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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.

Keystone Groundhog’s Day

Keystone Groundhog’s Day

Tomorrow—that’s 2 February—
Is, well, Groundhog’s Day

And since I am in Pennsylvania,
Maybe I should say something
(Maybe not)

The groundhog is a creature
With variants: prairie dogs out
West (USA), like Texas
Armadillos in attitude and in
Treatment, so I’m told

Nuisance-being that somehow
Makes a hole we all attend to
On this day

Origins are fought over (the day,
That is, not the groundhog
Itself, made in the perfect,
Chortling humor of the mind
Of God), though likely it’s a time
And rite of spring brought up
Into present cultural moment

There is a town, and here it is
(Here’s how it’s spelled)

Punxsutawney (too bad—Spell-
Check defeated me again, this
Year by only one letter)

Here in top hats people (not
The beast—and I don’t know
Why anyone wears the hats)
Will withdraw the toothy animal
From its artificial den atop a
Hill in or near the town (pardon
Me, the borough, there being
No towns in Pennsylvania,
Municipally speaking, save one
Town for another day)

And then winter’s prophecy-
Predictor takes over the day via
Shadow—and that’s all

But I like the day because, unlike
Christmas or Easter or Thanksgiving
Or Memorial Day, we have not
Wrecked this one

There are no Groundhog-Day cards
(I know of), so you must make your
Own—and thus enjoy the day (or

Maybe not) in whichever way you
Groundhog-like

(Legend has it that on this morning, if a groundhog can see its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. If it cannot see its shadow, spring is on the way. InfoPlease.com.)


ShenandoahNPS / Foter.com / CC BY via Google Images

4

Mammoth Find

Mammoth Find

Something fantastic was
Found under OSU—now,
In my part of the land,
OSU stands for “The”
Ohio State

Here, however, we’re
Talking about Oregon,
Where by the way members
Of my family have
Attended

Though none ten thousand
Years ago, which is the
Counting of this find—
Generally, we (and I
Mean you and me) were
Around as early wanderers

And inhabitants and so
Might have run from the
Massive body of the bones,
When enfleshed and nature-
Armed, we have now
As a mammoth—you
Know, the woolly kind

We’d have eventually
Turned and hunted down
The one in stone calcified
That we treasure now

Free away from
Primal scenes and needs
We may make friends
And maybe make amends

With its bones dryly,
Comfortably
Without tooth and claw
To rend in red our fragile
Skin

We (less bravely, perhaps)
May say:

Welcome, Ice-Age ally, to
Our better art and science

(“Nature, red in tooth and claw”—In Memoriam, Tennyson)

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Willow, on Three Legs

Willow, on Three Legs

Willow, on three legs—
A wolf, one leg ruined
In a trap

Willow protected now
In sanctuary

We had a feline with
Three legs, one leg
Caught in a trap

She was purebred,
And the vet reasoned
That, once marred in
The trap, the cat
Could not be shown
For ribbons and so
Was discarded

My sister gave the
Siamese an exotic
Name, Scheherazade
(“Shahrazad,” the teller
Of one thousand plus
One tales, the tyrant’s
Wife who lives), and
For seventeen years
We lived with her

She was a gentle cat
Except for one trait:
She was the best
Birder in the cat pride
We kept then

Tragedy turned cat-
Happy life (well, not
So much for certain
Birds): Well done!

Well told,
Scheherazade

May Willow live as
Happily and as whole

(Willow introduced
To me, as with so
Many things, on PBS)

2

Tree Kind

Tree Kind

I fell from one
Once and again
And in the breath
I struggled to take
Back again

I still called you
Friend

I cannot make flesh
That has its own
Or invent a spirit
When already imbued

The tree breathes
Out its own

2

31 January 2016 (in the global north)

31 January 2016
(in the global north)

I still wake up with jittery feelings. The sun is bright. The snow is melting down. Maybe I need it gone. But is that the boundary of my fear? I sit and look outside to see the beauty. I am inspired to come back and write a verse of two. Still, fear jumps inside me. At least it doesn’t leap. I’ll feel better, once I write a bit. Drink a hot drink, maybe take a pill or two pills. I know that on a good day my heart still operates in an iffy way. I know that what happened here was momentous. It’s momentous, still, outside. As in ancient Arabian architecture, I cherish space and righter light. Not simply looking out into amorphous glare. Rather the view of a virtuously bright and blue-skied world above with earth of desert browns beneath. Through arches made of genius and of grace, numbering the stars within each stone’s embrace.

I dream this is all easier, if not delightful, in a desert paradisal scene. Where arid becomes beautiful and free air moves through all, spirits borne and carried along. Maybe heaven’s healing wind will pause and wave upon me there, and I will feel and know something of the serene aspect of God.

Too much romance and earthly-bound, I know. But I need this. My fear frankly needs it, as does my hope and peace.

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Burying the Unknown Dead

Burying the Unknown Dead

A ministry, non-sectarian, in
Boston

Students from a private
School—senior-students
From a private school

Attend to one, an unknown
Man, somewhere with a
Name but no one to claim
And care for his mortal
Remains

“But today we are his family,
We are here as his sons . . .”

Pallbearers, recitations of
Free and liturgical verse—
These youth provide all

To bear the body and,
Finally, kindly lay with
Loving intention into the
City’s yard and ground

In Boston, it’s a frozen
Day, yet there is some light

Because hope of all kinds
And times and mortal or
Immortal prophecies—

Hope blazes here

(reported at npr.org for
25 January, “Today We
Are . . .” by Arun Rath)

2

Psalm 26, a song of dissatisfaction

Psalm 26
a song of dissatisfaction

You know, Lord,
sometimes in spite
of all of my deficiencies,
I am dissatisfied

with what I have. I
don’t wish to be
un-thankful, but
there it is. I wish
things were better.

