Uncategorized

“Adversity, Misfortune”

“Adversity, Misfortune”
(written with all urgency)

Is what it means
Malheur (thanks to
Collins), and there is
A certain story about
That (Mister Thurber,
You can look it up)

But the story that is
Written now can
Only add to the
First meaning

Set fire? No
Imprison any longer?
No
Militia? We have
The National Guard
(I know, national)

Grace, which translates
Closely all around,
Needs abounding here

Not perched in a
Distant tree, an
Observation pillar,
Waiting to return
To normal life

Not to blame the bird
The bird is natural,
Even as a metaphor

Grace is better
It takes “mal-heur”
To render it “bon-temps”
(Sorry if I slaughter French
A language I enjoy)

I am of Northwest
I am in Oregon (check
The names)

My grandfather built
Refuges like
Malheur (though I’d
Like to think he’d have
Checked the name)

All are right in this
All are wrong
Everyone back up
And change the stakes

Then everyone not further
Newly charged (please, no)
In need-corrected wrong

Everyone
Go
And be home

C L Couch
January 2016

January 18, 2016 0

MLK(J)

MLK(J)

More than letters,
Though there were
Amazing ones, is
Love that suffuses

Not to claim
Perfection–I
Could not I do that
For myself

But gentle, numbered
Overwhelming
Victory
Is for those who
Outlast imperfection,

Even as they with
Finality close trap-
Jaws of persecution

Marching persistence
Realizing still, always in
Grace, wondrous change

January 18, 2016 0

Ishi

Ishi

she is the last
one in her family
a hermit in Siberia
rescued recently

they were religious
they fled the Soviets
(one could name another
group when it oppresses
or suppresses) and
she is the last

when she is gone
from earth
only her story will remain

another ghost of Ishi for
she is the last

January 18, 2016 2

Civilizing Shoes

Civilizing Shoes

I’ve been wearing slippers now
As I’ve trod through my place
In part, because of the season
In part, because it is a more
Civilized way to live

When I think of wearing shoes,
I think of Huckleberry Finn
Who, when made to lace- or
Buckle-up the things, felt
The fastenings had trapped
Him in a binding and controlling
World and, eventually, he
Must, you know, light out for
The territories

(USA doesn’t have official
Territories anymore, at least in
The lower forty-eight; I guess
Huck would have to go to
Northern Canada, nowadays)

It is the smaller of things
For the rest of my life remains
Unplanned, in piles, and
Unscheduled—it’s still wild
In there

And, for all I know, when summer
Returns to the US Northeast, I
Might simply have to abandon
The slippers again

To live again more Huckleberry-like
More hobbit-like
And, most likely, more like me

January 17, 2016 0

Something

Something

If I don’t do something
I shall do nothing,
So I try
To do this much

What is this much?
Not my writing it
But your reading it
And our responding through;

Anything that might come
During or after

Means I am doing something
(For) we are doing something

January 15, 2016 12

Ciara

Ciara

From the news, I wanted to get
The hometown right
Of the murdered girl

The search yielded a
Thoughtful, pretty image
Of the twelve-year-old

I’ll take it down, but for now
I fear to remove her from the
Screen—

As if saying good-bye
This way

Will make death, already decided,
Somehow more deeply

Done

January 15, 2016 0

Increase nature’s hand (haiku)

Increase nature’s hand
Nature deserves a better
Play and we can help

January 15, 2016 2

Vaccines
(a polio center bombed in
Pakistan, because of
serving)

I lived in the cities where
Salk and Sabin worked
Which does not matter
As much as the reality of
Vaccines

Diphtheria, polio, small
Pox, and malaria;
Millions—millions—died
From Spanish Flu in
The last (twentieth)
Century

These diseases are now
Resolved and most are gone
With vaccines and other
Helps except for those
Ravages that were not
Cured except through time,
For we hadn’t means to
Cure

We still look at this
Challenge, though it
Seems we’re getting
Better

I don’t know how those
Against vaccination really
Feel, maybe because I’ve
Only experienced the
Good

I’ve had mild symptoms
Of that for which I’ve
Been given shots—that’s
In the nature of vaccines—but
I’ve not suffered fully from
Diseases or conditions
Against which I’m
Protected

Now, due to a condition (not
Vaccine-related), I’m toward
The top of the list of those
Who should receive flu
Shots

Any reservations
Notwithstanding, I get the
Shot

Those who refuse risk
Infecting others, though
I respect the hesitation
If I cannot ally the
Principle

Yet those who turn down
And those who protest this
Medical opportunity are
Not bombing doctors’ offices
Or clinics where these
Serve

Though, I must say, that in
This free land, some
Take issues to extremes
To destroy clinics of
Another medical kind thus
Surrender being human in
Becoming the extreme and little
More

But on a day in Pakistan
I’ve read further in the news
About

Bombing a polio clinic
Addressing a disease that
Can be veritably
Eradicated

If this terroristic vision
(An irony of shots)
Could be realized, then there
Would be outbreaks of laming
And of crippling infection
Without recourse except
The best (the worst) of
Luck

When we can cure, we
Are at our best;
What can be said for
Those who hunt down
All those who can and
Now must more bravely
Cure