(x = space)
x
x
The God of Editing
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I looked it up
The plural form
Typed it so
The red line remained
Then I breathed on it
The red line went away
What
x
What kind of cooperation
Might exist
And serve
Between divinity
Electron understanding
And me
x
A muse took pity
On my breathing
Or the computer took its time
Somehow
And then the timing
Because maybe God is funny
And has a time of it
Messing
With our loves
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C L Couch
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x
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(x = space)
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x
Hanukkah Blue
x
Hanukkah
Blue
Blue of certain
Stars
Pretty blue
Thoughtful
Magic
Works its way inside
Protective shells
To say
This is right
This is good
Blue for the miracle
Blue for peace
That should be
No one’s miracle
For happening
For real
Everyone
Upon the Earth
In every season
Once achieved
That point
From
Now on
Blue for jazz
Blue for me
Blue for you
Blue on
Beauty
All the stars
Starting on one star
For
Seasons’
Greetings
Blue on
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C L Couch
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Photo by Zhifei Zhou on Unsplash
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(x = space)
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West Newton Township in my county
x
a child has died
been killed
by accident
we trust
train tracks
speed and mass
of the bulk
that must move upon
x
and my heart is hurt
and is not yours
it is
I know
the child is ours
our cosmic possession
we must return
to God
from a faulty Earth
with misdirected people
on it
x
would that we say
and more than say
the child
must be safe
x
no blame around
but all around
this is a sad equality
and now
inclusion
for the mourning
and resolve
to keep our children better
so they go to God
at
the proper time
that God would rather
allow
say
in ninety years
or so
x
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Cumberland County village mourns child killed in mid-morning train accident
WALNUT BOTTOM – Tragedy struck this little village in western Cumberland County Thursday when a Norfolk Southern freight train struck and killed a 15-month-old boy who’d wandered onto the tracks that pass by the rear of his family’s backyard.
The boy was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival by ambulance at UPMC Carlisle Hospital.
Cumberland County Coroner Charley Hall declared the case an accidental death, but said an autopsy will be conducted next week to confirm a precise cause of death. Pennsylvania State Police said they are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the accident.
The boy’s identity was not immediately released by authorities, but neighbors and acquaintances of the family said he was the youngest of four children.
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photo by Andrew Karn on Unsplash
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(x = space)
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two more brief poems today
x
x
Black Branches
x
The squirrel ran criss-cross
Up the branches
x
Zig-zag ladder
I certainly had not noticed
Upon
Looking out
Into the dark-grey day
x
The squirrel’s smart
Good legs
The tail helps
x
And the creature’s
Totally
Impulsively involved with nature
To be so in tune
With all vibrations
x
Must be astounding
To have so much
Ordinary
Magic
x
x
8 to try
x
Hanukkah tonight
starts
8 days for a miracle
x
what if
we try this for our
universal selves
x
8 days for peace
before they arrive
that is
something
outside ourselves
to judge
x
pretend
there is a deadline
x
find out
how far we get
then let it stay
for real
beyond 8
you know
as long as we can
or may
x
8 and more
as if the world
were at stake
which
you know
it is
x
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Photo by Mila Tovar on Unsplash
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C L Couch
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(x = space)
x
x
or does it hurt to ask
x
I wrote a lot this morning
was it worth it
all of it
should I ask
it was something
something to choose from
or I’ll have to write some more
something timely
and to share
we’ll see
I shouldn’t ask
but rather keep going
using up electrons
paying for energy
electrically
and bodily
electric bodily
x
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photo by taner ardalı on Unsplash
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(x = space)
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x
currentcy
x
the war resumes
and other things have happened
Sandra Day O’Connor
news of fires
and a shooting
in my area
(we have both uncommonly
as if
ordinary)
but the war
and the war
and the skirmishes
quite literally
in other places
and the slayings
in the spirits
whose only perpetrator
is the hate
becoming means
as we wish our strangers
and our neighbors
nothing good
for our own pain
x
and does hate laugh
above the world
while agents
of itself
are storming down
and shall the doves of peace
protest blow
while human agencies
get soaked
act on the rain
whose wind is somehow hot
ignoring what persists
upon the branches
the cooing of
a softened sadness
unbittered
calling still
for peace
upon the earth
we walk upon
we hate upon
below
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Photo by Freysteinn G. Jonsson on Unsplash
as far as
as near as
a dove can convict
x
blue face
look at the blue face
do we ever get that close
and the feathers for a crown
as peacocks have
too
this is an impressive bird
no wonder Franklin wanted it
rather than eagles
for a nation’s emblem
c l couch
this was my response to Grace’s response to the prompt she received from Melissa’s blog (whew); Grace suggested I send it along to Melissa’s blog via posting it here (whew)
Grace’s work, https://graceofthesun.com/gobble-gobble/?sn=c&c=76158#comment-76158
thanks, Grace! thanks, Melissa!—Christopher
Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash
(the photo here is not the prompt; please use the link above, that is, from Melissa’s blog; read Grace’s response as well because it’s enthused and endearing)
(x = space)
x
x
In a Few Days
(Hanukkah)
x
It’s Friday
Lord
The start of
Sabbath
And in a few days
Hanukkah
x
I’ll be ready
‘Cause
It will happen
Anyway
x
Eight days
Of oil
Matching need
With miracle
Inside
The recleaned
Temple home
x
Where we are home
Once a week
Once a life
Next year in Jerusalem
x
We will have
Our meals
Our chocolates
And our gifts
x
We will be stressed
And yet
All shall go well
x
While we remember
Everything
It took
And takes
To have us here
x
Hard-fought
Hard-won
Keeping festivals
And seasons
x
C L Couch
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Photo by Robert Zunikoff on Unsplash
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(x = space)
x
x
The Today Show
(30 November)
x
What shall I say
Today
An in-between day
Neither this
Nor that
Not hallmarked
In a certain way
Though some saints’ days
To be sure
x
There are so many saints
Inside the calendar
x
I have looked it up
And Bing cooperated
On the home
Page
That it’s
Saint Andrew’s Day
The apostle
Brother to Peter
Also a fisher
Said to have gone
Apostle-lized in Scotland
Who went for it
In blue and white
And a big
Terrible X
For crucifixion
(now on the British
flag)
x
I’m sure there are lesser
Saints
(so to say)
Who have this day as well
Sometimes the better entryway
For modesty
To faith
x
Maybe we should check
Tomorrow
But God’s blessings on Saint Andrew’s Day
For the saint
And all of us
More earnest
Saints
Or ersatz
Saints
Beloved
For show but
Try-to-be
(and sometimes trying)
Like
Littlest angels
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C L Couch
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Photo by Luke Paris on Unsplash
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clcouch123 
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