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And Now a Word

And Now a Word

 

And now for something spiritual

I wrote about the rain

And something about poets’ politics

But what about ethereal

Ephemeral

The gossamer wings that haunt

My nether vision because I want

To see them now

I want to meet my guardian

And any other sponsors

I want to have Jesus or any of his

Colleagues to visit me

I can make some coffee

And serve toast

 

I want the cross to mean something to me

Or any other totem

Should I have it wrong

Not an item blank against the wall

I bought on sale somewhere

 

I want it to be over

I want it to begin

If only it were only about me

Because what I want is solid

 

No more of a story without ending

One chapter more, one chapter more

Bring on Armageddon but

Only if it’s civil

We know it’s only been a metaphor

All along

 

I’ll call up a gentle apocalypse, thank you

Deliver it on time

Draw up ranks on either side

There are those who will never believe

Too bad

Really

 

I’ll conjure up new places

And activities for the faithful

What, there’s more to do in heaven?

I don’t think so

 

And so apostacy is earned

For simply being stupid

For calling on God

When God’s not ready

When official victory

With concomitant defeats

Must be held off now

Until a better ruler says so

She’ll have the better prophet with her

Who will know what’s what

And how to say it, really

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Alex Blăjan on Unsplash

 

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Homey Epiphany

Homey Epiphany

 

I never really had anything

I mean, who does

But really, one must have something

To offer someone else

A life that can go day by day

An investment building toward

What have you

A life together, home

I’ve heard it said

Maybe some earthly satisfaction

A way to say, some happened here

And it is good

Not an altar, not a sign of worship

Simply devotion to the daily

To the chores, to the grind

Toward conversation and the smallest

Of accomplishments

A life together, home

Amid the wilds of the planet’s

Depredations and

The word inside the mind that

All too easily says no

Here is a yes

A vote for community

Mortal sanctity

Moral sanctity

But mostly love

 

C L Couch

 

 

Image by monicore from Pixabay

 

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Reach

Reach

 

I’ve been drafting

I’ll try one more time to get it right

It’s not that I’m miffed

Far from it

(and how much would that matter)

I simply want to pierce a little

Just a little

A slice of shard

Of the dark glass

I don’t have a method, really

An art or a science

Theory of a skill

But I have a desire

Not to prove a staff can be a snake

A stone turned into bread

Angels dancing on a pin

(it’s not merely an exercise)

 

It’s not merely an exercise

I want enough

To tell another

That faith might be unseen

Unheard, untouched, and so on

But that it’s evidence enough

Understood, felt, guessed-at

So that we might

Talk about it

Or simply live

In having it

 

But here’s a thing:

The process is at best

A matter of unseeing

Untouching, untasting

That if, really, our senses

Could be quieted enough

(just some—I’m not recommending

deprivation tanks)

We might know

Through the intimacy of knowing

That our senses have

An ally

 

That we have an ally

It might be an angel or

A second guess

It might be real enough

For jazz or maybe

A hit toward the backfield wall

 

It isn’t only us

Not one by one

There’s something to cooperate

In us

That can reach out

And understand the other

Not so alien

I evangelize, excuse me

Take me or leave me

And I’ll understand

(either way)

 

You are beyond me

Yet there is something

Here

Call is a bond or simply

The pleasure of acquaintance

But if there is ineffability

To touch

(without hands)

Then there might be something

More

 

That’s all I’m saying

Now, I’ll listen

 

C L Couch

 

 

Image by Vytalis Arnoldus from Pixabay

 

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Early Morning Half-Light

Early Morning Half-Light

 

I had a dream and in it

A love and I

With a friend were talking about

Seasons

I was asked if I liked the snow

At the time we were surrounded

By it

Nonetheless, I said I liked snow

Fine

And my dear one said so, too

Clearly, our friend at the time

Only wanted to hear

About warmth

So I waxed

(maybe that’s a mansplain)

 

I like four quarters to the year

With time for everything

I’m sure I had that when a child

In Pittsburgh

Though it’s not like that

Now

Global warning having moved

The even year up north

Somewhere in New York

 

I looked at the one and thought,

Maybe we’ll go there

And then dreams do what they do

 

C L Couch

 

 

“Vier Jahreszeiten” (Bernd Altenstein) am Holler See in Bremen

JeKr – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14692213

 

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Fourth Parable

Fourth Parable

 

Imagination,

Willy Wonka

Some songs are extra-beautiful

Depending on who’s singing

Today The Star-Spangled Banner

Always sung in martial fashion

So it seems

I don’t suppose there’s another way

But maybe remember that

The fort and city were outgunned

It wasn’t really victory

But endurance and survival

The flag was flying in the morning

(big flag, if you haven’t seen)

