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The Cup of Cold Water

The Cup of Cold Water

(“I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.”)

 

There’s nothing like cold water

If you’ve forgotten

Allow me to remind you

The aqueducts of Rome

Spiral wells in the Atacama

Oases here and want to be there throughout the world

 

The lack of it in Flint

According to recent studies

Not trusting my tap water, either

 

That’s all right, let them drink from plastic bottles

(we can have it with our cake instead of bread)

Tell that to the lack of wells in western Africa

And those who only have the wherewithal

For thirst

 

Other than the vine

No greater metaphor in Scripture

Yours or mine

Or simply keep the paperwork

That says we cannot drink

Or of the warlords who say,

I have water

So I win

 

I once drank water through the ground

Artesian promises

But

The pressure of the

Earth is not

Enough alone

To make it clear

To keep its savor

We have ruined all of it

 

I don’t mind filters

I’m glad for Brita

But too bad I cannot trust a spring

In the desert

It’s not the suddenness of romance

But the assurance of a poison

 

I’ll take my filters now

As long as I can

I’ll arrange fundraising for

Wells in real wilderness

But for the suburban places that were made into our own

We can buy

We can vote

We can find the difference

In the basics of thirst

The right to hunger

 

C L Couch

 

 

bb20_pt10

https://pixabay.com/en/flowers-cup-plastic-water-2690276/

 

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On the Line

On the Line

 

Some days are cleansing days

I’m not sure what that means

I have a simpler breakfast

Coffee and dry toast,

I spread out around the computer

Ignore the phone (caller i-d keeps watch,

anyway)

Eat and drink and write

I’m tired enough

Though not so much

It’s a kind of litany with the elements

A collaboration with nature, God the

Maker,

And with me

Not trusting self but

Finding faith with (the) others

 

Gee, it’s Monday

I think the Earth hates Mondays

Sometimes (some days) I rather loathe them, too

But it’s a start-up day for the week

And that’s all right

Taking some time to prepare

 

A breath before the face goes underwater

The shock of cold, the return of light

When breaking through

One way or the other

Let’s see what happens

 

C L Couch

 

 

(by and at) https://plentysweetlife.wordpress.com/2016/07/05/sheets-on-the-clothesline/

 

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1982

1982

 

My mother came home from the hospital today,

and I can’t handle the numbness from

exhaustion.  She has the disease, and it’s going

to kill her, but I can’t help but wonder (bad

son) about my role in this.  I try to cause three

meals a day to happen and earn enough outside

to pay some bills.  My father has proved useless.

I guess no one is surprised, though every now

and then I hope.

 

C L Couch

 

 

Robert Gramner

Just a lost key by a popular running trail.

 

 

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Failure to Launch

Failure to Launch

 

The rocket didn’t fire right

The flight could not be realized

A visit to the clouds

And the colony beyond

Will

Happen another day

 

I suppose it’s costly to repair and repeat

Maybe there’s something

The pride of discipline at work

But what happened is

 

The crew escaped

 

We remember when

There were no considerations

Thirty-two years ago

There was a rocket failure

And no means

And so no hope

 

 

These in Kazakhstan

On the day

And not the day before

They are alive

They keep their sinued bonds with Earth

They will fly again

 

C L Couch

 

 

https://www.space.com/42101-soyuz-rocket-launch-failure-abort-landing-photos-expedition57.html

 

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She at the Harvest’s Edge

She at the Harvest’s Edge

 

Women look to get it right

They appear to be on line in every way

They dig to find new truth

And ways to keep what’s hale of old

They don’t take from men

Though men should give it over

 

C L Couch

 

#GlobalGirlsAlliance

#morethancute

 

 

image by Virginia DeVinne

https://www.globalsistersreport.org/column/trends/perennial-power-calling-forth-life-55480?utm_source=GSR%20digest%2010-11-18&utm_campaign=cc&utm_medium=email

 

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Watch Over Florida

Watch Over Florida

(Michael at Category 4)

 

Please watch over the big bend in Florida

They are waiting now

Ships might be pounded first

Then those in moving sites

Once held in place

 

Maybe they remember Harvey

Or Maria

Some years ago, in the northeast there was Sandy

And going back, Agnes and Camille

We give them names

That’s a tradition

A way to morph indifference into personality,

Which somehow makes it better

Not only something to await

But someone

Another fighter in the ring

 

It has one eye

Like cyclops

And tends only to scream

Rain and wind come through its mouth,

Which is never sated

The thing moves on is all

And finally diminishes

I’m inland; that’s what I’ll get

Sometimes there are tornados, which is another

Time

 

Now is Michael

Not archangel

Not a demon

Something out of character

With benign creation

Our part in this

Maybe is an element

In elements

 

I should consider with you

All that is destroyed,

And we’ll tally later

The living in all persons and all things

Once the living’s gone

Taken away

 

But for now,

Our part in this is to survive

 

C L Couch

 

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Dry Prophecy

Dry Prophecy

 

There’s something dry in prophecy

Desert-cool

East of me

Asian

It’s alluring like a deep-blue night

Above the clean edge of dunes

Though I guess you can’t have a desert

Without scorpions

 

Fair enough

Prophecy stings, too

Ask Jezebel

Ask Ahab

 

The writing on the wall

(that’s Babylon

that’s Assyria)

In the hostage-taker’s home

Was done in perfect shape

Perfect color

Was a right warning

Though it needed interpretation

 

So desert prophecies go

Many are clear

Read the mothers

Many are understood in a hermit’s cell

A coracle against the world’s tide

And is only useful there

 

The rest might speak to us,

Eventually

Breaking from a timeless place

Into an houred day

 

C L Couch

 

 

https://lifeondoverbeach.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/amma-theodora-this-present-age-is-a-storm/

 

 

 

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One Word

One Word

 

If I don’t say it often enough,

Then let me say it now

It is the reason for the rest

 

The first

The last

And most words in between

 

If you think and feel the same, that’s fine

In fact, fantastic

And amazing

 

As long as you don’t see this as a challenge

It’s not

I hesitate an invitation

And I’m not a gadfly

(not anymore)

 

Love

That’s it

In case there never is another word

 

C L Couch

 

 

http://wallpaperweb.org/wallpaper/development/urban-wall-crack_10984.htm

 

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(I, You, We) Observe

(I, You, We) Observe

 

It’s Columbus Day observed today,

a reason to have sales and

for many a day off as part of a

long weekend.  Well and good.

The real day is Friday, the twelfth; I

wonder if they’ll make a deal of it in

Spain.  I wonder if the Genovese

might care.  The discovery of America

wrought many changes, many not

discussed in texts or class discussions.

I think the Taino people somehow

persist.  If so, I’m glad.  Semi-retired

(whatever that might mean), today

will be special mainly in the mind.

Only in this mind, it’s Friday I’m

anticipating.  The traditional day for

reflecting on all sides, like turning a

lamp around a gemstone, and more

importantly my sister’s birthday.

There’s the holiday.

 

C L Couch

 

 

Image: El Concilio Taíno Guatú Ma Cú A Borikén. Photo (by) El Concilio Taíno.

https://npl.org/opening-reception-for-exhibition-we-are-still-here-taino-survival-and-identity/

 

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