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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.

Lady

Lady

(3 July 2016)

 

Lady

 

You are constant

When our faith

Deserves to be

Questioned

 

Expressionless

Weighted with

Expression

 

The wisdom of

An age across two

Waters

 

We call you liberty

And claim it

For ourselves

 

You bear the burden

Of all our

Uncertainty:

 

You guard hope,

When our

Vision blurs

And we falter

 

Beacon-light

Into the world

For all to see

 

We must stand

Closer in aspiration,

 

Parallel with

What time-spent,

Respect, and

Insight might

Accrue

 

Side by side,

We must mean

Creed and reliance

 

In all we express

And realize

 

www.theatlantic.com (image)

5

Gunita

Gunita

 

Remembrance

Until it might

Slip away,

 

Tripped not on

Forgetfulness

But rather

On the path to

Now

 

Then matters

Again,

 

A crystal

Record;

 

But while you

And I are here

 

Memory is

Present for the

Present

 

Even if we

Stumble over

Nostalgia

In our steps to

The sweetness of

This time

 

C L Couch

 

Word-High July: Welcome!

 

Maria of Doodles and Scribbles and I [that’s Rosema at rosemawrites] are more than excited to read your takes on the 30 Beautiful Filipino Words.

  1. Write or create a post inspired or about the Filipino word prompts.
  2. A post can be anything. A poem, a fiction, a six-word tale, or even a photo. It’s all up to you.
  3. Linkback/create a pingback to this post: Word-High July 30 Beautiful Filipino Words. Here is a quick tutorial on how to do a pingback.
  4. Tag your post with WordHighJuly, so your co-bloggers will be able to read/see your take on the prompt. Here’s how you create tags.
  5. Most important of all, read and comment to your blogger friends (old and new found, we’ll never know).

HOP ON and let’s all GET WORD-HIGH this JULY!

10

Bread and Stone

Bread and Stone

 

All that’s left

Is the heel of the

Rye bread loaf

And a small pile of

Caraway seeds

(Inside) made

When I lift

The bag

 

Bread and bitter herbs

I could be

A Celtic sin-eater

 

A job from long ago

In smaller, well-defined

Communities—and

For their sake

 

The task has left us,

While the cause

For eating and then

Running out the

One fed

Remains

 

Bitterness

Of sin—perhaps

Given the time

And hard hearts—

 

We

Should tear off

A bit of bread

To take with

Zealous spice

3

Tinatangi

Tinatangi

 

My love

Hello

And

How are you

 

It’s good

To see you

Upon waking

 

Shall

We have coffee

Now

With

Continental

Toast on

Which we might

 

Slather

Something

Sunshine-

Yellow

 

Breakfast

For me is

Special

When the

Toast could

Have

Some honey

On it, too

 

Well, C R.

(An alter-ego),

The

Nourishment

Of one

Before me

Now

 

Is so

Much better

 

Word-High July: Welcome!

 

Maria of Doodles and Scribbles and I [that’s Rosema at rosemawrites] are more than excited to read your takes on the 30 Beautiful Filipino Words.

  1. Write or create a post inspired or about the Filipino word prompts.
  2. A post can be anything. A poem, a fiction, a six-word tale, or even a photo. It’s all up to you.
  3. Linkback/create a pingback to this post: Word-High July 30 Beautiful Filipino Words. Here is a quick tutorial on how to do a pingback.
  4. Tag your post with WordHighJuly, so your co-bloggers will be able to read/see your take on the prompt. Here’s how you create tags.
  5. Most important of all, read and comment to your blogger friends (old and new found, we’ll never know).

HOP ON and let’s all GET WORD-HIGH this JULY!

7

Timpi

Timpi

 

Timpi

Timpani

Steady the beat

Avoid the roll

That ends with

A set of

Cymbals’ crash

 

Self-control

Must be a challenge

In the heat

Even the heat

Inside the

 

Body

Or maybe in-

Between

Two bodies

 

Maybe in some

Atoms of

Moments, we

Find control,

Once we

Release it

 

And yet

Restraint—take

A moment, take

A breath—is

Not a bad

Course, either

 

Listen

 

Watch and learn

The lessons

And the rhythms

Of life are

Coming at you

 

Some assembly

With discretion

Required

Before we

Let all run

And run away

 

C L Couch

 

Word-High July: Welcome!

Maria of Doodles and Scribbles and I [that’s Rosema at rosemawrites] are more than excited to read your takes on the 30 Beautiful Filipino Words.

  1. Write or create a post inspired or about the Filipino word prompts.
  2. A post can be anything. A poem, a fiction, a six-word tale, or even a photo. It’s all up to you.
  3. Linkback/create a pingback to this post: Word-High July 30 Beautiful Filipino Words. Here is a quick tutorial on how to do a pingback.
  4. Tag your post with WordHighJuly, so your co-bloggers will be able to read/see your take on the prompt. Here’s how you create tags.
  5. Most important of all, read and comment to your blogger friends (old and new found, we’ll never know).

