/tag/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

 

 

0

To Parkland Youth

To Parkland Youth

(Florida, USA)

 

I’ve worked with teenagers forever

So it seems

And I’m glad

 

I like precocity

 

The plain way teens tend to speak

Reminding me of why I like to walk

The streets of Pittsburgh, for

Pittsburgh people speak their minds with

Measures of respect with

Arrowed expression

 

And when I’m with youth, to say

Don’t forget to be fifteen,

Sensing some relief

All around

 

Being teen is good, and acting real is

Good

There are things you don’t have to

Own because you’re not there,

And this is good

 

Which is not to put you down but to raise up

All the growth that

Happens

In delight, frustration, error, joy

 

You should be free to

Know what to leave and what

To take with you

 

Should not be a thing for you

That we can’t let you finish adolescence

And so enter

The rest of the world

 

You have to step in now

And you shouldn’t have to

 

You have to act as two generations

And there it is

And for all I like you

And because,

This is not right

 

C L Couch

 

5

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