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Blessings of Lights in Darkness

(x = space)

x

x

Blessings of Lights in Darkness

(appreciation of a Gentile toward the Jewish family)

x

Somewhere in Advent

Hanukkah begins

x

Sundown tomorrow,

I believe

x

Eight nights of blue

With silver lights

That dedicate

The temple

From our enemies

x

They’re gone:

We don’t have to think

About them

x

Now, there’s chocolate

And treats

In games

And gifts,

Small delights

And big ones for the heart

x

Anticipation

Practice

Family

x

My ignorance

Like ignorance

Has walls;

I’d rather be inside

The spirit of redemption

And occasion,

The community

x

The relief in having realized

Somber times

x

The pleasure now,

The fun

Of shalom

x

Eight days

Of miracle,

Of remembrance and the meaning that

Creation is in food

Also in candle lights

And in each of us

Singly

And specially together

Now

x

The one who saves is blessed

And offers blessing

And is the one

As one

Who provides seriously

And playfully as well

x

Is here

Beyond the count of days

And nights

But who is here

Inside these eight,

All the intimate hours

As we draw near to them

To have,

To share

x

Next year in Jerusalem

Then

And now with family

x

From the source of blessing,

Bless

And

Keep you, friends

x

C L Couch

x

x

Call of the Light

Photo by Robert Zunikoff on Unsplash

x

0

Forever Invitation, RSVP

(x = space)

x

x

Forever Invitation, RSVP

x

There is a table

You know this

The right shape

With many chairs

All are welcome

We have technology

For turns

For clarity

And intention

For a planet

x

All are guests

The host might seem

Off somewhere

Though is returning

With angels

And tidings

x

We might have to work

Mainly with us

And pray in evenings

Those who pray

While also working on

Best thoughts

And hopefulness

As gifts like creation

Even resources

To discuss

Arrange

And practice

For a future

A humanity

x

n. b.

x

Yes

And at the final conclave,

There will be

A sky command

For snacks

And meals

For needs

For celebration

Everywhere

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Trude Jonsson Stangel on Unsplash

x

2

Brittney Griner

(x = space)

x

x

Brittney Griner

x

I’m glad she’s back

Aren’t you?

Return the others, please—and

We should say

You may have your own

x

We don’t like each other now

Except maybe in passing

On the street

On the subway

In the store

Real people

Real person to real person

We pick each other up

In small ways all the time

x

More real than politics

That makes a war

Forgets the real people

But counts numbers

Of them

Plays them on a map

And in a mortal dream

Of conquest,

Acquisition

To rationalize

Before the rest

Of temporal authority

That needs speeches

Bites for press releases

Justifying

All those people

In the street

And the street

No longer,

Well,

No longer there

Picking up each other

That we no longer do

Because we were made numbers

Then like gum on penciled math

The strategy erased

x

C L Couch

x

x

After Release from Russian Custody, Focus Is on Providing Brittney Griner and Her Family Additional Support, Officials Say

Story by Aya Elamroussi • 6h ago

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/after-release-from-russian-custody-focus-is-on-providing-brittney-griner-and-her-family-additional-support-officials-say/ar-AA157twN

x

Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

Disruptive

x

1

Superlative Thursday

(x = space)

x

x

Superlative Thursday

x

The caffeine’s worked

A little

Now what to say?

I hope this Thursday’s

Grand for you

You could stand some grandness

As a gift

Don’t question

Anything deserving

Simply have the goodness

Offer oblations, if you must

Or find something

Good to drink

On your own

With a friend

Have an ordinary Thursday

That is to say

Extraordinary

Go between the world’s words

Or these

Where there’s rest

Breathing without agenda

Have peace instead or anything

You want here

Then move

You might find

You’re a little better at moving

Make it Friday

Yay for Friday that

In the culture’s

Easier

x

And if it’s not Thursday

Make this happen

Today

Even if it’s Monday

(ugh)

Even if it’s Friday

(yay)

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Maxim Berg on Unsplash

x

1

Someone Said a Pearl for a Harbor

(x = space)

x

x

Someone Said a Pearl for a Harbor

(7 December 1941, an invocation)

x

Whom shall we honor

Today?

The citizens of Hawaii

Who died then

For strategy

On two sides

x

The crews

Of small submarines

That tried to get through

And sank somewhere

Close by

x

Mostly, the soldiers

We should honor

For the loss of life,

By the by material

That could (by the by)

Cost a war

x

Honor convictions?

How shall they be

Dispersed?

