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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.

First-Class Delivery

First-Class Delivery

 

A teacher in Ghana

Writes a computer on the board

Components rendered in

Chalk because the real

Things are nowhere near, and

There’s a national test about

Computers that the

Students must pass so they

Can go on to high school

 

So he makes a semblance of

Machine parts and program functions

And maybe his learners

Will have a

Chance

Microsoft sees this and makes a promise

 

We can speak of dedication and be right

I think he’d rather have all the real

Things in three dimensions that

He needs so he can offer

 

Learning and for life

 

C L Couch

 

Ghana teacher chalk computer

The story behind the viral photo of a teacher in Ghana showing students Windows on a blackboard

 

3

Tableaux

Tableaux

 

The glow from civilized light

In a fireplace

The touch of living yellow

On everything that’s in

The room

And the writer sits at table

Beneath another light

Scratching on paper, leaving

Words

It is a scene, a tableaux vivant

It brings to us a reason why

Home is so important

It cradles inspiration

Reminds why we co-create with God

 

C L Couch

 

A Saint Patrick’s Day of blessings to you.

 

hearth

https://www.superpages.com/em/brick-fireplace/

 

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By Halves

By Halves

 

When we are revealed

In diaspora

When we are outcast

Of Earth

 

When all we have is gone

Used up to stay alive

 

When there is nothing more than

Scant hope, threadbare-blown

 

Then we might turn to each other

In remembrance

Of promises we never

Broached

Wishing we could know each

Other now

 

C L Couch

 

 

halves

File:Wstega macha.png – Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

 

3

Tell Me a Story

Tell Me a Story

 

Blue lights

And silver magic

Castle ruins inhabited

By cursed creatures

The hero comes to help

Can she or he save the day

Or better

Save the night

 

This is what I want

And where I want to be

Will you take me there

To leave me for

A while

Read to me, and let me dream

The pages into life

 

C L Couch

 

0

If We Dance

If We Dance

(#InternationalWomensDay)

 

a circle and a cross

the symbol for Earth has the cross inside

but this is close enough

to know

the movement is planet-wide

there are things that

don’t need new reason

for dealing with the ancient one

 

there is gender

women number more

the feminine make up half at least

of who we are

one by one

and altogether

who are we without

we are not whole

we countermand creation

 

what other gaps cannot be filled

with sex, yes, and

decision

 

we are strong

and strength will out

muscle and what’s beneath

indifference energized

to charge the fight

for what should be evidential reason

 

someday a woman will preside

over the table

as a woman did, once

and long ago

inviting her will be

forgone

by then

let women rule

no let about it

women can and will

 

seek the alliance now

call it marriage

friendship

partnering or

of a presidency

in place and time

 

call it quits on

masculine oppression

give up the gate

that she has managed age

by age

the less-than-half survive

through what she does

the rest, the most

already know

 

let her in

before she keeps the rest away

celebrate the whole one

we can be

 

C L Couch

 

 

iwd 4

shop.glasnevintrust.ie

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

#InternationalWomensDay

 

0

Petition

Petition

 

While I slept, I slept

It’s not so easy anymore

Being tired isn’t enough

I need to know something was

Done

While I was awake

Nothing monumental

Something small will do

Something small I might have done

For you

 

C L Couch

 

0

Present

Present

(note—yes, I saw the movie recently)

 

Nature and human come

Together for a sabbath day

A wilderness of possibilities set

Apart for eternity

The beauty in Amherst might

Say

 

(she’d say it better)

Today I might be walking—

Will you walk with me, too?

Only if the crowd—will

Not be walking with you

 

A host of dashes hers to call

She commands them

Connections between words and a

Cosmos of actions

Options that will satisfy

Her divinities

 

We try to be friends—Emily,

The Lord, and I

But there is majesty in others and

Other entities to which

We must relent,

After the final time

 

C L Couch

 

beauty in Amherst

Terence Davies on the Hugeness of a Confined Life in His Emily Dickinson Biopic, ‘A Quiet Passion’

 

 

0

Tomorrow Look for Litany

Tomorrow Look for Litany

 

Quiet nature

And it’s not

It’s noisy—screeching, scratching,

Tearing, flapping, crying out

In pain or loss or delight

 

It’s an uneven, all-textured

Unbalanced affair

Not all spheres are smooth in space,

Not every nest has beauty

 

There are scars and broken limbs

That bespeak mortality

But could we have it any other way

 

There is math in the nautilus

And harmony when mourning doves

Begin the day in need

Conversing with each other:

 

Come, join me

In this tree, set with me

 

C L Couch

 

0

Before

Before

(iambic-ly)

 

Before the day gets too

Complex,

I’d like to say that

I am grateful for your love

I’ll think it later, too

But now it’s easier in time and wisdom

To remember, all myself,

That I am yours

And after

Then

 

C L Couch

 

love image

https://markmanson.net/love

 

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