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Anchorite Devotion

(x = space)

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Anchorite Devotion

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I cherish

Quiet in a cup

To drink

When I need some

Peace on a plate

When a bite is needed

Some silence in the air

But not so much

We cannot hear

The songs

Of earth and sky

The thrumming from beneath

To feel

The sighing from so high

We dare not

On an ordinary day

To try

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A homespun layer

Maybe two layers

For the day

And through the night

A few words of friendship

And a few more

Then intimate,

Unspoken words

With God

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There is a book

Of hours and another

Sometimes wisdom’s

In the page

In the part between

The letters

As well the illustrations

The space in which

We first learn

That blank space is the quiet

We may go there

Then to learn

About the mystery

The text

And images support

But can’t fill yet

As if to know the words

To speak with angels

And with animals

And with the air

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All things the creator makes

To set in humming motion

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C L Couch

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Statue of Julian of Norwich by David Holgate, west front, Norwich Cathedral.

By Poliphilo – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19972764

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God of Storms

(x = space)

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God of Storms

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The sky let go last night

I drove through

Snow on snow

With an audiobook

For company

My guardian angel up above

The car

Inside the storm,

Laughing at

What God hath wrought

Inside the night

White under black

Squeegee of tires

Up to traffic lights

Hoping that each car

Would stay where it belonged

As my tires

Turned the wrong way

Tried to do

A contest with

The storm of Ba’al on

The altar of the Lord

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C L Couch

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snowfall in december

Photo by Jessica Fadel on Unsplash

Thornton, United States

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Back from There Again

(x = space)

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Back from There Again

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Took a drive around and over

Through the mountains

Through tunnels

Up angles, down

The rounded Appalachians

Blue Ridge, Alleghenies

No rain or snow this time

There was wind

To blow my little car around

Clouds and sunshine vied

I got back

Hobbiton looks the same

Regarding what I left

Today,

I can only hope the cancer treatments

Work for him

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C L Couch

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Photo by Sean Foster on Unsplash

Appalachians at midday.

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Old River

(x = space)

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Old River

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There is sunshine I haven’t

Seen for a while

Western Pennsylvania had been

Living into its reputation

For precipitation

(there is a flood watch on

because the Ohio,

deep and wide

like the song,

could overmarch its primordial

lines)

I’m glad to be with family

Took two occasions—three if

Counting my sister and hers moving

Here—being New Year’s

And my brother’s illness

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Four out of five

Like the dentists

Have made it here so far

The fifth is coming soon

And I don’t know how to contemplate

What might happen next

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An elder brother’s murder

Was the dilemma for sibling Claudius

Here, cancer wants to commit

The crime,

The murder of my brother’s health

Unlike those of Claudius,

My words fly up with thought

And heaven catches them

I’ll keep offering

And offering

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In long ago, a sacrifice

Might help

But in the suburbs

No such help

Because we’ve grown beyond

The need

Some might say

(and should)

The laws have changed

Now it’s medications, institutions

On another altar

We can kneel and pray

Ancient of days

Will hear

As if it were the temple near

Whose opening we’d approach

As clean and ready

Bearing gifts

As we can be

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selah

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Now roll away, tumors

Like the stone that matched

An opening

So long ago

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C L Couch

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Pittsburgh

Photo by Taylor on Unsplash

Pittsburgh, United States

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Visiting with my Brother in Wintertime

(x = space)

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Visiting with my Brother in Wintertime

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Tired now

Just got reconnected

And can write to you

Am in

The Renaissance City

City of Bridges

City of Iron

City of Steel

Where my brother is

And cancer in the city, too

In him

It seems to be consuming him

Turning him in

Like a folder being folded

Movements happens cruelly

The pain is slow

Tomorrow the severer

Treatment starts

How this will work in him

How it will solve anything

Well, it could

It might

I can only pray it must

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C L Couch

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While skiing down the slopes of Big Sky Montana, I took the chance to slow down and look and capture the incredible beautiful scenery around me. Scenes like this seem to center me, with the stillness of snow settling in.

Photo by Jonathan Knepper on Unsplash

Big Sky Resort Road, Gallatin Gateway, USA

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Tied Backward on the Mare

(x = space)

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Tied Backward on the Mare

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I had

The worst

Dream last night

Someone

Was insane

Not me

Someone I knew

Worse

I had to watch

Her being

Pushed and pulled

(everyone

was wearing

white)

By men

While

The mother

Watched

It was

Awful, brutal

Intimate

I hope I

Never have

This dream

Or another like it

Ever again

Ever

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C L Couch

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Photo by chrissie kremer on Unsplash

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Cancer Is as Cancer Does

(x = space)

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Cancer Is as Cancer Does

(as we try to do to it)

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I don’t know what to say

I have bad news

My brother’s not well

That is not news

It’s gotten worse

That is

All who have siblings are aware

There is a care

A worry that each day

Goes well for them,

That overall they’re satisfied

And happy

I am the middle of five

There are larger

There are smaller

If you are there, then you may know

We never know our place,

Exactly

When is deference?

When is dominance?

It goes on

We simply have to stumble

Day by day

Tripping over stones of protocol

Loving all the same

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We are none of us

Young;

He has completed, just

His three score and ten

Though as we know

Statistics up the number and

The optimism

More

How will he live well

With his time?

What time is his?

I ask questions without

Good answers in this

Mortal place and

Bounded time

The news will be compounded soon

With prognosis and

Prescription and

Choices

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My words are getting thick

Everything is heavy

For a while

Before the legacy

Of sadness

Is poured out enough

For good choices

And actions

Of my own

Say, a prayer

Say a prayer

That’s invitation

With gratitude expressed

Now

While still beforehand,

Which is to say

Thank you

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for Rick

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C L Couch

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Vaccine-Based Immunotherapy from Novel Nanoparticle Systems. Researchers at the Texas Center for Cancer Nanomedicine (TCCN) are creating particle-based vaccines for cancer therapy. The particles carry molecules that stimulate immune cells and cancer antigens (proteins) that direct the immune response.

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Snow Bunnies

(x = space)

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Snow Bunnies

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And on a wintry day

Dust bunnies come to play

They like the extra morning

Light

That shows the dust to play in,

Right

And should a human passing by

They know where to fly

For them, the winter is THE season

We have to clean—they

Have no reason!

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C L Couch

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another entry in the dust bunny saga

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Camouflage

Photo by Atharva Tulsi on Unsplash

North Dakota, United States

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From Chairs

(x = space)

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From Chairs

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We look over,

see

Winter’s lower light

Break

Through

The invention of

The window

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Relief

In viewing

An out-there when

In-here becomes

Too close,

Distractions

Not enough to keep

Supernal us

From rush to and through

The stars

We know are out there, bearing

The truth

Of things

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Maybe

Especially when exigent

We hear

As well

The angels’ songs

For mortals

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C L Couch

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Photo by Ariel on Unsplash

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