The nation got another day

Sometimes, I guess,

It’s all we need

 

C L Couch

 

 

Jay Bala, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=670634

 

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Rescue Me

Rescue Me

 

Once, I was in trouble

It was fixed, I don’t know how

Someone appeared

 

And kept the fall from hurting worse

Somehow in fact

Abbreviated all the crisis

 

Pulled my substance

Soul-enfleshed

Back from the next edge, so

 

That I might go home

One more time that day

And with my spirit

Lean into tomorrow

 

I don’t think the saints are gone

Or angels, either

Like the elves from Middle-Earth

 

We won’t need

White shores

While we are defended, now

 

C L Couch

 

 

Georgia National Guard from United States – Air Rescue, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70915161

 

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Please Wait

Please Wait

 

Wait

I have something for you

It’s today

 

I don’t know if you need it

But please take it, anyway

No cost

All you have to do

Is wake a little

In barely an existential way

 

I don’t mean to pry or push

I didn’t bring the dawn

I’m only asking

For a little time

 

Go outside

Sponge up everything you can

You don’t have to return

But I’ll wait

In case

You do

 

It’s fine, I have a book to read

And I can put my life on hold a little

Because the time is worth it for

Discovery of meaning

And if you’ll have it

Maybe you’ll tell me

Maybe not

This is yours

All this is yours

It’s all for you

 

Redemption in small moments

Sometimes it’s the best

We get to have

An affirmation of a gift

From me to you

 

On behalf of

One who calls down the day

Each time

Until the last

When small becomes gargantuan

Each thing matters more

For being minor

 

Yes, I’m not a caller

Not a surrogate

Simply who gets to say, now and then

Yes, it’s all for you

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Yoshua Giri on Unsplash

 

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Oh, Say

Oh, Say

 

The American dream

 

Overextend the company

Charge more for products

Reduce services

Pay people less

Try to eliminate benefits, so-called

Maybe get raided by another firm

Everyone is fired

Move on

 

Wait, what?

 

What happened to Knute Rockne

And Jim Thorpe?

Horatio Alger

And the poor match girl?

(wait—she died)

The lives of Harriet Tubman

(whose image we pretend will go

on a twenty, yeah, someday)

Sojourner Truth

The words of Frederick Douglass

Susan Anthony

 

And to those

Asian and Latinx

Black and even white

In museum heritage

Or not known at all

Who made it?

 

What is it?

A home, a family

A car unless there’s good transit

In the city

Enough possessions

Something to pass on

Assets, among them

A good story

 

Justice enough

Truth enough

Faith a little more

Love more than that

 

A choice

A say

A vote

 

That’s some dreaming

That was here a while ago

But I can’t find it in my pockets

Or outside where I hear

The pundits

And pretenders

Evoking bitterness

And gorge onto

What should be a better scene

With sapling promises all

Planted, taken care of

 

Back to basics?

No such thing

Even on a good day

You like basics?

Me, too—guarantee of shelter

Food and opportunity

And, yes, I’ll say it

Say it with me

Freedom

 

I like reenactments

They rarely bleed

But some real blood might have to be

Spilled again

Before we’re through in

Or with

The world

And we understand what the world

Has been through with us

And a different ecumenism’s called for

 

Once we understand ourselves,

We’ll have to apply again

And take part

No longer the whole

That’s for villains in poor novels

And movies

 

So here’s the thing:

Forward to the basics

As in feed everyone

Learn democracy

Not from demagogues

Vote again

Rescind hatred

Don’t make it a crime,

Simply something lacking reason

Not to mention humor

 

We can learn how to laugh again

Without the grime

Without the fall

We can honor heritage

More so legacy

In festivals

 

Happy Birthday, USA

We can make it

If we try

 

C L Couch

 

 

covering the National Mall

User:Lipton sale, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60460085

 

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After a Kind of Rain

After a Kind of Rain

 

There is hope

While there is good

We don’t even have to know

It’s more than half

We only need to catch a gleam

In the morass of kidnapped night

That better roles have

Abrogated

That was, I think, the war

In heaven

 

And if the hopeful glint

Is not in evidence

On the field or in a corner

In case our spirits are abducted, too

In the metaphor, we can close

Our eyes and in a better

Darkness recall

The light,

Which lifts the cause for metaphor

And story

More poetry, more narrative

We need more, we must have more

In case so much depends upon

 

By all means, this is not a call

For this

There is so much around

Barely a kick will stir it up from

Dulling dust

Or here’s a thought:

Create

Co-create

Strike an agreement with a muse

A long-term contract

Don’t worry

She awaits

With clarity even within

The rolls of night

Even before the end of

Stormy weather

Over one plain or another

 

C L Couch

 

 

Fahad Hashmi – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40357621

Lahore

 

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