big noises out front
BANGS the street where something leaves
something new come in
c l couch
photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
(BANGS goes with street; I have the former word in all-caps so that reading might beg the particular connection—and it could be fun to say the word aloud and LOUD or to think only inside)
Bilbo’s dream
and
in the dream
the hobbit wandered room
to room
looking for something
and not finding
it
and if a dream is working out by night
what
we can’t solve by day
then
what is it the hobbit wanted that
took a dream of blank spaces to find
well
to find what
or is a need expressed
to be on the move somehow
somewhere
maybe
to a lonely mountain
lonely
as his life
to look for something there
not so much treasure since
he’s well-to-do
but
the story of the treasure
then the quest
to find it
dealing with adventure on the way
and clear evil toward
the end
and to be done
everything rescued
deserving rescue
and
the halfling goes home
now out of
but having to tell
the story
won’t be as lonely anymore
with
mementos and
memories turned into
pages
and who knows what friendships
so to keep if neighbors go
on
thinking
he’s a strange one
anyone with Took then Tookishness
inside might disappear perhaps
a while
and now
he’s returned
Bilbo does disappear
or so
it seems from time to time and now
we hear of a big party in the making and
those with young imaginations
might recall
the wizard who arrived
before
and launched fireworks with
shapes both to fright
and
well
delight
everything dreamworthy now if with
some nightmares
added from the unanticipated parts
of stories
which
he might not have thought
of
even hearing at his own unexpected party
that dragons by day yet
terrify
note
then dreams of home might not
come across
so confusing now
since
he knows where he is
at last
or will Bilbo wander
time to time
through Bag End in waking dreams
still
looking as
any might look for something
and
not find it
yet
c l couch
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (Chapter 4—and I’m writing from recall, since my copies of The Hobbit got mildewed; so where I might get text-details wrong, I’m sorry; where it’s interpretation, I cannot apologize except in the classic way of apologies, which is to explain)
photo by bypalm on Unsplash
keep looking up
though for safety-sake look down and out as well
it’s a cold cloudy day
whose clarity
is in
for me
my fondness of such days
the sun came out
so we had
that
and will return and I would miss
it
after a while
after
how many days
don’t want things clammy
and
humidity is risky
for inhalers
though
when there’s wind
we
get some help in breathing in
if only of adventure in
the sky
call Pegasus
or build a steampunk thing
for us
and our group
or let strangers be uncalled yet
flung together and
we journey to
wherever
and everything unfolds because no expectations
are
allowed
c l couch
(the title’s not so original, but I used to hear it as the last words called out by Jack Horkheimer who hosted what for me was a late-evening show on PBS)
photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash
passages of last events
could we line up
then
like the song about the sword and shield
by a river
bring our weapons down
set
them on the ground of history
let Armageddon use the angels as
it must
not they’d take a cue from us
but
shall have their orders
I suppose
and what shall it
take
for good to exist
evil annihilated
as
the promise
and now
for all
maybe we cannot miss the battle
but
maybe by the time it comes
with all signals
sent
we near the center of the valley
and
so tired of death by
propaganda
simply
stop
as if to say we’re tired
and we’re sure no good
will come of this
we’re going over there
both sides
to have a parley though really
to have something
like the truce
at
Christmas
1914
and if there must be Armageddon
and
there’s insistence we take part
you’ll forgive us if we leave
the angels to have the final battle
work out
the absolutes as they
know and they can
then
maybe all of us
for good could meet up
after
discussing blame one final time
and then consider
feasting on
arrival
if the leader over leaders is
all right with
that
c l couch
if I may then for Memorial Day in the USA and all remembrances of people and of strategy as well as what has been secured
“Down by the Riverside”
Revelation, last book in the Christian Bible
photo by National Library of Scotland on Unsplash
"It was the job of outposts like this to send back warning of any enemy movement."
