imagining heatwave accommodation
(3 poems)
having a green day
when I think on Robert Louis Stevenson
his verses for children
I imagine a pastel illustration
pale colors of
children at play
there is a swing
which might mean there a book
I’m thinking of
with the picture at
the front
or with
the title
a green-bound book
it seems
though what other color
to represent the liveliness
of play
a green day
washing the gloom away for
children with
a swing to play on
and
with care
summer accommodation
and shall we say
let’s have
a day
get out there
if
shaded from the sun
so that only the light of life gets
through
an appreciate of the colors
paled
beholding all the surfaces
the textures
sights and sounds
things to smell and taste
leaving
what
why
to hear in the surfaces and textures
too
and course through the hours
with a purpose
do our jobs
then toward earned play
(if
a child then with
the understanding that it is
the child’s
job)
to have some trusted company
trustworthy enough
for jobs
and play
a fullness in
the day
accrued regardless of intention
but
but the mind and body worked
into completion
then
the fullness of the night
with rest
while third-shifters
must go
the other way
to
have the filling hours
should we get there
I recall
a picture of a fountain
at La Alhambra
adding imagination
with
the wish to be there
if a moment
to let the spray strike me
the lavishness of
water
for play
in a dry land
how many tour
while I can only hope each time’s
a
treasure
c l couch
photo by Sebastian Yepes on Unsplash
like inhalation-exhalation in a day
the eternals
breathing
an accomplishment
that mostly our conscious selves
have nothing to
do with
which
is good
or we’d suffocate by distraction
God bless autonomics
though
they were God’s idea in the first place
like
species diversity that course through
the multiplicity of kinds of
media on and of
the Earth
on
or in land
above
below the water
in the sky and as a by the way to feed
our inspirations out of
flying
and then in the vaporous places between
and
who knows maybe dimensions
too
our own multiverse
an interplay of quanta differences
could be helped
by
canalwork of blackholes
(all
sizes)
all of which to say
we might barely know the wonders layered
large or
infinitesimal that sounds close to
infinity
an eternity of
animated
animating choices if
well
fourteen billion years or so
[from the window]
yellow on the trunk
leaves dark green in shade by blue
angled panes look black
there is some green wind
behind it all that is blue
ether wanderland
something old or new
borrowed and the something blue
quasi una fantasia
thinking summer’s not
so bad
until dust and heat
blow in from the street
and I wish for cold of fall
and
could it come
by miracle
tomorrow
and better still tonight
I have some plans that hot
are melting like the water on
the witch
who
ironically has asked before how about
a little fire
well
it’s not bad in that
I am not burning
with flames
anyway
but still I’d like a similar distinction
to the comedy
if sardonic
in that
this one is not for burning
(The Lady’s Not for Burning by Christopher Fry)
things that don’t matter
melted ice cream
if you can get some
or
it’s only on the sides
with firm-enough substance
in
the middle
yelling
unless it’s about traffic
and the thing that’s big and stumbling
uncontrolled in
your way
war
except that the effects are
hyper-
real
as they are horrifying
institutions that grow beyond
their purpose
to serve and instead require if not
demand
serving of them
a wilted flower that matters
but that as detritus
may
feed the next generation
from
the Earth
things that speak to some kind
of annihilation that
be purposed
like the wilting
or
without decent aim
like
the warring
effects to the side
I’m hungry but not hungry
and I try failingly
not
to eat for boredom
but the medication gets
to me
and my digestive systems cries
unfun and
something like how dare you
quaint salvation
(Sunday or Saturday or Friday or another)
today’s for God
but
then
distractions of the devil
ah
we didn’t think so sly
to feed excess as the virtue
thus quietly destroying
or to render
quaint
virtue by its sponsor
truth
which is not
to say
the sabbath should be punishing
quite contrary
the day is for the positives
of
rest for
re-knitting of one’s own
plus
good for sharing
easy play
reflection on
the life one wants
the lives we all
want
a grip
I write in the dark
I guess
I think it’s less distracting
but
(the teacher
shudders)
I have the TV on
and must confess that’s
how I’ve done
a
lifetime of homework
though now the noise and images
are balancing
tinnitus
with insanity
too late
to get the condition
well
impairment
to hope for adaptation
so my daily invitation to go
mad
and trying to create as an alternative
though I hear
craziness might be
required
by great tradition
for
the art
some progress
how much time is left
and
how shall it go
the challenges accumulating
the ones
overcome
the others that add hellish
layers
to
the shell of
consciousness
free movement through
and
through
and when the crises go inside
as if to stay
and years go by
and
breathing’s labored in
its ways
and also all that means
so time
gets harder to go through
much
less command
while maybe years are lessons
that so much control
is either
an illusion or
best kept by someone
from
the start
wherever
and
yes
divine always
the first noel
(Christmas in July)
the angel did not say
but God
to God
and the host
let’s make things
and
by things that must be good
and so the days for
and in
the rings of creation
and all moves in orbits
of creation
the first song
imbued with sacredness
being sung
by
the sacred
source with perhaps more
supernal voices
joining
then comes the new age of noel
the second song to
sing
that after so much time
of sad and tired revolution
more like
a civil war within oneself
drawn
into partisanship
there should be hope for peace
and God
to God will buy that
for you
so we might have purchased
ransomed
dealings with the devil
freedom purchased
like our own
created
created once again
as if Eden recalled
