(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
have an orange happy
what do I know
of cooking for the season
cumin this
or turmeric
that
I like the smell of cinnamon
and clove
well enough
really
I’m in it for
the pumpkin shapes on windows
and some of the
really-not-so eldritch lights
at night
and then
in a month or so
the tricks and
treats
and really
at a certain age
or maybe anytime
doesn’t excessive chocolate
comprise both
parts of
that costumed greeting
though we
can say
it’s only one time of year
except for Christmas
(even
secularly)
and all the other times
the justifications
so maybe stick
with pumpkin images
in windows
and the eerie lights at night
and
moderate the rest
and yet
have a pleasing
a cool
if possible
(in the night
running for treats
mind you
safely)
happy regarding
and regardless
Hallowe’en
c l couch
get chocolate, it’s a treat; eat too much chocolate, it’s a trick
don’t feed chocolate to your dogs
photo by Mitchell Bowser on Unsplash
2 poems about the day
Fish Fry
(check the shape of stanza'd, ichthus undulation)
Friday
Fry day
Fish fry day
At the Catholic church
For penance
I suppose
Though the is
So much
One can’t complain
Of abstemious devotion
And the money
Should go somewhere
Good
And we Protestants
Can enjoy that
Too
Should we think on it
While crunching into fish with
Whatever else
Is
Provided
Yay
Catholics
Thank you for
This weekend treat
You all
Have
A great weekend
Too
After all the cooking
(the worry over getting
burned
while frying)
And all the cleaning
That frankly
We did not
Have to do
Though when it’s our turn with
A rummage sale
We’ll clean up
Afterward
For you
Thirteen O’Phobia
Today is Friday
A thirteenth
Sorry to
Triskaidekaphobes
Watch out
Black cats
They’ll be avoiding you
Which now I think it
Might be the quite suitable
Arrangement
And ladders
Mirrors
Sidewalk
Cracks
Salt containers
All the things that make
This day less
Amenable
And it’s the number
Generally
As well
The lack of such in buildings
Even
Now
And what was it
Crucifixion on a Friday
Or the barbaric
Gory dissolution of the Templars
On a Friday
Thirteenth
Early in the fourteenth century
(1307
look
another thirteen)
And Judas killed himself
Maybe on that
Friday
Being the thirteenth disciple
(once removed)
In some lore
But for me
And maybe I should apologize
I often
Find
The day goes very well
Which might be
Determination
Or
Luck
Half-Irish luck
For my mother’s family
While on my father’s
Side
There are the English
Who most likely
Do not care
About the day and
Date
As long as the flag is flying
Somewhere in a
Time zone
Over Earth
C L Couch
(9/13/2024)
Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash
Matthias, Paul, Judas—who is the thirteenth disciple/Apostle? (Rhetorical question--depends on whose tradition's answering.)
Painless
(for patient patients)
I need my pain
The captain
Said
And I suppose
The captain’s
Right
Worse the luck
For all
The pain
That is
In the world
My portion
In
My body
At the moment
And for hours
And for
Days
Treatments
Notwithstanding
(they help for
a while
sometimes
but
might not resolve)
I complain
It’s inconvenient
And
Might be a sign
Of
Something worse
Inside where
I can’t see
Of
Course
And maybe a medico
Or a machine
Will tell
It is a signal
That something
Is wrong
And as
A constant
Thing
Might mean
There’s always
Something
Wrong
Which could be a
Signal
Even
Of mortality
To bear
There’s pain
And there is pain
‘Cause
There are kinds
And painless be
The world
In
The future
On
The other side
Apocalyptic
When joy
Shall go unmingled
And
Can we
Imagine
Such a thing
A time
(timeless)
And place
(not
placeless)
And new condition
While
We carry what
We carry
And regarding
Hurt
We try and
Others try
To fix us
For forbearance
And for health
Here
And now
(not timeless)
C L Couch
Captain Kirk is quoted
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
To the Dark Towers Came
The news said
that
a private plane
had hit
one of the towers
of
the World Trade Center.
I felt awful for
the pilot
and the passenger.
I had to get to school.
I listened
to the radio
on the way. The news
was
still confused.
I got
to school and walked from
the car to the building
where
the classroom was. I
entered
the room to find
the TV on,
everyone staring. Then
I found out
what happened,
that
the towers were gone, one
tower then
the other.
The planes were
jet liners. Commercial
planes.
Hundreds of folk
were
running toward
the site
to try
to rescue thousands.
No doubt
these responders looked
up
to see
the buildings there,
made of air
and memory.
C L Couch
Photo by In Memory of Yan Ji on Unsplash
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