On either side,

There might be recognition

Even under actions

Worse for horror and

A lack of declaration

x

I don’t know,

There were people everywhere:

Many termed the enemy

Who were not in any way

An enemy

Taken to camps

Frankly

For looking different

(I say exotic and

of the USA—the

ubiquitous they

say the difference

lay in espionage,

so we became

the creepers

and the judges);

We hadn’t done so

To the urban Germans here

Or in our suburbs,

On the farms

Or to the Italians

Though I wouldn’t be surprised

To hear

They weren’t treated well

In the environs

Of duration

x

We sent to camps

Then tried not to think

Some more about

Walled and shadowed camps

Turning into

Many of our own

For racist reasons;

We could have tasked

The FBI, the OSS

Instead

For their investigations

x

There is a danger

That the battleship memorial

Might slide into the water,

As it placed one way or another

Over tombs

Of flesh and rust

x

I’d hate for that happen,

For we need remembrance

x

We need to remember

Many things:

God and our conscience

Make it so

x

Recalling sudden loss of life,

A shining, lethal campaign of

Surprise

x

Oh, we should be careful:

Watch our shores,

Keep our early systems

Early,

Though we need no longer

Look to the right and left

For enemies

Since looking right and left

Shall land on every one

Of us

x

And what’s left of united?

x

My families

Fought inside this war

That we remember;

Some could still

Tell stories

That tend to

Try the young to hear

x

On this day remember, then—those

Who could see and hear

And taste and touch,

Who suddenly

Lost all the senses

Along with mortal life,

The joy of daily living

In a paradise

We tried to covet

For a paradise

x

Farewell, we may salute

And say

All those

Who cannot call out

Except for memory,

Call out

For each other

In the fire

And the smoke

x

And the few remaining

Now

Who would

Can tell us

Of the hours

And the aftermath

x

Times and

Experiences

That

Soldiers, sailors, flyers—on

The ground, on deck, or in the air—

Mechanics and KP,

Bystanders

Try not to talk about

So much

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Kyle Chicoine on Unsplash

Birds by the Bay

Ocean Shores, United States

x

2

A Count of Days

(x = space)

x

x

A Count of Days

x

The Sabbath comes

And in ten days

And counting more

Is Hanukkah

Lights and chocolate

Latkes and other gifts

Of earth

And from each other

x

Blue and silver

Days and nights

The nights show off the lights

That show the miracle

When we got our temple

Back

To find it desecrated

And no fuel for lamps

We lighted them anyway

And they burned eight days

For us

And for our faith

x

We’re not perfect

We need to keep commandments,

After all

That remind us

And our neighbors

And the world

But we own miracles as well

As the menorah

And the gifts

And the food

And the blue nights

Shall show us

As the first time

The grace and love

And strength of God

For us

In faith

And you

In yours

If we may say,

Welcome to our festival

x

C L Couch

9th of Kislev (after sundown), 5783

x

x

Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash

x

2

Frances Perry

(x = space)

x

x

Frances Perry

x

Today is my grandmother’s

Birthday

She made it to 92

Not bad in my family

She thought Excedrin for pain

And a banana once a day

Were good for long life,

Otherwise living each day

With whatever

x

She had agendas—don’t

We all—but

She might have been

A simple person

Driven by impulse

That life in the Depression drove

Also by other, better life

Secured

After

x

She was the one I knew

Her husband was a good man

Who died when I was

A teen

And everyone was gone by then

Now the parents’ generation, too,

For some time now

x

My siblings

Have had to forge their anchors

And to cast them on their own

In hopeful waters

x

I’d say they’ve done well,

While I record

Some things

About them all

About us all

x

Remember to

Set down your stories,

Too

x

C L Couch

x

x

“Migrant family from Arkansas playing hill-billy songs. Farm Security Administration emergency migratory camp. Calipatria, California” 1939

By Dorothea Lange – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4450129

x

3

Christmas Campaign

(x = space)

x

x

Christmas Campaign

x

Christmas

Is a month away

Precisely

In this year of 2022

Good timing for Black Friday

I don’t understand

They’re only things

And each other’s company

The presents

x

Not to be maudlin

Or mawkish

Sometimes the truth

Must come with syrup

That makes it sweet,

At least

x

I wouldn’t know

How to deal with

Great expectations

Of receiving things

Rather than

Only ourselves

x

There could be meals

Recipes

Desserts

Special drinks

Coffee

We could defend each other

Don’t let people drive

Until they’re ready

Turning out spare rooms

(Spare Oom in Narnia

with a War Drobe)

x

I don’t mean a campaign

And I do

Christmas is love

More than possession

Though there’s nothing wrong

In wanting things

And owning them

And if there are dangers,

I think

You know what they are

x

A month from now

Merry Christmas

It doesn’t have to be sectarian, for

Maybe part

Of Christmas love

Is diversity

And the widest possible

Welcoming

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Andrej Lišakov on Unsplash

x

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, specifically The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

x

1

Earthquake in Indonesia

(x = space)

x

x

Earthquake in Indonesia

x

Pray for the souls

Of victims

Dead and living

And the

In-between

We don’t understand the hundreds

Because we are not there

We’ve seen pictures

These are not enough

What would we see for real?

What would we smell?

What would we taste?

What would we be allowed

To touch

And whom?

And all the misery

We’d hear

From the keening of the living

And the demons overhead

And underground

That scream a victory

x

Nature is corrupted

We’re claiming the win

x

C L Couch

x

x

Boy, 6, pulled alive from wreckage of Indonesia earthquake

Story by Masrur Jamaluddin • 1h ago

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/boy-6-pulled-alive-from-wreckage-of-indonesia-earthquake/ar-AA14sWsL

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Photo by Chris Zhang on Unsplash

x

1

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