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Left Words

(x = words)

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Left Words

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I look at another

Blank page,

Which is all right

There’s something down

Already,

Already stained with

Letters

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One letter by one

Formed into words

Making a shape on

The page

Out of many shapes

(sanserif)

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Once I read a

Single poem that

Trailed along the left

Side of the page

With a lack

Of syntax but

Replete with

Meaning, nonetheless

I could tell

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The letters were sizable

And the name on top

Was famous

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And that’s how

It’s done,

I supposed

It appears in

Someone else’s book

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C L Couch

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Photo by Gary Butterfield on Unsplash

Howard Hotel, 57 Howard St, Sheffield S1 2LW, UK, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom

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n.b.

n.b.

(“note well” but note however you like)

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I’m sorry, but for a while I’ve been dealing with new pain of a sort that feels as if it wants to cut me in two.  I go to the doctor’s on Friday and a specialist in two weeks.  This has been claiming too much of my energy and my concentration.  I still try to commit to writing and posting, but I’m behind on other things such as being in touch with responders. I’m sorry.

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Christopher

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Greyson Joralemon

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Easy Snow

(x = space)

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Easy Snow

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I might have gotten

In my car, not looking

At three inches’

Newfallen snow

Then got out again

Once I knew the source

Of the sudden darkness

(were it day)

These spits of snow

Have been the normal

For a while

Late winter?

Early spring?

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The groundhog is famous for

Inaccuracy,

Though the fairs are fun

In Punxsutawney

And who trusts a pampered

Creature to tell the weather,

Anyway?

We’d do better to

Look at the sides of wild trees

For direction

And the thickness of the fur

On the denizens

Therein

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C L Couch

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Photo by Babette Landmesser on Unsplash

Sun shines through winter trees on beautiful snowy ground.

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Wineskins

(x = space)

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Wineskins

(parabolic)

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I don’t know much about

Old wineskins

I had a bota once

From Spain

I imagine that my father got it

While on tour in the Navy

I probably put water in it

(the bota, not the Navy)

And tried to drink

I say this because I have a memory

Of playing with the trail of water

As they do with botas in Spain,

Letting the thin arch

Run out farther and farther

From the mouth

(the boca)

Part of the fun

In having such a device

Out of which to drink

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Does bota mean bottle?

I think botella

There might be some sort

Of origin

Shared at least in etymology

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I don’t know much

About new wineskins

I’ve probably never been

Next to one

And so there’s this whole tradition

Of which I’m unaware,

Which is how to deal

With wineskins

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I imagine they are made

From the skins if not the organs

Of animals—

Cow, goat, sheep, I don’t know

And according to the power

In the parable,

A wineskin only gets one use

What happens next?

It is made into shoes

Or a backpack

Or a purse?

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I hope wineskins always were

Recyclable

And more so if they’re still

Used today

I imagine they could

Be lined with something

That would take new liquid well

So the skin could be used

Time and again

(which I wonder that the bota can)

But now to people

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Old wineskins, once emptied,

Are now useless of their

Single purpose

New wine will require

New wineskins

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Now, what is the wine?

It is new thought

New purpose

The Spirit as device

(and metaphor)

Has offered something new

Not to overthrow the old

So much as to complete it

I think that’s what

Jesus would say

As in, I have come not to abrogate

The law

But to complete it

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The story is more personal

Perhaps

Or might be taken that way

Personally, communally—these

Will happen:

Should we have thoughts

And instincts that

Merely weigh us down

More with suppression

Than belief

And where’s the wisdom

Let alone the joy

In that?

