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blank page

 

don’t look at me that way

I can’t help it if

there’s nothing there

I try, you know

and it isn’t easy

you don’t know, do you

why don’t you try it

 

okay, here

goes

 

remember the old riddle

birds tracking feet

across a page

meant a gospel record

had been written

good news

to tell

the Gospel and the fact of

a book

 

and then there was the writer

chaining herself to

a desk neavy

an alarm clock

I don’t recall how it worked

exactly

but it got her writing

which was

maybe only in the novel

I was reading

by

Martha Grimes

 

and was this aspect

autobiographical

or the story of a peer

 

we now have machines

to guarantee a process

the monkeys

who typed out War and Peace

have been replaced

now a feminized voice

might do this for us

if we ask aright

or else we might get electron laughter

 

so now there’s something

and I’m thankful

now your turn

 

c l couch

 

(c.f. The Horse You Came In On by Martha Grimes

and

Alexa’s ‘evil laugh’ is freaking people out | The Sacramento Bee)

 

blank page

https://oneparentshort.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/not-a-good-year-for-triskaidekaphobia/blank-page/

 

5

The Wild (companion to “Way”)

The Wild

(companion to “Way”)

 

Maybe we can find another way

That no one’s taken

It’s a big world, after all

And we are small upon it

A road not ever taken

Not even a road

But what we make

Not an Appian macadam through an empire

Or cord wood laid down by artisan French

To consecrate

The king’s highway

 

Rude trail, if any

For others to press with

Greater permanence

Should they pass this way

On the track we have christened

Before nature grows it over

 

C L Couch

 

 

overgrown path

Overgrown Pathway Looking east across Banky Meadows.

david newton

from geograph.org.uk

3

Way

Way

 

if we don’t care when we get there

detours can be interesting

we might not know exactly where we’re going

anymore

and so find ourselves in something

new

and it’s not a jungle

overgrown

we’re still on roads or, if walking, on paths

we’ll still see houses, trees marching

to greet us

maybe around the bend, we’d like to find

a castle in a wild place

a dragon perched atop, looking to tilt

fang against spar not for life but for

local reputation,

bragging rights at the public house

 

the thing about the road less traveled

is that others have traveled it

we can go it alone

singing Sinatra like a mantra

(ouch)

but everything’s been trod, everything’s a trail

explored many times by pilgrims

owning a variety of causes

we go to see what has befallen

to know what has been

known

in new combinations

 

and in company

I believe

Is best

 

C L Couch

 

 

path in Taiwan

Taiping Mountain Path in Taiwan

Image credit: Justin Jones

https://www.boredpanda.com/path-photography/

 

5

three poems about light

three poems about light

by C L Couch

 

 

The Light We Make

 

White lights

Illuminate too much

I don’t like them

In headlights or in overhead neon,

Especially

Where is the dawn

That softly cascades on all

Things below

If it’s an emergency,

That’s one thing

But for day-to-day, why

Can’t we have gold

Freely delivered from

Heaven’s treasure

Or more homely manufacturing?

 

Better the dawn, I think,

For inspiration

A glimpse of visioning like

Angels,

A reason at the start of day

 

 

 

Galadriel Comes to Rivendell

(a Middle-Earth lyric)

 

In a penultimate age

Galadriel comes to Rivendell

To toast with Elrond

A Elbereth Gilthoniel

Whom shell they be meeting soon

On the first shore

Of unending

Once upon a timeless time

And everlasting

 

Well done, the half-elf declares

I knew you were hiding by

The gate

Hidden by my host, she corrects

They would not bear

To evidence my presence

So far from the

Golden wood of home

Where, alas, Celeborn remains

 

But ready, comes the declaration

From the host, back to the

Final battle,

Always ready, and she smiles

 

All our allies had not yet

Arrived

I would have gone to them

 

You would have commended

Or commanded all of us there,

I wonder

 

I would not have said a

Word

 

The authority of your magic

Is the message

In elvish silence

 

Even better, I think?

She sipped

 

And so they talked, old friends

As much as majesty and crusade allow

While the night inside faded

Outside a new day already

Transpiring

That would no longer know them

Might they leave

 

Yet a hint of Hollin

Goodness might remain

Where they once passed

 

[all the rest is benediction and epilogue]

 

So their time

Our time

An age between

Rises at dawn

Under a yellow, mortal sun

No longer blessed

By characters

And presence

 

A benediction before

They leave

All doors open wide

To welcome gratitude

Or rudeness

Mortals’ choice

 

An eagle’s blessing

Then all the keepers of blue flame

And light we cannot bear

Are gone

 

 

 

Misfit

 

The lights of heaven

Are too much for me

I cannot manage

Pure light that has other

Texture

 

