Books of Numbers
1
Twenty-six
For those who count
This way
And just into
New
Seasons
Eight days
For Hannukah
Twelve for Christmas
Until
Epiphany
The world shall have its
New year
For the parties
And
The cheers
There shall be the new
Asian year
Then
Too
And Muslims start
The specific year
As well
And other calendars
No calendars
Hold sway
By group
And ways to count for time
Or not
To count at all
2
When were you born
I was told
That I was born
When it had rained
Days
Straight
And the valley flooded
The people had to climb
And my mother gave
Birth
To me
From a high place
Which has affected
My name
C L Couch
Photo by Paul R Design on Unsplash
merry
there was a creche
and a lamb
was
part
of that with other sheep
and it seemed the
lamb
had looked
at me
that was Christmas Eve
enough
for Christmas day
and for the world
each
in the world
a merry day
a happy
season
of
whatever kind
for you
and should nature nod at you
find the joy
live in
the joy
c l couch
photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash
NASA researchers have discovered a perplexing case of a black hole that appears to be “tipped over,” rotating in an unexpected direction relative to the galaxy surrounding it.
Black Hole Wisdom
(Galaxy NGC 5084)
I wonder if
Out there
Somewhere there is
An exception to everything
We know
And all the things we don’t know
Too
Would make a universe
I guess
And maybe prove infinity
If not eternity
C L Couch
Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope on Unsplash
Momentous
(moment, momentary, memento)
The Earth is leaning
We mark the
Solstice
Though we don’t feel the angle
Any more than
We feel our portion of
The arc of Earth
Yet we note things
And there is
Change
To see us through perceptions
To help us grow
Through seasons
As
The seasons
Sleep
Plant
Grow
Sickle then
Sleep again
And so we lean
So we live
So we lean in
To living
C L Couch
Photo by Christoph Theisinger on Unsplash
a few lines as if in part above the abbey
a few lines of nature
and of God
looking outside
nothing
grand to see
with no majestic sound
rather
the grandness and the majesty
are in the small networks
of the branches
dark tendrils
once the vessels of green leaves
then shall all be green again
after three months
when green
shall
smally
grandly
majestically
overwhelm impending gray
again
that is nature
and is God
the work
at least
in lines
of
seasons’ prophecy
c l couch
photo by Brussel Banda on Unsplash
On a Cold Easy December Day
By the way
I’m this brave
Before
The winter storms should come
Like in the moderating days
Of warmth
From spring to summer
I am appreciating
Even the end of fall
When
All pretty much
Has fallen
Covering
What is preparing to go deep
In hibernation
Soon
And now
Maybe in the midst of winter
With whatever’s fallen
Then
I can be brave as well
Even inside
White banks
Long columns of ice
Along the street
As I try to get by
And don’t
We all
In extreme heat
By correspondent measures
Opposite
The frozen time that should begin
Well
Any moment
Now
C L Couch
Photo by Will Turner on Unsplash
Hidden Ice
Hooker Lake, New Zealand
When Sunday Is the First
Tridecaphobes beware
This should not
Be your day
A day for black
Cats
Ladders
Broken mirrors
Cracked backs
(awful!)
Bad thirteens
Judas
The thirteenth follower
Somehow
With Christ dying
On a Friday
Too
Though the bad
Day that pegs it is
Just inside
The fourteenth century
When on a Friday the
Thirteenth
A trap was sprung
Upon
The Templars
Arrested
Tortured
Executed
And the king of France
Who started the campaign
No longer
He decided
Had to pay the ruined Templars
Back
Then again
The origin could be African
Or India
Or from the Americas
Ancient Greece
Or Atabia
Where the numbers were invented
So
Good
Day
Inside
Or should you dare outside
Where black
Cats will be set on ladder steps
To sing in fiddled fashion
Of
The hours
C L Couch
Photo by Zhen H on Unsplash
[not unlike “Croatoan” on a certain tree, also a subject of suspicion]
Teaspoonful
(a season’s greeting)
Another
Try at something
Short
And sweet
Which I could say
Would be my sister
Then
She would hit
Me
Like the jokes I made
In church
And she would laugh
And
Hit me
As she should have
Well
To it
Merry season
And
Don’t go crazy for it
Please
C L Couch
Photo by Betty Miyashiro on Unsplash
Brand-Making
Gray day
To say again
Black branches
I could bottle these
Or at least
(for
sense)
Put them on labels
For our brews
The water hisses on
The street outside
While
Car tires are pressed over them
That if
We had a metal bridge in town
Would change the one-note susurration
Into singing
A wet
And dismal-
Looking day that maybe
We find
Interesting
Difficult eyes
Behold it
Well
While nature-muffled expectations
Provide some freedom
Of the mind
For thinking newly
About things
Certain things
Anything
And so I want
To own
The gray day
If you please
My own kind
To bottle
To open
To let breathe
C L Couch
Photo by Davide Cultrera on Unsplash
[I’m thinking it’s David]
clcouch123 
Recent Comments