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O Sweet, Majestic Lord

(x = space)

x

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O Sweet, Majestic Lord

x

O to invoke you

Oh to complain

Or sigh as if

I could rest

Upon your feet

Or lay my head

On your knee

It’s not worship

I know

But it would be amazing

To rest on God

This way

And feel the cloth

And flesh and bone

Beneath

Because the one of you

Who has these

Could come to me

This way

And I could sigh into my sorrow

And hope to

Sanctify my dreams

While you might

Accept my tears

Not as libation

But as something honest

Offered

Of myself

For a change

And for a change

Reverse the pietà

I want to rest on Jesus

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C L Couch

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Photo by Boudewijn Huysmans on Unsplash

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two poems for Thanksgiving

(x = space)

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x

two poems for Thanksgiving

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The Godmother

(Sarah Josepha Buell Hale and Thanksgiving)

x

In the USA

Other nations have

Their days

It was Hale

An editor

Who lobbied

Above Washington’s

Claim as a foundation

That

The nation needed

Officially

Thanksgiving

Hale wrote to Lincoln

Other Presidents

Before

That this day was

Needed for a nation

Even in the

Horrible paradox of war

To say thank you

To whomever we should

Be saying thank you

x

Lincoln conceded

Gave a proclamation

That would not be set

For many years

Long after Hale’s

Life on Earth

Was done

x

A first Republican

Then a long-serving Democrat

(who liked new deals)

Sealed the deal

And so we have it

Fourth Thursday

In the ninth Roman month,

November

To you and me

x

x

The Day We Have

(on Thanksgiving)

x

Football and turkey

Then more football

Stuffing and cranberries

Maybe ham

Or roast beef

Or sandwiches from

The many places

Selling sandwiches

x

I suppose there will be

Beer and wine

(beer before wine is fine)

Water

Juice

Soft drinks

People ‘round the table

Between quarters

x

If turkey,

Then turkey sandwiches

(little mayo,

cranberry sauce)

Before the day is done

With

More sustenance

Kept inside the box

For tomorrow

And tomorrow and tomorrow

Since there’s too much

Lucky us

Who have too much

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by Morvanic Lee on Unsplash

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Thank you!

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1

machine time

(x = space)

x

x

machine time

x

repeating numbers

for today

ones and twos

the sun is shining

angled beneath

clouds

mist that has risen

and such

above it could be blue

and then the black of space

with all our trash

and earnest vehicles

in orbit

x

look down

and there’s the floor

to the left

is cooling coffee

right in front

is this machine

with a screen that challenges

endurance

still so much easier to use

than typing through

a master’s degree

on Olympia, Corona,

and my sanity

x

remember paper?

that’s what we used

for turning in assignments

before the imposition

of electrons

paper, sticky stamps

other adhesives

it was a world, then,

that we could touch and hold

and know we’ve used

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c l couch

x

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photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

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love alters not

(x = space)

x

x

love alters not

x

. . . Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

(from) Sonnet 116

x

now the next chapter

x

love alters not

has come to mind

I’m not sure why

x

the poet claims

in poem’s voice

that as we change

love doesn’t change

x

I wonder also that

we might do better than

(more in addition to)

the fixed mark

x

love doesn’t change

when we encounter change

because we will

it will happen in us, too

age, talent

insight

dreams fulfilled

or unfilled

x

will we love the same,

shall we?

x

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

x

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

x

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)

x

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Smart People Eschew Politics

x

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

x

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

x

C L Couch

x

x

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

x

2

sure things

(x = space)

x

x

sure things

x

the child

dressed up as a cowboy

or a football player

dream and irony

x

even then

the heart

might be folded badly

not closing right

or opening

for blood and air

x

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

x

when the heart attacks

and surgeries

and the device implanted

were and are

sure things in

the older self

x

c l couch

x

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photo by elias maurer on unsplash

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2

Sides, The Earth Is Ours (2 poems)

(x = space)

x

x

Sides

x

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

x

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

x

C L Couch

x

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

Romans 8:31

x

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Earth Is Ours

x

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

x

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

x

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

x

What we shall own

Though frankly we must share

The bigger parts

x

C L Couch

x

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

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0

The Conditions of the Prophet

(x = space)

x

x

The Conditions of the Prophet

x

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

x

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Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash

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0

Cancerous

(x = space)

x

x

Cancerous

x

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

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

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