the angel with the sword
finally
permitted to stand
down
then we
as prophesied
might rise
c l couch
photo by Geronimo Giqueaux on Unsplash
youngling
it is a young nation
though already acts tired
not
that the athletics aren’t impressive
less
investment in demagoguery
which might seem
energetic
though in reality
has an enervating effect
don’t we want
to be
this nation anymore
all
the sacrifice
for good and for ill
pushing natives west
and killing them
with ease
and by the way
once they saved our lives
and then
enslavement
easy
and if not easy certainly
ongoing
buying and selling of people
and then the privilege
to treat the purchase
miserably
against a definition of humanity
still
we had good ideas
some that some said made common sense
ancient of days
and new
ideals of democracy
and a belief in representation
though
governing of ourselves
we
could believe in balance
so much land
to destroy
so much to preserve
and so parameter
everyone
we can’t say we’re a good nation
not with evils and temptations following
we can’t go back
do not think that though maybe
forward
to new basics
we have a chance
we have improved
in fact
there is much that’s likable
and
on the board are all those good principles
that nobility could not afford
but
without that
we can
today
and toward
the present that we have
with old and new belief
in the future of us
all
c l couch
photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash
maple rebellion
Canada
that won its nationhood
via
a “silent revolution”
has problems
too
with assets
as all nations know these for
ourselves
also such beauty
in
nature used
better preserved
with so many groups
first people
with
the rest
following by settlement
enormous
a gateway to so much
exploring
and
developing
with great strength
in hope
and might show a peaceful way
someday
to match the beginning
of itself
for itself and
a model
then for all
O for invocation
the spirit
in
first people
in all the provinces
all people
and so
we stand on guard for thee
Canada
its own
and
friend and ally
c l couch
on Canada Day
photo by Sergey Pesterev on Unsplash
more or less a cycle about the summer heat (and never satisfied)
ashen
rain would be nice
and cooler weather
or
rain and keep it
tropical
for compromise
we need rain
I need rain
I keep on asking
don’t I
sorry to be a pest
but it’s the dust outside
from jackhammering
and
cigarettes
all by the workers
whom I don’t want
to begrudge
anything
having work
getting paid
sponsoring their lives
it’s the detritus
I suppose
what is left over
that I’m breathing
after the job
lean in
lean into it
some things work like
that
work better
with the angle and assertion
but for some
things
such as fast sailing
lean away
and go no other
angles matter
a direction sometimes
matters
oh how happy we’ll be
to breathe in ocean air
something
about
the chemicals reacting
I am sure
but
it feels good
regardless
of the science or
religion
not
to say don’t believe
in either
frankly
but
to relish in inhaling God has
given
and we dissect
if it’s only air
By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
You and I, you and I, oh how happy we'll be
hot
how does it go
it’s too darn hot
not
in the desert
mind you
though it is a dry heat
I hear
and have
experienced
funny
how one thinks
the desert is just fine
when
there are things
of course
it will do to me
and
you
if we’re not careful
and that depends
on how much intrusion
humans
have made with stores
and
gasoline
cold water
and snacks
meaning
thank goodness for
Seven-Eleven
where
it’s hot
sing
too darn hot
song by Cole Porter
when we wish
yes
it could rain
and then rain
and then there be a flood
with
the demon sidling
what do you
want
you’re never satisfied
the irony
of
what we need
and
dare we ask a genie
one of the djinn
as a trickster
or might we trust
better angels
and overall
divinity
to presume on our behalf
discretion
and
parameters
in other words
rain
please
enough rain
please
c l couch
photo by Anna Goncharova on Unsplash
it could rain
and why not so that
after
we might breathe better
the dust from the work on the street
tamped
down some if even washed away
the heatwave crash a little on
the shore
of our discomfort
though another wave
sigh
should form out there
so it’s a simple
prayer
help and amen
c l couch
photo by MARIOLA GROBELSKA on Unsplash
first full days
the day
twenty-four
and slightly less the light
from
day before
new season in transition
to the next
already
as our placement of the calendar
has set
and should we move
the season’s
markings as was done
still is
else-where
or when
so that midsummer
say
is the middle of the summer
and
so around
coda
the wars
certainly are
the vastly greater issue
with
especially cessation
come to mind
and
maybe
to the table
and there’s the warming of the Earth
that’s down to us
regardless
how we count
better to have seasons
in
whatever way
that are
redemptive by our ownership
cooler
how about all and
everyone
by our strategies
and practices
c l couch
from the solstice
photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash
soul power
let us break bread and
drink
wine together
breaking hate for whatever
reason
we saw justified
wine as blood
to know that blood is poured
and
has been poured
and except
by the one must be
bled no
longer for the rest
to say today
and
how
shall we rejoin
(or if
rejoin)
tomorrow
if
we could
remember on our
knees
in faith
to the one
and then in service
also
to each other
then
that we study war no more
but
let peace prevail and
a feast
by love
by love
tempered by wisdom as
mercy tempers
justice
unafraid
overcome
if afraid
still overcome
c l couch
for Juneteenth
photo by Ian Kiragu on Unsplash
gray day haiku
I don’t know if when
days don’t come so featureless
I touch relief of sun
gray day without arcs
no cloud-lines with interest
could wake to bright day
our moods by weather
we can do better by this
don’t be ruled by sky
there are sky-signals
sometimes land and water cast
warning signs to us
c l couch
photo by Tolga Ahmetler on Unsplash
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