Last Gray Day
Last day of gray
Someone
Says whose job it is to say
I guess
So maybe yellow tomorrow
Red
And orange
Burnt-umber crayon
Too
Though gray belongs
In autumn
In spite of its mood
By tone
Interesting
And
Cloudy days
Out back of fall
C L Couch
Photo by Fons Heijnsbroek on Unsplash
End of Gray
(sorry, here be, might be, a rant)
A gray day
Did you notice
Maybe you walked through
The lack
Of sun
Of blue
Well
By unnoticing
Normal enough
After all
We’ll have these back
The sun and
Blue
Won’t we
We also have
Perfected images
Machined and framed
And
Perched
Somewhere
Or we move our digits
Over
Surfaces of phones
Or manipulate
Tablet or
Desktop screens
Or in
Our cars
Or on still
More
Shiny and electric
Screens
(still more)
Actual
Sun
And blue
Will be back
Sure as seasons
Until
We learn to crack the Earth and
Do it
For profit somehow
Or in another madness
Say
Because we can
Which
Like nanites and A-I
Override the fears
We
Did not
Have the time or chance
To be informed
To have
Or
(much less)
Choose
C L Couch
Photo by Liam Hunter on Unsplash
Found deep in the woods with no explanation.
[photographer’s caption, adding a period]
Round Numbers
Everything is ringed
Starting with the noise
That some of us
Must have
Inside our ears
Though meaning more
The matter of
Rings upon the water
In the rain
The ring-edge of the Earth
Around it
And through it
The circular movements of
Well
Everything
The ringness of orbits
‘Round the sun
The shape and movements
Kept inside
Of asteroids
And comets
How many planets
Each world
Is ringed as well
With its own attributes
And energies
Then watch
(or have the artist’s
replication)
The spiral movement of the galaxy
The rounded shapes of all
The galaxies
Of turning stars
And the dancing pas de deux of
Nebulae passing
Around
And by its own
Rule for ballet
Sometimes through each other
Maybe to shout
Or loudly
Sing
Like on that sunny street
ROUND
Is extraordinary
Necessary
Consider all the curvature that must
Be on
The faces of God
C L Couch
Photo by John Peters on Unsplash
I threw a rock into the lake with the intent of photographing the ripple effect and with the thought of how when we are kind to others it grows out in ripples to others who in turn spread kindness (still) to others.
[photographer's caption, revised]
Unlikely Sabbath
(a kind of call to worship)
We
Understand
Misunderstand
(together)
The sabbath
As a time to go to church
To pray
Officially
For things we might remember
Afterward
Then be free of all of it
For food
For games
For preparing all the real time
To follow
The next day
Or
Instantly
As we might be driven
Driving
That is
Ourselves
But is the sabbath more than services
And really
Was it ever
Well
Ancient reminders
I suppose
The priests to the people
Saying
Or as if to say
By the tent
Then by the temple
In here is the
Holy of holies
Don’t forget it
Don’t forget
Our dedication
So
What is the sabbath
We might
Wonder
Being first
A seventh day
Created
A day for God to rest
And so
A model for
Ourselves
Modeled after God
After all
And so
First week
Completed
And so
Laid out for us
Six days of creating
Then a day
This day
To keep it holy
As in set apart
For
A spiritual reason
Like the fruits of
Field and vine
Set apart
For spiritual
Remembrance
And
I don’t know what
To say
Anymore
Except that it was
Said
Thank goodness not by me
To remember
As in have
The sabbath
It’s a discipline
To rest
An invitation
To play well
To remember
The source
Of love
And everything
That’s good
C L Couch
Photo by Sai De Silva on Unsplash
A Little Fancifully
I don’t know why I’m
Thinking about dragons
And then about
Stories from
Sunday School
Like the story about Gideon
Who broke pitchers
Inside which were fires
Having surrounded
Even a greater
Force
But through the effect
Defeated foes
With faith
And then with fear
And fire
Is the connection
I suppose
The fire from the dragon
And also from the pitchers
And it’s the weekend
Time for wondering
Perhaps
Of characters and stories that are
Fanciful
And that also
Invite us
Fictively and
Non
To keep the faith
I guess these
Break the tension
Just a little
Outside stories
In the world of worries
That we occupy
Certainly
More often
C L Couch
(any story with a dragon, say, Farmer Giles of Ham, or a dragon of your own internal making—also Judges 6 for Gideon regarding faith and fire)
Photo by 順平 黃 on Unsplash
(the Asian dragon commands respect as an aspect of religion and what I would call real myth, because there is such a thing--and so my advice is never belittle dragons, maybe anywhere)
Hi,
I keep meaning to include this as a note in a verse post, but I kept forgetting, and then the thing occurs again. Which is that when I read a post of yours, often when I click on “Like” (with the blue star), nothing happens. The star next to the “Like” disappears; but when I check to see if the “Like” registered–well, it hasn’t happened. Of course, I don’t why this is happening (or not happening). Maybe you have experienced this as well. If you’ve had this problem and then got it fixed, maybe you could tell me how. I like the “Like” feature as a way to acknowledge that I’m reading your work (as well). I apologize for the unintentional silence the lack of sign conveys.
I hope each of you is really well.
Christopher
Photo by Kristina Tripkovic on Unsplash
“Unsurvivable”
Hurricane
Helene
Has killed through
Its own force
And
Maybe we’re complicit
For
The lack of means
We should
Provide
Even
Long before
I don’t know
And in the moment
Don’t care
Probably as much
As
I should
But I have family in its way
And maybe you do
Too
How about we pray
Then find
Additional ways to
Help
How about no matter
Who we are
Or where
We pray
Then find
Additional ways to
Help
C L Couch
Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash
a telling of creation
what is the sense of things
in creation
first nothing
we suppose
and then something
a sound
perhaps
and then some light
to they
could see
what they were doing
though I imagine
angels who were
blind
or deaf
could know something
was happening
the light from dark
or light and
dark
that is
two halves
both being worthy
then some water
black
and barely lit
and then some land
pushed up
somehow
by a hand
that might like molding
or making
in another way
and the land shall need
the sun and moon
water already
extant
and now some creatures
on the land
there already being
beings
in the water
and everyone will need fed
and so have plants
for food
as well as beauty
and we shall say that
this is good
and who shall say
hmm
we need someone
on Earth
to day
and so we make some people
mold them wondrously
such beauty
from the ground
and they shall have five senses
mainly
though not all
with all
and they shall speak
who can
or gesture
or express in another way
everything
to say the act of making
to a lesser degree
but make that noise
anyway
and then settle into
utterances
that God can understand
(having made language)
and they
and we
can understand each other
understanding
being a first feature
in the mind
of creation
and to degrees
our own
based on something else
the riskiest thing
to have been made
and how the angels
might have argue
over this
a thing
it seems
they do not have
though
once beholding
might argue
for
in angel-workers
negotiating with
the boss
and it’s will
of course
the wish
the dream
the mind
the spirit
and the choice
to think
and also feel
to decide
and first
one’s course through Eden
and then
the names of animals
then after
all the sadnesses
a course on Earth
and all the things on Earth
to get
to know
c l couch
photo by Elvis Bekmanis on Unsplash
(haiku for fall, starting in a grumpy mood, I guess)
(1)
well that’s enough of
haiku play and fancy with
no work proof for pay
(2)
the hour is done now
leaves have fallen into water
growing into green
(3)
old and new worlds tilt
leaning could be tree-delight
as dancing solstice
(4)
water purify
as on our other planets
with true air command
c l couch
photo by Mathias Reding on Unsplash
clcouch123 
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