killing the religious
shootings in the mosque
like
shootings in the synagogue
like
shootings in the Christian church
clearly
they prefer to shoot
though I’ve of
folk these days who
take
knives and try to kill the same
but
who are the targets if not
those who worship
who
don’t meet to arms except by spirit
of divnity
and company
who hates these
and
is it unbelief
ones so blank inside
there is no sensation left
but
to obliterate the different
and
the vulnerable
open to cowardly attack
by those
without conviction
self-deluded
by
maybe a self-styled leader who
is interested in moving pawns
to win
the game
though self means self
in
the final moments when the decisions
is no more but
to kill
as it there were a time for that
the Bible phrasing
Ecclesiastes teaching
in
no way
means to find a place
a place with a place
then
open first on targets objectified to
something like cardboard targets
on the range
the range of people
since
anyone may shoot
as there’s an insistence
of the why
c l couch
In rambling writings full of vitriol against a wide range of people, the teenagers who attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego this week, killing three men and themselves, left little doubt about the models for their violence.
Chief among them: the shooter who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.
. . .
The teens who attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego were latest to cite prior atrocities
https://apnews.com/article/christchurch-islamic-center-mosque-san-diego-47582ddae2690a0205e2af6439ee9e65
5/21/26 (1:30 p.m.)
photo by Vladislav Babienko on Unsplash
“bullet shells in snow”
common book of prayer
God
forgive me
and help me
and is this so bad
a prayer
not
to utter most days
to start
or sometime throughout
it’s my
common prayer
as if I kept a common book
from which
I read
depending on the hours
it’s presuming
I suppose
if
asking
belief that God will forgive
and
God will help
and maybe the two-step isn’t needed
since
God might help me
anyway
not waiting for even personally determined
forms of doctrine
for
the hours
c l couch
photo by kevin turcios on Unsplash
“Ain’t no love in the heart of the city.”
San Francisco (USA)
after drafting
sigh
have I said something for you
yet
not that it’s a desperation
yet
well
but relevance
a reaching out
to find acceptance
more
so alliance
well
to be in touch
at least
and maybe most
if
by the aptitudes we have
and hope
your
reaction might be good
good for you
that is
maybe your conviction
certainly your more plainly passing through
the day
go
well
if not
if I may say
go better
as you often make a day
better
for me
and thank you
and what
do you know
we’re here
c l couch
photo by Brandi Redd on Unsplash
2 poems about angels
angels at the apocalypse
they all be working
I imagine
though I guess there could be some
held in reserve
I don’t know if our angels will have time for us
but then
I don’t know how many there are
even
if a third fell
how do we count these
and I doubt on
the head of a pin
Jesus said
legions
but he was audience-aware
maybe we’ll have our guardians on
assignment
still
with enough to fill the final battlefield
archangels
leading
taking care of their eldritch own
and all good beings might
weep
in
conquest
and by victory
ourfield
the wings are never long enough
not wide enough
not
wild enough
you’ll note
that birds
except the hummingbird phenomenon
tend toward having
twice
with length of wings as of
their bodies and how
much
more majestic
fearful
wings proportional unfolding from the centers
of the angels
we rarely indicate their power
or
the awe they should invoke
if
a fraction of the might of
their maker
c l couch
photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash
“Angels in the Outfield,” a story by Richard Conlin, which began a film franchise
small wonders
green
so much green
and
thank goodness
I’m reacting
and thank goodness I'm reacting
so then
last night there was rain
and there was
thunder
yet
I saw no flashes
meaning
I guess
the lightning fell and struck
far away from town
but I could hear and between
the rain
with the sky cracking
there was wonder
then
this morning
well
here before the screen
cross-legged
stretched knees
I thought
about
places where the storms are afternoon
quotidian
thus do they
there
have to have another source of daily wonder
theirs and even God’s
storms
having become so ordinary
even with
lack of splitting light
yet
more so filling other senses
and
my thought now being about
how much need
of wonder
though
you know that I believe
deep
like the ground of Earth
beneath the storm
c l couch
photo by Abhishek Tewari on Unsplash
clcouch123 
Recent Comments