HOP ON and let’s all GET WORD-HIGH this JULY!

12

Kilig

Kilig

 

She giggles.

She is happy.

“Dad?”

she says.

“Dad,” she says

again, this

time adding

a tug,  “’Cause

I feel so

good now,

If I open my

mouth,

 

will butterflies

fly out?”

She giggles

bigger now.

“They might,”

I say, “They

might fly

right through

your laughter.”

 

She tries to

close her mouth.

She can’t.

More laughing

fountains

forth.  She

sounds like

gulps of

Spring.

 

And, like the

season, her

arrival has

brought new

life into

the world.

 

She is so

excited over

what might

happen

next.

 

C L Couch

 

July is right on our door steps and it’ll enter with Word-High July! Maria of Doodles and Scribbles and I [that is, Rosema at https://areadingwritr.wordpress.com/] are more than excited to read your takes on the 30 Beautiful Filipino Words.

  1. Write or create a post inspired or about the Filipino word prompts.
  2. A post can be anything. A poem, a fiction, a six-word tale, or even a photo. It’s all up to you.
  3. Linkback/create a pingback to this post: Word-High July 30 Beautiful Filipino Words. Here is a quick tutorial on how to do a pingback.
  4. Tag your post with WordHighJuly, so your co-bloggers will be able to read/see your take on the prompt. Here’s how you create tags.
  5. Most important of all, read and comment to your blogger friends (old and new found, we’ll never know).

HOP ON and let’s all GET WORD-HIGH this JULY!

July 1

11

Liftoff

Liftoff

 

Late

 

I’m driving home,

High-beams

Looking out for

Deer whom I

Might then drive

Around

 

Yellow center

Lines with white

On either side,

 

Bushes and trees

Farther off still

Line the road,

Marching back

In layers of green

 

And black that

Make up the

Horizon, too,

Which I see in

Front of me

 

Then—I hadn’t

Thought of

This—the moon

Rises in my

Direction (that is,

 

The way I’m

Going) behind

Dark verdure

Rows

 

Half-disc bright

Red-orange

Startling the

Sleepy countryside

Into becoming,

As if in an

Astral spell, a

 

Rising plain of

Backlit silhouettes

 

Sentinel at night

Ascends like

An ancient mother

Ship leaving

The quiet earth

Where it has

Hid, now taking

Its watchkeepers

Home;

 

Maybe, too,

A matriarchal

Ark as well, bearing

DNA of flora

And fauna,

Gene-tracings

 

In chromosomes

Of mitochondria

 

Lifting all toward

Freedom of

The Earth, carrying

Our errant

Molecules through

To what we say

Is outer space:

 

Passing other

Spheres of cosmic

Condensation,

 

Asteroids and

Planetoids and

More substantial

Yet nascent

 

Un-wakened

Denizens of

Rock and fire

 

Cradles for

Star-making,

Entering nebulae,

The vessel-charge

At last and

With a knowing

Satellite’s prophetic

Discretion,

 

Diffuses organic

Atoms inside

 

Entropy-laden

Stellar capacity,

Static potential

Wanting alien

Life

 

To incite and

Render systems

Viable for carbon

Habitation;

 

And so

 

Our lives together

Evolve into

The future of

World-making

3

Atatürk

Atatürk

 

The death-toll rose

From ten to forty-one

 

Was there a plan

In the attack that

Foreign blood would

Mix with that of

Home

 

Insane strategy

To kill those first who

Are not involved

 

The cheat of

Terrorists whose

Cowardice will not

Face military forces

 

This aim makes a

Target out of me, and

Certainly I can get

Scared;

 

I must hope that

Death by misdirected

Amateurs will not

Find me today

 

And grieve with those

Slain in anonymity,

Because the killers

Don’t care

 

Who we are

7

Almost Heaven

Almost Heaven

(phrase from artist John Denver)

 

Kanawha, Nicholas,

Greenbrier counties

 

Earth gives way

To water and to fire

In the anger of the

Skies

 

Prometheus surrenders

To the whim of

Dionysus,

 

Touched with the

Power of Poseidon

And sport-attitude

Of Zeus

 

We reach over gods

Toward better

Intercession,

 

Praying for the

Tendril touch that

Holds the earth

And sky

 

And all the heavens

 

Because on land and

Other West Virginia

Lives, an ocean’s

Upheaval falls

 

Drowning, splitting

The ground on

Which we alive yet

Strive to stand

 

 

West Virginia Flooding Kills 24; Search and Rescue Efforts Continue

https://weather.com/news/news/west-virginia-flooding-severe-weather-outbreak-news-impacts

http://www.fema.gov/disaster/4273

9

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