If we-always-did-it-that-way

Is only an alienating

(try I-always-do-it-this way,

too)

Quality for now,

Time for new thinking

And new acting

Or old acting

With new thinking

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C L Couch

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Matthew 9:14-17, Mark 2:18-22, Luke 5:33-39

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Photo by Biljana Martinic on Unsplash

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1

Partial Recall

(x = space)

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Partial Recall

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How many things I’ve missed

In the last few days

The Lunar New Year

Valentine’s

The birthday of my mother

She died thirty-eight years ago

Shrove Tuesday

Ash Wednesday

Diagnoses take their toll

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Today the rover Perseverance

Lands on Mars

I should see and hear that

And all the other days

Will have gone by

Love in the time of plague

To contemplate while waiting

In her office

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We go on

We sigh, we breathe

We go somewhere

Where there is no breath

Unless we bring it with us

Then we craft it

Inside something like

New wineskins

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C L Couch

(2/18/2021)

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Photo by Lucas Myers on Unsplash

Cinder Cone, United States

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Pirated Life

(x = space)

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Pirated Life

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Several hours later,

I meet with my band

In the woods

We go to the cave

That is our hideout

And headquarters

Time (past time)

For another adventure

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You check out the dragon

Take dimensions

Find out if he must be foe

Or would it come on

As an ally

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You and you

Find out who has jewels

In town

And if the jewels are fair

And are the owners fair

There’s precedence

To take them,

Re-reward them to

Those who have the need

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I’ll spy out the rest

All the possibilities

Then draw out

A fine, nefarious campaign

Out best yet and

More profitable

Than the Hood or Ali Baba

Edward Teach,

Anne Bonny,

All the rest in the unformed

Guild of thieves

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C L Couch

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Photo by Bas Glaap on Unsplash

Fremantle WA, Australia

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Thought-Powered Words

(x = words)

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Thought-Powered Words

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The results were not good

I don’t mean to diary about it

But another organ is in trouble

I mean, I feel it

I thought it was gas

(hah)

And now I feel slowed-down today

In fact, since the phone call

Yesterday

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Pray for me, friends,

As I pray for you

Though it’s not a deal—I

Pray for you anyway, and of course

I’m not sure what you do

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But love has different kinds,

Hasn’t it?

We have ways to regard each other

Respecting who we are

What’s going well,

What’s not

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I’ll take a good thought anytime

And be thankful

The words without thoughts don’t rise

As Claudius confesses

(Hamlet doesn’t hear)

But your words are thoughtful

They soar

I know,

I read them all the time

Then watch and hear

With the inner parts

Of eye and ear

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C L Couch

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citation

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3 (last two lines)

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Photo by Rafik Wahba on Unsplash

Cincinnati, OH, USA

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After the Blood Test

(x = space)

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After the Blood Test

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The kind that requires

A fast

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I didn’t take my pills,

Either

Or had water

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I waited for a while

But this was appointed

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They should take me

And they did

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I leave with less

Than I came in with

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I face the day outside,

Later afternoon

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I wander if the person

Who had miles to go

Felt tired,

Making the desire

To stop a temptation?

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I get in the car

Hear the tires pressing

On the snow

As I head out

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Turn the wheel

To point myself

Down one hill

Across some water

Up the other side

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The sky gets dark

As the miles to go

Are done,

But now I know

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I don’t know for sure

The measure of the distance

For results

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C L Couch

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Photo by Byron Johnson on Unsplash

Great Smoky Mountains, United States

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2

The Haunted Woman

(x = space)

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The Haunted Woman

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She was from Kentucky

Her family harbored

The popular illusion that

They owned people

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He came up to her at an event

And said, “Ma’am, I want

To dance with you in the worst

Way,” and he did

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They had four children,

Only one of whom survived them

Her life, as you can imagine,

Broke apart

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She outspent the White House

Budget many times

Decorating, socializing

Her husband despaired

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The war over,

A measure of peace

That lasted for more or less

Two days for him, for her

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She was there when

He was killed,

Heard the Latin cursing

Of the actor turned assassin

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She lived a while longer

Seated beside her life that

Never happened

She remains in Springfield

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She is a shadow person

Loyal, if distracted

She lived the status

And now claims a legacy

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C L Couch

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Mary Todd Lincoln with the “ghost” of her husband, in an image taken by spirit photographer William H. Mumler. Mumler’s photos are now considered hoaxes.

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20276887

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