Search

clcouch123

I talk you talk we'll talk

Open Search

here is a poem about spring

here is a poem about spring; there is no image; I’m trying understand what I may post by way of text and-or image, given parameters; the poem is intentional, not a template


spring for sports

spring for sports
and spring for sports
and why not
we’ve been breathing indoor
court air
exclusively
too
long

time for a whistle heard across the field
the look of grass real
unreal
(somehow spring dirt makes
a difference)
to feel it
literally at last
underfoot
(maybe
a hobbit’s name)

t-shirts and fresh air
	the shirts don’t have to be
	so fresh
we could play well
we could play
fair
we could play free of interference
save our own

c l couch

0

no images

I am trying with no images except, I guess, the banner image. No billboards should appear.

—CLC

0

out of space

well, I’m out of space, folks—I’m not sure what comes next

c l couch

4

response to a photograph-prompt arranged by Melissa Lemay


from the tent it is a sand and then a water world

I set my shoes
outside
as if I were entering
sancrosanctity
though really the sand-filled things
would not be convenient
in the tent

still
something east of here
and like a desert
calling
and I guess deserts go to coastlines
too
as this beach doesn’t go to desert
actually
but in its narrow strip
still calls what
to us might be
exotic wanderlust

c l couch


from a prompt provided by Melissa Lemay at https://melissalemay.wordpress.com/2025/03/24/melissas-fandango-flash-fiction-challenge-313/ (photo by Sara Cottle on Unsplash)

my thanks for Melissa!
https://melissalemay.wordpress.com/


(at) https://melissalemay.wordpress.com/2025/03/24/melissas-fandango-flash-fiction-challenge-313/
       Hello! Welcome to Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge. Each week I will post an image I grab off the internet and challenge bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the image. There are no style or word limits.
       If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post and use the tag #FFFC. Please create a pingback to this post and/or manually add your link in the comments. I hope it will generate some great posts. Don’t forget to stop back and read/comment on the posts of others.
       Thank you for participating!

4

the later God


the later God
(still the God even of later)

some of us
maybe many
don’t want God around
let alone
too close in

we want God maybe
another time
somewhen
somewhere else

now is not
the time

we need to keep the time
locked away behind
heart’s doors

maybe while we’re not so
worldly
while we’re not so selfish
frankly

while we want good things
though
not
in the right way

we’ll righten up
well
maybe later on
when we’ve used up all
the hope we’ve had
the time
as well

the closeness of the Lord
too close
sometimes
and
certainly
while we’re invested in agendas
made by someone else
imposing

while
not
our own

c l couch


photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash
“the heavens”

3

cherish is the word


cherish is the word

the spooky tree

I just heard mention of
a “spooky tree”

trees are spooky
I suppose
or can be especially when given
the Hallowe’en shape
and
association

though trees are green as well
and the green parts
we are drawn
to
for all they are as well as
what they mean

green
la vida
(not loca)

we have had an equinox
lately
and so we’re on a kind of edge
or cusp
in
not so much
the sky-shape of the moon
and how the stars
are
traveling

or even tables of tides
or even
Zodiac zones

we are on a line
	an edge
	a cusp
and spring should follow
normally
though we have put the seasons on an edge
as well
through what we’ve done to sky
water
and ground

our edge
(related to the others)
is made up of
resolve
which the other things with lines and such
can’t muster

we choose the Earth
we choose
	the sky
	the water
	and the ground

and we choose each other
in the kind of
relation
that comes with deciding our part
of the cosmos
(sometimes
consideration is that
big)

what shall we choose
and
how to live

we have a cusp for timing

there’s no point in
despotism

we can be equal in each other’s eyes
and
all selective senses

and
yes
there’s good
and there is evil
and they need attending
for each is in the world
as each is
in
and from
each of us

we have to keep a world
governments and industries
we should value life
our lives
in whatever motley way we have life
once
we have it
and it goes on

the isms have their place
though they should be mollified by
things
mentioned through ages

befitting
old
and new
and renewed

c l couch


“Cherish” is a song written by Terry Kirkman and recorded by The Association.  “Cherish” was released in 1966.

Photo by USGS on Unsplash[--]Soaring, snow-capped peaks and ridges of the eastern Himalaya Mountains create an irregular white-on-red patchwork between major rivers in southwestern China. The Himalayas are made up of three parallel mountain ranges that together extend more than 2,900 kilometers. [From USGS.] (And it looks a bit like a Hallowe’en tree. From me.)

