walk to freedom
the Underground Railroad
there is an image of Lincoln
and of
a burgeoned tree in
front of the house
I borrow
and sometimes I wonder at these
the basement is connected and apart
a dirt-floored room with
a further alcove
also
rude but accessible
unnoticed and attached
and could there be a place of hiding
in this place
and
did it work
and are there untold stories of
escape
and respite on the way
to much more
lasting
freedom
that with Confederates occupying
the region could afford
or
were there failures
time to time
and no one got out
to live
except to go back south and
lack of life
to breathe the mottled air
humidity with
captivity
even the molecules would not be free
but paid for through blood released
and
freedom kept
inside
c l couch
photo by 85mm.ca on Unsplash
"Toronto Blue Jay Black Juneteenth Celebration"
Toronto, Canada
published on June 19, 2025
tropical
not really
I’m simply thinking of the song
that folk like me
who
don’t care for big heat
are thinking of
that’s all
today is a matter for endurance
which
somehow I think cheats
the gift
of the day
and isn’t there more
I should do than
simply
get by
moving slowly like
reptiles after lunch
or us
except
and except
the reptiles look for even hotter
blank spaces
say
on rocks
by which to sleep and risk
the afternoon
sorry
lizard and snake folk
I’m
wanting air-conditioning
that right now doesn’t work
in
my poor place
and otherwise to lie in the coolest place
I know
or
might fashion
and so
a wish you might not want
a cooler day
bless us
everyone
c l couch
(it was certainly cold enough in Dickensian winter and there, I’m whining for a fictive place and season
“Heat Wave” a song written by Irving Berlin)
photo by Chris Abney on Unsplash
a smallish lay prognosis
after writing feeling ill
1
so
it’s an ending
to some wondering
and
like the song
to wander
all the while
and is there anything to say
to do
I’m thinking
drink more water
then
promote
to juice
2
I guess I should say I’ve been very sick for a while. It’s not heart disease, though heart disease complicates everything else. For instance, what had been prescribed for me had to be taken back, with apologies, once it was discovered that my heart or heart treatment can’t have that medication. Anyway, it seems I’ve been posting, though I told myself I could take time off plus, in fact, the posts have been rather scattered in content, sort of (more so) like parts of my taking part in the blog go scattered on good days.
I might be past the nadir though I hardly feel the zenith. But I thought I should share with you what’s going on.
3
and
yes
I know it’s worse out there
in so many places
and I’m not running for my life
from fire
or when it’s worse
what we’re doing to each other
and
I don’t always get the balance
to care for
a fallen world
and deal in fallen me
i
think too much to choose
rather than embrace
the paradox
of
dealing with the flesh and
dealing in the world
that has its flesh
as well
and so
should not everything relate
everything belong
c l couch
(the phrase has been around, and Richard Rohr wrote a book called Everything Belongs, so you know—and William Blake writes of embracing contraries, that phrase or term becoming the title of a book by Peter Elbow)
photo by mrjn Photography on Unsplash
the procedure if not an end of diagnosis
through the pain
through what the heart allows
urgent care
some good was done and
I was treted well
with
nothing new but good guesses about
dehydration and how awful is
the atmosphere of
where I live at
present
my guess about the atmosphere and no one
disagreed
and after rides and therapy supplies from
friends
and something of
the usual visit
I was returned
maybe
to sleep this time and hope for anyodyne
out of the help I have
received
if
an uncertain diagnosis beyond
hydration
plus change the atmosphere
c l couch
day after the worst night
(a little more versicle)
photo by Zongnan Bao on Unsplash
more of an entry than a poem
sorry
hot
no sleep
no rest
since we can rest consciously, I think
no food
a little water
watching the left margin
lean toward the right
on the page
that is
the screen
it’s alredy too hot for summer
and
by meteorology
the season’s only started
then by
the
calendar there are several days to go
roughly two and one half weeks and
why
is it so hot right now
past the heat of the day
too
well
fluids will help
some good
and I’ve had both
and soon
to take
some pills
and apply patience
the heat will peak
more
so
it’s the ongoing matters for which
patience to apply
I guess we know that hardly
anything new
for wisdom though I recall
now
once a conversation with a friend in schooldays
of a while
and
I was told of a hard family situation and my
friend’s role in that
then how
the patience used ‘til then was almost
gone
and what
to do now for such a favor
to which I impulsively replied
again
no real wisdom
but
that at this moment is when patience is really required and
not so much before
which made a
difference
and
could make a difference now except
I still can’t credit
much the
source
c l couch
photo by blayne spires on Unsplash
the flower you may know (I wouldn’t) as impatiens; I picked for a pun, since I don’t know of a flower called patience (hah); impatiens grows in colors more than Christmas
tomorrow, a post briefer and more versicle
leavetaking
God
be with us
‘til we meet
again
and there is more to say
but what we mean
we know
in asking the creator to be with us
to be with you
from
whom I’m parting
that safety go with you
and
in your better aims
success
and I guess for me as well
that I should
keep the faith
with which
I’m asking
to be present
suffuse in
our
relationship
c l couch
(“God be with you” appears in Scripture, in fact of various traditions, and is the first line of a Christian hymn; “God be with us” is the meaning of Immanuel)
photo by Sebastian Enrique on Unsplash
well, there are two poems here, the first I wrote on how I was (am) inside, the second as an extension, prompt, based on the photograph—so it’s a little journey through words and image and more words and hopefully acceptable to you
ergo sum
what freedom do we have
I want it
and a little more
which
is why I drive to no places in particular
but
to take in the view
pretend it’s clearer air
and always new
discovery
exploring
better than an armchair
if only really
not
so much
(clc)
photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash
“Morning Hikes”
[Morning Hikes
to quote the photographer]
honestly
I’m wondering
if
one is holding back the other
preventing straying
yet
also perhaps initiative
the insight of one’s own
to move
to fine
more
than what it tacit
agreed upon
then
is
someone holding back another
or is the first one affirming
that
the other comes along
and this hand-
holding
is the gentlest of cues
c l couch
the trumpet call
prompted by “Subway Music”
and why not in New York
the biggest place
and
a small place
beneath
an open space near
a train
and if hell should be at all down there
maybe
the near trumpet call
will harrow hell
then
rise
to be heard by the rest
with all of us or
each of us
or in loving partnerships or groups
decide for faith
as if no one would not
and yet some
might not
c l couch
. . . 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
1 Corinthians 15
photo by Ryan Loughlin on Unsplash
Subway Music
Manhattan, New York
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
clcouch123 
Recent Comments