I need light gobos through wisping clouds

And trees,

Dressed in motley by

All earthly forms and shadows

 

In the shade

Is fine for me

Though not in formless dark,

Please

 

Readiness for paradise

Means new lenses, I suppose

Like focusing kaleidoscopes

Or tracing light through prisms

I will adjust

Or be adjusted

By perfect agencies

Gate-keepers,

Heaven-defenders

Who see all clear

For ages, now

So will you

So will I

 

 

 

lantern

http://www.jesuitas.co/homilia_2121.html

 

4

Too-Young Good-Bye

Too-Young Good-Bye

(youth, adults—the Humboldt team and friends)

 

In Canada

In Nipawin,

Youth and hockey

Care and safety

And something else transpires

Coaches and sponsors

Everyone does a job

And something else transpires

A bus and a truck tall and wide collide

And that’s it

There it is

An explosion perhaps not

In fiery effect

But of life regardless

And too terribly

I’ve been in vehicle crashes

So are many others

A truck crashed once into my car

I was sprayed with glass

And there was no question

The family station wagon would

Be replaced

People have been hurt in wrecks

This is what I know

Those who are close to this

Know so much more

And horrible

There are

Those who left

Pulled mortally from here,

The here and now we

Have

Those who remain

What shall be done

 

Too many must heal,

And we must return

To take each one gone

A gift

Of flesh and soul

And in quiet, be thankful he

Was with us

For a time—then

For each one still in sight,

Perception

 

All-gendered victims now

All ages then and since

All places

All relations

Thoughts and prayers are tired

Though we will inhale and

Pray for real, again

For faith however tried

And for answers that like deer

Are nimble and grace-filled

 

Look for authenticity

In choices of

Our love

Good-bye too soon

 

Each one

Not from eternal reach,

But the for hours we must count

‘Til heaven says all counting’s gone

Together

In a redemptive now

Always beginning

 

C L Couch

 

 

image above from Pinterest

image below from http://www.tripmondo.com/canada/saskatchewan/nipawin/

Nipawin deer

 

0

Fine Day

Fine Day

 

After many tries, I’ve found

A cup that right for soup

Shiny with a handle the right size for

The skin between my knuckles

Black, not so heavy, portable

Hot from the microwave

A Prufrock thing, perhaps

I handle the part thing in my hair

But not having so much of one

And I’ve dared to eat the peach,

Preferring clementines

Nothing much

Which is the point

We meet the God of the universe

Through an open orange pit

And stirring a galaxy in coffee

I think Julian might approve

 

C L Couch

 

 

https://pxhere.com/fr/photo/165696

clementines

 

0

Fools

Fools

(Easter 2018)

 

April fool on Easter

Funny, yes

But here’s a chance

To get it right

Christ died a fool, you know

He could have brought an army

Down to slay his persecutors

God can do that

Look up Jericho or Midian

He chose to remain instead

A savior

The world was the prank

That made a joke of him

Tell us, king, who

Hit you, spat on you

And crucified you

The April fool

King for a day, an ancient rite

In which the weakest ruled

In parody

Brief, great dynasty

Before execution, serving the good

Of the community

Because of sacrifice

Sin-eater

Bearer of all burdens

 

Such is the lesson

We have upside on this

Sabbath day

Before the riot

Before eggs and chocolate, flouncy fabric

Best behavior

Ham at home, all

Good things to celebrate

Though the best is yet to come

 

A magic trick, some say, though the brutality

Was real, and he did not

Escape the devil’s feint

The sleight of hand

Faith is foolish to

Those who will not have it

Who are afraid that

What we have

Is not enough

 

We have the choice

We don’t have victory

But we have found an empty tomb

 

C L Couch

 

Tophat

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-35243823

 

 

3

The Day After

The Day After

(Holy Saturday 2018)

 

The Saturday before

And nothing’s going on

 

Is there a signal yet

A code for believers

Not the fish, even though

Remembrance of the feast

Upon the hillside

Could be recalled

 

But the last letters of acrostic

Faithlessly, have not been found

 

In disillusion

Fear of capture

Greater fear of nothingness

 

All that’s left is, what,

Eat something, find a place to

Stop

As darkness of the human heart

Enfolds

 

And doubt in anything that’s good

Or lasts

Washes like acid

Over once-fast believing

 

C L Couch

 

2

Deconstruction

Deconstruction

 

The sky cries into

Chiseled ground

Wedged open by sin

Up on the hill

The day is night

And love is hate

All things turned over

As a shovel upends soil

To dig a grave

 

C L Couch

 

 

crosses Montana

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/194288171402151308/

Jill Lesoing saved to Meet Me In Montana…

 

3

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