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love alters not

(x = space)

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love alters not

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. . . Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

(from) Sonnet 116

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now the next chapter

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love alters not

has come to mind

I’m not sure why

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the poet claims

in poem’s voice

that as we change

love doesn’t change

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I wonder also that

we might do better than

(more in addition to)

the fixed mark

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love doesn’t change

when we encounter change

because we will

it will happen in us, too

age, talent

insight

dreams fulfilled

or unfilled

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will we love the same,

shall we?

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and I’m wondering

with time and change

set on a frantic world against us

yet

in all the deeper layers of endearment,

if we change

might we evolve

(I know, that word)

into our earthy, better loves

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so that both

both adapt

as well as remain

(and well-remain)

and like the roots

of earnest Earth

unreached, reached,

and reaching

all directions

(the extents of our exchange)

we last ages

in age

x

trust doesn’t change in time

it seasons with the seasons

more reliant

and more comfortable

resolute in crisis

and with good drinks

set at table

seated by the sea

that dreams with us

of better earth

in redeemed entirety

x

thanking each other

for the love

that has not changed

and changed

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c l couch

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Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

(upside-down heart to look like a triangle; triangle meaning delta; delta meaning change after heat is applied—whew, sorry; maybe on a t-shirt)

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Smart People Eschew Politics

(x = space)

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Smart People Eschew Politics

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It is said

I’ve cited this before

That smart people

No longer run

For anything in politics

They are repulsed

They are not chosen, anyway

The crisis is

Bipartisan

The last smart person said

Was Adlai Stevenson

Who is before my

Voting time

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Labels don’t count

(smart is as smart does)

Neither degrees

Nor Rhodes

Nor anything metal

Or on paper

(smart is as smart does)

x

Let the intelligence in

Again

(not referring to spies

you know that)

With some reach toward relevance

Un-degreed

Degreed

Either, more, less

I hear smart is as smart does

Journey to Hodgenville

To start

x

Where someone looked up

At the stars there,

Too

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C L Couch

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Direct image of a supermassive black hole at the core of Messier 87.

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2

sure things

(x = space)

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sure things

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the child

dressed up as a cowboy

or a football player

dream and irony

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even then

the heart

might be folded badly

not closing right

or opening

for blood and air

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and did I feel it?

ask the child

I’m asking later

I don’t know

no one told me

maybe no one knew

until later

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when the heart attacks

and surgeries

and the device implanted

were and are

sure things in

the older self

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c l couch

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photo by elias maurer on unsplash

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2

Sides, The Earth Is Ours (2 poems)

(x = space)

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Sides

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If God is for us

Whom shall stand against us

Well, they will

They are they

They will

These are not shadows

Except in meaning,

Haunting for a while

Our better selves and motives

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They are there

They are ghosts

(with apologies to ghosts)

Who look as if

They are substantial

And their weapons

Somehow

Wound and even kill

x

They (with those)

Tempt us from our fate

One by one

And altogether as

People loved by God

Who have a purpose covered

For the moment

Until the glass

Is clear

x

The battle won

Life prefigures death,

Better shows the shape

Of life again

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C L Couch

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If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31

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Earth Is Ours

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Do you hate the sides?

I often do

Jerusalem and Antioch

East and west

(Istanbul and Rome

as part of that)

China and Taiwan

Town and gown

City and countryside

North and south

And much, much worse

Cain and Abel

So that only Seth remains

For legacy

One without three

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We need our groups

We don’t need the borders

In between

We should have the joy

To have our own

The strength in defending

Everyone

The Earth

Our own

Everyone’s Earth

To own

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What does this mean?

It’s right to ask

Since we ask

And everything is lent

And legacy is life that

We cannot gift ourselves

But there’s a promise

Prophecy

Assurance in or as

What we believe

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What we shall own

Though frankly we must share

The bigger parts

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C L Couch

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Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

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The Conditions of the Prophet

(x = space)

x

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The Conditions of the Prophet

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What shall God say today?

