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]
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
(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
There and Back and There Again
(22 September)
It’s Sunday
It’s fall
And the light of the full moon
(should there be)
On Durin’s Day
(should it be)
Might illuminate the secret parts
Of maps
For our adventures
But it’s the hobbits’ birthday
For our attention
Now
Of two hobbits
Born on the same date
With the first fellow
Visited by
Dwarves
Who called for
Cake
And what is
A seedcake
Anyway
There was music first
And then a plan
To find a realm
To find a base
To find the horde
Inside the mountain where
The throne resided
Too
And
By the way
A dragon
In the way
Then was the second one
Years later
Who took his uncle’s ring
To a deadened land
With a volcano
Into which
To throw the ring
You see
The ring was more than magic
It was power
The kind that Acton said
Corrupts
Entirely
And Frodo
And his friend
Samwise
With allies
Several
At first
Quested through corruption
To get there
To this mountain
To destroy the thing
That
Took the easier story
(tell Bilbo’s buttons)
Into
Perforce
An epic situation
And all the armies of the Earth
Came
Or didn’t come
To Pelennor
Then to the northern gate
Of Mordor
Great battle
Great losses
Final victories
Though it was the hobbits
Who saved everything
At last
Wounded
And wounded again
With the assist
Of an eldritch creature
Half-hobbit
Perhaps
Who fell with the ring
Into the fire
Rescued by giant Eagles
And wouldn’t that
Be something
Then Frodo
And his friend
Could not stay in Middle-Earth
Though they lived there
For
A while longer but
Finally
Set sail
With other heroes
Toward a land of blessing
Land of healing
Over the sea
Like Avalon
To Valinor
We live there
Where the hobbits
With the others
Trod
And where hobbit-peers
Might be hiding behind trees
Out of
The classic
Corners of our eyes
For
Middle-Earth
Is our Earth
And us
So
Happy Birthday
Bilbo
Frodo
Regards of a thankful
Planet
That now
Would like to party
For you
Still wondering
What a seedcake
Might be
(okay
I can look it up
and
well
the Victorians
liked it
and there are
recipes
and other lands
and times
where I’m sure
we like it
too)
C L Couch
Photo by Lucas Gruwez on Unsplash
(as I recall, the house of Samwise has a yellow door)
Love andGainLoss
I don’t know
How are we honest
About loss
We feel it
We feel the
Not-the-presence from what is
No longer there
It’s rather plain
All the small things
That don’t quite work right
Anymore
Or at least don’t work
The way they used to
When
What is missing now
Was there
But then
The missing is another
Something
Too
It has been added
And we’re supposed to deal
With less
Than we had before
I don’t know
The paradox of
Loss and gain
Or
Loss and loss
Escapes me for compassion
Even in
A philosophy
Of love
Which is the “love”
Part
Of the “love of wisdom”
Though love might say
With philosophy
Or away from formal justifying
That everything should be embraced
What we have
What we no longer have
(I know
like hugging
a phantom
somehow)
Well
My friend is gone
And other friends are gone
And something of good
Feeling’s
Gone as well
Though ironically
(and paradoxically)
I suppose
We may need more such feeling
In these times
All right
No supposing
This is when we say
God
Of goodness
Help us through this time
For you are author and sustainer
Of everything beneficent
Plus
The way
(you show the way)
To deal with
What happens
And is
Injurious
The answer as in all things
Must be love
And love somehow in
The inquiry
As well
Which is added
To the present pain
In
Our reasons for it
Any of it
Plus the lack thereof
(of reason)
Clearly
Then
We go back and forth
And not so clearly
Why the loss
Even why
In the first place
Love
Knowing
And not knowing
Love is the means
The resorting
The resource
And was
At first
And shall be last
The seal
Our pledge
That is
An answer
With a reason
From
The start
And now even
Our gratitude
To go on
Positive
And with
Anticipation
C L Couch
(on the death of a friend)
Photo by Kseniia Rastvorova on Unsplash
I don’t know, a sentimental Friday? Cats and new seasons—well, please enjoy!
The Cats of Reykjavik
They wander
Like the wanderer
Singly
Sometimes together
They are sheltered
And presented at
The cat café
In town
There are thousands
They are welcome
All around
Like elves
And horses
And like these
Protected
Through acceptance
Also magic
And folklore
For there is a Christmas Cat
That urges you to
Shop for clothing in
The season
Otherwise be caught with old
And should the Christmas
Cat
Encounter you
Will eat you
(I’m thinking
worse than
Krampus)
(reacting to a souvenir and a little looking into it, into them, having Facebook and Instagram pages, by the way)
Come Fall Come Spring
As the new seasons
Approach
Fall in the north
Spring to the south
I hope you appreciate
The change
The opportunity
Encouraged
To think a little differently
Should it be time for
A different thought
A different way
Of thinking
Maybe
Allow yourself the chance
As might
Sweeten many things
Like autumn apples in the north
And full flowers to
The south
In the offing
Are new things
For new-ish people
Approach with care and yet
Approach
There are new colors
And new flowers
For you
C L Couch
Photo by Manny Moreno on Unsplash
(a cat of Reykjavik)
What Do I Have to Say
What do I have to say
To you
Today
Before new seasons start
With you
And all of us
As we progress
Through even more
Than seven stages
I have to say to you
Be well
As far as wellness be
That estate for you
To manage
Go well
And let this moment
Be a dedication
Like the ship’s
Though don’t sail into
White Line vanity
But pause
So that
You’re practical
Regarding lifeboats
And your best guess regarding
Mollified by what you have
What you’ll need
Once ashore
Be safe
Though the world isn’t safe
Do what you can
And help others along
Even with
And when the need
For rescue
Think of the children
When you make decisions
Because
It’s their world
After
And part of it even
Now
And also
Though seemingly
Impossible
Find moments
For yourself
And maybe one
You love
To sit
To rock
Or your own versions
Simply
To wonder
And regarding love
Remember
That there’s always one
For two
C L Couch
Photo by Illiya Vjestica on Unsplash
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