0

haiku plus announcement


haiku plus announcement


yellow brown blue white
and there must be green for spring
gospel of out there


       As I’ve mentioned, I find haiku a challenging craft.  Maybe if I knew Japanese, though I’d have to know Japan as well (more than I know now).  Nonetheless some haiku of mine—five in all (each one invited to send five)—will be published in an upcoming collection by Literary Revelations (https://literaryrevelations.com/).  I’m keenly grateful to the publishing house for accepting my work to share with others.  More specifically, I'm grateful to Gabriela Marie Milton who invited and received submissions.  (If I understand the process.)
       More details as I have them.  Thank you for reading and thus encouraging my work.


photo by Xuan Nguyen on Unsplash

2

2 poems about the new season


2 poems about the new season (more or less)


Bouncy

God
It’s yellow Friday
With blue and brown
On deck

It’s
Spring and time
Not for the metaphor this
Time but
To really
Play some ball

Training
Then the opening
We each can do this

Batter
You know
Up

And I’ve switched audience
Though aren’t you
Always there
(for
an excuse)

Forgive me
And allow me to say
Maybe
To everyone

About
Gospel of play
And did you plays as you ringed
And then rounded
Creation

Maybe
Keep us
Safe
In this new season

Knowing that our choices
Make the difference
Even if
And when
We could turn our will
Toward yours

A wheel
And a wheel within a wheel

But I was thinking baseball
Pitches
Running
And then
The coming home

Green
Workaday
And extraordinary-day
New
Season to you

And to you

Amen


Freedom Ring

The Liberty Bell is cracked
And there were more
Bells
At the time
Ringing freedom
While now we have
The broken bell
For show

And there is wisdom
In admiring the broken
Toward
Kintsugi perhaps
Or to leave in
Pieces
Sometimes for further lack of use
Except in small beholding
Or
When a sizable
Cast bell
To dream on ringing
To dream really large
Sometimes


C L Couch


Photo by Joe Richmond on Unsplash

0

3 poems about things turning


3 poems about things turning such as certain times of year


hurry up

hurry up

let’s get me out of here

not
to the grave
despite my age that is closing in
on the classic threescore
and ten

but more peace
as I keep asking

which means I’ll need the wherewithal
to get there

which I think means
money
and assistance

more assistance in the way
of people
who are stronger than my heart-disease-ridden
body
can manage anymore

though
I’ve always needed help to move

who doesn’t

though now the urgency
is different
I believe

one more place this time
perhaps
one last place
in which to live
and
you know
hope
to live


please

which goes for a plea
I guess

I mean beyond the wordplay
in that we plea
yet
add a couple letters for more courtesy
with which
to ask

plea
as in deal
as in crime

plea
as in asking because it’s not only desired
but also it is urgent

what we want
or need
or offer in an intercessory
way

a petition
as it were from you
through me

and not that that should make so much
a difference that it’s me
but asking
anyway
on your behalf

of God
or the spirits of the world behind
under
perhaps

even
to add in some miracle
by magic

which isn’t doctrinal
I suppose
but how close the miracle and magic
maybe in the timing
at least

as in
was the miracle the parting of the sea
since by those who
know
purportedly
not an unusual occasion
though parting in the time
to save
the Israelites

and even close upon the enemy
with hurried wheels
following
with many deadly points from spears
and arrows

and yet
whatever passed for armor could not save

but they were
saved
the refugees
those who would become the desert-dwellers
as if to earn the promise of
new land

but
to bring it forward
there are needs
there are miracles
and
(arguably)
of magic

and I wish
	not that it’s a lamp
	inside a cave

I pray
	(more earnestly)
that
what you need you have
possession
or direction
or some healing

as only the one who provides
may provide
knowing
what and how to time
miracle
magic
and everything

my friend


it’s time

another ashy day
goodness
we’ve had a few
days

right
for Lent
I guess

we can wear these days
upon our foreheads
should we wish

late is wan
but shows some color
after all

light gold
a kind of uneasy glaze upon
it all

not that the day is
bad

that’s up to us

and it isn’t hard to look at
but I think the day should have more green
and I’d think you would
too

not only for the sake of light
but the beginning of
you know
that verdant time


note

hurry up
please
it’s time
(titular frame based on a repeating part of “The Wasteland” by T. S. Eliot)

Shantih

photo by Anton Luk on Unsplash

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