Not to me

I am not a vessel

Until God doesn’t mind the cracks

And grime

Under the rim

And maybe not:

Maybe God calls on us

To call

Who are not unblemished alabaster

Uncracked

Ancient yet young

To appreciate

x

Well, there are no museums here

Not inside the person

If there is a purpose

And I’m told

Rather explicitly,

I’ll follow

Though there are conditions

x

I can’t be crazy

Or made crazy

There must be gentle tones allowed

Simplicity

Would be instructive

While dignity

Would be grand

x

If these can be traits

In a manifesto

Then I’ll call it

x

And if these traits

Cannot be followed, well,

I’ll follow

Share the word

With the same conviction

Sigh,

No conditions

And apologizing for

Conditions

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash

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Cancerous

(x = space)

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Cancerous

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We’ve been five

Soon we will be four

That is the prognosis

Palliation

Hospice

These are discussed

And sought

For him

x

Out of order

Since he’s not the oldest

In mere math of life

It could have been me

I’m the one with the machine

To keep me going

But I guess

(today’s not over)

It’s not me

(for now)

x

The math doesn’t matter

Not important

Math matters elsewhere

In the dosage

Of his medication

In the number of his place

In the hospital

His apartment number

To which they say

He will not be returning

x

It’s not me

It’s him

He is important now

But I have to say

It’s been a problem all along,

Frankly, with me

I don’t know how to lose

A brother

x

And has he ever learned

To live with this

I’d say so

A mystery he did resolve

Through work

Through home

Maybe through old movies

He knows so well

x

And one day

All shall be all

God bless everyone

Who tries

Who’s trying now

One by one

Who practices with grace,

Each fitness for heaven

That shall be judged

By perfect love intending

Hoping that

Full health to be restored

x

God bless everyone

God bless each one

God bless Rick

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C L Couch

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

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dream state

(x = space)

x

x

dream state

x

shall I write on a dream?

dreams work out subconscious

so I guess there’s something there

in mine

in my dreams

there have been nightmares

mostly, I hope they’re good

while I’m inside

the world changes in there,

naturally

sometimes I know my way

sometimes that’s not an issue

it’s the people I encounter

from the past

from the present

people I do not know

as for color, I don’t know

we’re told we dream in black and white

so if I say that’s yellow

is the truth of it in what I see

or what I’ve convinced myself

I’m seeing?

dreams are strange

I guess I need them

they might have been the first visitations

formless forms given form,

hidden words revealed

all because we sleep

confusions for

an easy price

x

I’m thinking now

I should have made this formless

or changed the shape many times

or something

as a waking example

but then when I’m awake

like many who dream

and recall anything,

I’m trying to clarify

unlike a scientist

but one to whom

everything had happened

x

as far as I know,

I’ve never died in dreams

I’ve fallen without an ending

to the fall;

sometimes I’ve fallen and then flown

and, after, felt the use

between my shoulder blades,

the stiffness from the muscles there

that that would be needed

for the use of wings

x

sometimes I’m frightened, after

most often, I’m sad

sometimes nostalgic

warmth or sometimes hope

worked its way through

the pastiche

x

I don’t know

how God’s involved in dreams

mine are a mess:

I don’t see how

an angel as an agent

could be talking through them

but we have precedents

in messages of prophecy;

to have a dream with clarity

must be something

as impressive it must be

troubling,

a contemporary (waking)

source for fear and trembling

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c l couch

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photo by Tamara Menzi on Unsplash

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Dreaming Impossibly

(x = space)

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Dreaming Impossibly

x

This is for real

But every now and then

I must imagine

Like one Lewis or the other

Things that cannot happen

Happening

x

A hole

Through which

The world is further out

Horizons wider

Air that moves just right

Enhancing breath

Progressive fields

That do not have to tire

We can take them slowly

Discovering

Along the way

x

Water we can take

It’s safe

And not worry

About returning

About returning overall,

Well, that’s another matter

After exploration

After delight

And rest

And learning

From this impossible day

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C L Couch

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Photo by Florian Rieder on Unsplash

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Rank and File

(x = space)

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Rank and File

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Thank goodness

For the discipline

Of fire and cloud

And water

And the path

The faithless wonder

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There is a promise

When we forget

There is a promise

x

There’s prophecy

To mingle with

What is before us

In contention,

All the other parts

That make up everything

x

The everything we know,

The things we must

Believe in anyway

Sometimes from apostacy

Of fact,

Worse from the inside

Out

x

Before external judgment,

We sentence ourselves

For lack of faith

When, reasonably,

How much is there to believe in?

Evidence of what’s unseen–

Thank you,

Says our agnostic

x

The normalcy

Of matter and dimension

Fairly

Imposing,

Building what we stand on

For belief

And unbelief

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The believer is the doubter

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We go through this,

We are this

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Often there is more of us

On the other side

Of chrysalis

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C L Couch

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Hebrews 11:1

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Photo by Ruth Paradis on Unsplash

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