The Exchange
A gray day
A featureless sky
No help there
For interest
Or advice
So what shall I say to you
You know
I ask this
On most days
And sometimes
Write into an answer
Or write
Many things
And one thing turns out
Acceptably
I know the first
Judge
Of things
Is me
And I could be sorry
For that
But this is what I have
I have (or have) to write
You read
You respond
If only to react
And there you are
Writing
Photographing
Painting
All the colors at your beck
(for the words
as well)
And you’ll share something
And I’ll
Read
Or look
And if I’m smart
I’ll
Listen
As we listen
And be changed
Life in the blogosphere
Though actually
Life in art
And honestly
In business
Too
We have to find
Something attractive
To buy in
And there are laws of
I understand
Attraction
So there is exchange
And a go-around
Of growth
And opportunity
Back to art
Well
All of it is art
The theory and the vision
Adding the science of
Application
To expression
(expression
crossing
any boundaries between
the schools)
And I guess the part about business
Is a way of saying
The abstract
Is practical
While where
It seems not
It is necessary
As in vital
As in vita
That is life
C L Couch
Photo by Caryn Sandoval on Unsplash
Lisburn Road at night
wonder as a verb
to go out there
and look
with the senses that
we have
and think
with the synapse
that we have
about the looked
and also
the looking
to look through question marks
that is our punctuation
as a gift
of moving on
since
we tend to ask
and then go on
for answers
there is a hill outside of town
that I would take
pull over
then peer out at night
I got
to see
Halle-Bopp
that way
and also got
to stand
or lean against the car
too see both
darkness and the light
and then
go back inside
for warmth
against the night
the comfort of
artificial glow
that I could pretend that I made
and whatever cushiony
substance
made the seats
but if it weren’t
too cold
I’d stand
or lean
a while first
waiting for more
that what saw
and sometimes
I saw
with some sense of other
then
I’d write it down
on paper
I’d have
wonder as a noun
and
who knows
maybe keep
wondering as a gerund
something standing for an
ongoing thing
c l couch
photo by Tristen Lee on Unsplash
happy June
happy night skies
bright day
bright day
blue and cool
another day of this
is promised
by the forecaster
but what we know for sure
is what we have
blue and cool
bright day
c l couch
photo by Adrian Infernus on Unsplash
Water Works
I’ve written words
Here are some words
I need
More coffee
Be back soon
(soon-ish)
Back
With coffee
(rounded spoonful
thin rivulet
of count
to six for cream)
with some yogurt
Take a spoonful
Have a sip
Still missing ideas
Something
For you
For today
It is
A still day
To appreciate
Before the world’s noise
Returns
The last spoonful
And another sip
What shall I say
Beyond
Let’s have a day
And then another
Should apocalypse
Agree
Though I must
Say
I don’t spend hours
Worrying over this
And what happens next
For I don’t know
And neither
Do you
Which is a way
To say
Relax
Or at least
Worry over what there is
To worry
Over
Say
The health and joy in things
In the ones
We love especially
And the ones we pray for
Known
Or stranger
And more likely both
Maybe the message is
To pray
For there will be answers
And therein lay the risk
That when we ask
Or even state
There will be hearing
With response
Which might be a mystery
I don’t know
How it works
(you might)
Maybe we cry
Maybe
We stamp our feet for answers
That aren’t coming
On our terms
And there’s
The mystery
For there are answers
And why can’t
We always know them
Maybe best
To leave them in the air
Therein is faith
There in
And on the earth
And underneath
And in the ocean-depths
Is love
For us
(for each other
sourced
overall)
From God
Wash in all this
Clean in this
Our cleanliness ain’t perfect
But in what we may have
Be
Real good
C L Couch
. . .
Fishes and fowls
And beasts and birds
Swam the rivers and the seas,
Roamed the forests and the woods,
And split the air with their wings.
And God said: That's good!
James Weldon Johnson, “The Creation”
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
lamentation is a season
(for Memorial Day 2024)
sad remembrance
the activity
and the state
of sad remembrance
who has died
and is ahead of us
in honored state
or imprisoned
inside something
of
we don’t know what
or in what part
what nation host
sought pride
in this
rows of
flags
metal stars
on metal sticks
symbols of
faith
the Star of David
or Arabic
or a cross
or blank for those
with no tradition
save
to have died
mortally
to save
and at the monuments
here
in England
France
perhaps in diplomatic squares
in Africa
and Asia
also in the
Anzac places
there will be some
marching
and many will salute
and we’ll officially remember
or in homes
the absences
that war
and war-like actions
they responded to
have made
we’ll tell stories
and we should
we’ll hear new parts
and oft-repeated
passages
and both are good
and sad for
reason
for the purpose
of our meeting
we’ll also celebrate
though maybe
not so far
that we forget
what we should recall
and have a flag for
and a photograph
whatever sort
of tableaux
with a little more
to say
this was our aunt
our uncle
our ancestors
or our parents
or our children
or
our neighbors
we lament
and also adulate
this day
c l couch
(the preacher preached from Lamentations and about Memorial Day today)
photo by Tanner Ross on Unsplash
Not Our Town
I don’t think
You think of it
The problems that you cause
That what’s your fault
It isn’t mine
And mine
Does not belong to you
We go the way
Of the world
So to say
Noise for noise
Anger for anger
What’s the end
Some kind of disaster
Unclimaxed
Which would be real
Lack of material
Resolution
One of us withdraws
As in leaves
The other lets it
Without
Resolution
Because it seems
We can do no better
In the world
Not in Gaza
Which is hardly fair
For comparison
Not in
Nothing like
Mister Wilder’s
Or
Our town
C L Couch
Photo by Monica Bourgeau on Unsplash
simply setting the scene
midsummer introit
a month from now
I guess
is
summer
or midsummer
by tradition
and assemblies
in the evening
with the fireflies
attending
and
berries
also in their time
afterward
for nourishment
‘til autumn
with better-known
celebrations
then
c l couch
photo by Padre_moovi on Unsplash
God Out
What shall we
Draw God into
Not that
It is too unsavory
Distasteful
Don’t you know
Not that
It would be unseemly
To have divinity
Involved
Even to know
Well
Not that
Either
It’s too ugly
And profane
And we think sex
Is involved
And not that
For it was murder
Yes
Between adults
But still
The wrong thing for a
God to see
And to be known
For participation
In such things
But
Yes
Well
God knows all
Sees all
Hears through everything
All walls
Even anything
We pull up for a barrier
And yes
God’s dealt
With murderers
As well as
Thieves
And liars
And
By the way
God knows everything
About sex
Even the aberrations
So
God
Could be involved here or
There
Which means
We’ll need new excuses
For God’s
Exclusion from
Our ugly troubles
C L Couch
Photo by Raghavendra V. Konkathi on Unsplash
formless supplication and God what shall I say to you but help like the Beatles I suppose or anyone inside a boat with water pooled and seeming to rise help and bring some rags and a life preserver the dry-land versions this time and I don’t know what that means and I hope that that’s all right praying for formless things nonetheless to assist because I know you’re not a genie and this is not a trick with a lamp or the words for what I want to get them right or be fooled in what I’m getting or not and I like the raven or the spider in the story but you are not a trickster though you allowed tricks upon yourself with a kind of king for a day and then the awful truth falling on you by the end in a darkened noisy afternoon I’m sorry I’m simply asking for your help and in the grace of it not knowing what that help should be and does it count lack of specificity and I think it might c l couch photo by Martin Brechtl on Unsplash
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