(x = space)
x
x
Beatitudo
x
Where did this quiet
Come from
With the light angling inside
Yellow for benediction?
It is a gift
Of spring’s first day
It is happenstance
I don’t care
I’m thankful
For the quiet
And the colors
And the benediction I’m
Taking these to be
Thanking the one who blesses
Everything
In creating
And renewing
Like green rising from brown
Made and remade
And by the way
A gift of oxygen
For us
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Chetan Kolte on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
monday protest
x
get up
listen to the noise
and go
and this is how it starts
x
a day
in the modern world
x
no,
thank you
iI’ll stay here
in the drab place
and time
x
of dark and cold
of sleep
and safety
well
x
i won’t grow up
not i
x
if you must leave
i’ll stay
x
c l couch
x
photo by eduardo mallmann on unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Future Perfect
x
What is that, Father?
The child asks,
Pointing
Like accusation
x
That is a gun, the
Father says
x
Over the mantel
Perched
By law
x
But, observes the child,
It’s falling apart;
I can barely tell the shape
Of it
x
Yes,
Father replies,
And that is the way
Of all guns now,
Now that we’ve grown
To take
Care of each other
And put the guns
Aside
And, as we have,
Reminders
x
Later in the day,
Mother enters
And has news
From work:
x
The assembly made the choice
At last
To take them down,
To put up other tokens,
Totems, symbols,
What have you
What have us
Instead
x
And so
The gun is taken down,
Parts swept off the mantel
And
For a while
The peaceful emptiness there
Pervades
While the family
Talks
About what to put there next
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Patrick Metzdorf on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
a day like no other
(16 March)
x
we had our Ides
tomorrow is Saint Patrick’s
famous days
while
this day is ordinary
formless
without expectation
to do with what
we will
thank goodness
x
it is a Lenten day
for seasons
and liturgic calculation
and it’s important
as a day in forty days
for thinking
and for faith
for faithful thinking
x
but otherwise
it is alone
between two famous days
so different
that we cannot call today
a bridge
it simply is as is
x
and ready
for whatever
we might
unfamously do
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Adli Wahid on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Everywhere
(IWD 2023)
x
It’s International Women’s Day
While in some parts of the world
It’s nearly over
And it’s over
I wonder what happened?
What nations adopted
Legislation
That affirms,
Almost absurdly,
The humanhood of women?
x
What programs might have taken place
By groups who want
To announce
Or better yet
To shake the world
With a civil earthquake
To bring tectonic change
Into culture
x
What artists and art groups gave us new ways
To see and hear
And touch the way
To change?
And what God waits
To intervene
When the threats increase and wholeness
Is defined
Only in part
For some?
Better yet, let’s intervene ourselves
x
Let’s push on tyrannies
Until pushed over
And things are built
New places
And new institutions,
A world that’s femininely organized,
Which is to say
The most human
Of all worlds
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash
Salha Khan, a Kurdish hero. Statue in Erbil. سالحە خان ١٩٣٢ – ٢٠٠١ لە هەولێر #kurdistanregion #erbil #هەولێر
x
(x = space)
x
x
meeting God
x
how deep the ocean
and shall we ever know it
how far the sky
beyond the blue
and empty black
and shall we reach what’s next
and the last
x
what’s inside
and shall we understand
to fix the organs
and blood flow
between them
achieve perfection
or much longer life
at least
to have the body
cooperating with itself
x
and where is energy
and will
to do so
it is there
many serve with it
and so will fix things
and explore
and reach until
everything is reached
and there is God
waiting
not to say
why so long
but to say
well done
x
we go on
to what’s next
to discover
and those behind
who sponsor
and who wait
even to love
those leaving
and generally
the people
on the world
on new worlds
inhabiting
and to have
more and more
the better lives
fed and clothed and watered
steeped in art
to make the generation
bright and beautiful
shall do the exploring
next
x
with God
after God
quiet God
maybe with a part of God
to keep
to save
when necessary
x
otherwise
in the imposed Edenic way
to leave us
as it’s been
on our own
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Magic Acts
x
The day is
Here
And I am glad
And it’s a mess
And I
Am glad
x
Snow would vie with rain
Ice with streets
That are only wet
The wintry mix
They say
That sounds like salad
In a bag
I could select from bags
In the store
x
Thank you for
Messy days
Indeterminate;
I think I see
A patch of yellow and of green
On the tree out back
And now it’s gone,
That is,
The patch of light
And not
The tree
x
Yes, it is
Strange magic
Or I think it is
And I have a movie on
That I barely see or hear
Because
The day itself
Is more compelling,
And I can keep the background
Images
And especially the sounds
For the distraction
Of tinnitus
x
While looking better
At the black and brown
And white
And listening for wind
That pushes everything
x
A moving day outside
With patches
Now and then
Of yellow and of green,
Brighter parts
And shaded
While the sun and moon
Trade places
x
And is that not
(sorry,
kinescope
and nickelodeon)
The more compelling
Magic
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
haiku
x
1
slow nature inside
plants grow in unsure seasons
ours darkness or light
x
2
unsurely outside
winter by a calendar
summer another
x
3
creature on a branch
cardinal or squirrel set
then fly or skitter
x
C L Couch
x
x
(like those earlier, these haiku can relate to each other, though I doubt there is a rule about connection; or each haiku may stand alone, which I guess is more traditional)
x
Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Open Sesame
x
An easy day
Because I’ve made it
A combining of
Forgetfulness
With compromise
As virtues
x
The pleasure in a cup of coffee
With a story
For companionship
x
If willing,
A companion
Who forgets and compromises, too
x
There we’ll reach and leave the summit
Of the day
x
Tomorrow
I or we might have another
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash
Sunflower in the Sky
x
clcouch123 
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