I wish the world were
giving and forthcoming
in all its parts and
places.

I wish we were better
people—generous to
strangers, open to
the differences that
others bring into all
our overlapping circles.

I wish we were more
grateful. Start with me.

9

Sunshine Blogger Award (my responses)

To anyone whose reading. There are names with links for some truly fine blogs given below. I invite and encourage you to visit them.

 

Thank you, Call Me Cordelia, whose blog about reading and writing—and cooking—makes me smile. Thank you for the timing of the award. As you note, it’s a great time of year (in the northern regions of the world) in which to be reminded of the spring-upcoming, rewarding sunshine. I’m kind of season-shocked from Storm Jonas and after. This recognition warms.

Call Me Cordelia’ blog, https://iwouldratherread.wordpress.com/

Call Me Cordelia’s award post, https://iwouldratherread.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/sunshine-blogger-award/

(Cordelia’s) Questions for the Nominees:

1. What or who inspired you to blog?
2. Do you write outside of your blog?
3. What is your biggest fear regarding reading and/or cooking and/or traveling?
4. Describe the best thing you ever created.
5. What book belongs on everyone’s bookshelf?
6. What is the one thing that is definitely overrated?
7. Which book was so vivid, you could visualize the characters and plot as if you were watching a movie?
8. Truth, which movie did you like better than the book?
9. What always makes you smile, no matter what’s going on?
10. Where is the most beautiful place you’ve been?
11. Have you read War and Peace? If yes, what did you think? If no, why not?

My Responses

1. My spiritual director recommended I blog. I think he thought it might turn out commercially for me. I’m enjoying it avocationally, however.
2. Yes. I’ve been keeping a journal—haphazardly at first, then pretty much daily since I got back home from open-heart surgery. When teaching, I write a great deal for work.
3. I’m claustrophobic and acrophobic. I fly in planes, though it’s a challenge. My fear in cooking is sickening my guests. So far that hasn’t happened. I have eye strain when reading. Hopefully, it will never get more difficult than that.
4. Since have no children and cannot take credit for creating a cat, I guess I’d say a couple of poems that I wrote that made folk cry (in a good way).
5. One can know God without the Bible, so I think I’ll say The Hobbit. About what happens when someone ordinary must exceed self-expectation in order to become heroic.
6. Excess. Our society says excess is good. It’s not.
7. Ghost Story by Peter Straub. I got so engrossed and frightened by the plot, I put the novel down. But I had grown to care about the characters, so I picked it up again.
8. The Princess Bride.
9. Cleverness makes me smile. Whether it was in my cat or in the precocious children whom I know. That’s an especially good question. I hadn’t thought about this before.

My questions for nominees:

1. Do you have a favorite season? Can you say why?
2. What do you like to read? Any kinds of reads you like? Do you have a favorite text? (Which is?)
3. Why do you write?
4. Why do you keep a blog? How did you start? Was someone else involved (and, if you don’t mind saying, who)?
5. Do you have a favorite way to write? A favorite place?
6. When you’re not writing or reading, what else do you like to do?
7. What would you like to do when you grow up? (I’m still working on this.)
8. What is a text (doesn’t have to be your favorite) that you think everyone should read and have at hand (if only to recommend to someone else)?
9. So far, based on your notion of beauty, what is the most beautiful place you have been to?
10. Besides your blog, what else do you write?
11. Today (besides responding to these questions, naturally!), what will you do that you enjoy?

My Nominees (I’m thinking sunshine as I write–and I’ll be in touch)

Sabethville, https://sabethville.wordpress.com/
SOMETIMES, http://mumbletymuse.com/
Stray Coffee Breaks, https://straycoffee.wordpress.com/
Only One Hundred Words, https://sonyca.wordpress.com/
in media res, http://melindakucsera.com/
Ishma Imroz, https://ishmaimroz.wordpress.com/
What the Woman Wrote, https://whatthewomanwrote.wordpress.com/
angieInspired, https://angieinspired.wordpress.com/
Jacki Kellum Juxtapositions, https://jackikellum.wordpress.com/
Invisible World, https://invisibleworldd.wordpress.com/
Sanghramitra’s Blog, https://sanghamitrachakrabarty.wordpress.com/

If you maintain an award-free blog, that’s fine, of course. You may simply (and only) enjoy the nomination.
If I’ve nominated you before or elsewhere, well, there are all-new questions (some swiped from others—I mean, respectfully borrowed as an homage) here! Have a go!
If I haven’t nominated you and I should have, I apologize. And for any mistakes I’ve made in transferring blog links, in my own writing, and so forth.
For those of you who fully respond to the nomination, Thanks and Celebrate the Sunshine!

The Award Rules

• Thank the person who nominated you!
• Answer the 11 questions you were asked.
• Nominate 11 other bloggers and let them know they were nominated.
• Ask the nominees 11 questions. Use others’ questions. Compose your own.
• Copy and place the award logos at your blog, as a shiny icon of distinction.

 

2

These Are the Voyages (28 January 1986)

These Are the Voyages
(28 January 1986)

Thirty years ago and less or
More, there was Apollo 1,
Challenger, and Columbia

Source and cause of death
In rising through the skies;
Reluctant, stubborn loss in

Exploration—first mission
To the Moon, first teacher
Into pace, and a flight we’d

Grown too used to thinking
Ordinary—limited and limitless,
We were reminded; now in

Vision foresworn and sworn
Again, these guard our flights
On toward all our heavens,

Treasuring what in dreams
Will be manifest—we in faith,
Voyagers relentless, we

Travel closer to our God of
Discovery, all of us tied now
In tribute sentinel sacrifice

 
(Note. Remember the first USA
Space shuttle? It was Enterprise)

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