the children
the children fight to change the world
and to save it
so that
when they’re fat
and old and
heavenbound they know
they fought
for
something and that something
was worthwhile
my bugbear was hazing
more so
and overall
the challenge to believe that
even
and especially when
grownups are
wrong
the spirit of survival and of growth
is in each
one of us however
young
even untried
against
cliques and
cabals
to find the better parts
of
change and what should
stay the same
inside
and in between
the truth in lore
in you
in me
and you know I’m going to say
in us
c l couch
photo by Maryn Brayfield on Unsplash
“Exploring”
2 poems while thinking about Easter
Aslan again
was re-maned
once rising
with all wounds save mild scars
now
unremembered
new life
new joy
wanting to roar
and so roaring
and then playing
with
the children
on a hillside
where rolling
descending and ascending
make
sense
in mortality
again
(recalling that passage in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe)
green-grass Saturday
made of plastic
even though there’s cheer
in memory
said memory to find itself in corners
through
the coming year
once making beds
to dye the eggs with vinegar
hot water
everything is nestled
for a while
and
as of yet
no chocolate has appeared
though we are
ready for the hunt again
on Sunday
for the same eggs
now
we cannot find
and then the chocolate
and there will be photographs
appearing of the day
and
of the day again
then in pastels
off
to church
c l couch
photo by Birger Strahl on Unsplash
chapbooklet for wrapping up the workaday week
(should you work this kind of week with its work days)
Guide
I’ve been on trails
And there were guides
And other sites
With guides
Though Mammoth Cave
Through the National Aquarium
I thought I’d like to be a guide
And applied
And got the job
Fort Necessity
But
Too far away
And I was unwell
And so stayed put
Sigh
We think of guides
They do their jobs and then
We put them
Aside
To lead our guideless lives
Except
By ourselves
And anyone who tells us what
To do
And we obey
Or otherwise we go along
Conductoring
I like conducting
I discovered rather late
I have good sense of rhythm
And a good
Sense of pitch
I have directed groups
But did not have the chance
Realities
Subsuming
To get the training I would need
To do it and be taken
Seriously
So I do the phantom thing
As others do
Conduct when no one’s looking
There might be music on
Or all the pieces
All the voices
All the movements
In my head
Southpaw
I am left-handed
Which
Yes
I’m told means I live
In my right mind
Statistically
(I suppose actuarially)
I
Understand
We lead shorter lives
Up to
Five years less
Which seems unfair
For all the terrific baseball-pitching
We
Provide
Guidance Counselor
I think that God guides
Though I’m not sure
Although
Before my doubt should intervene
My instincts
Worldly
Ego-driven
Take over all the choices
Sometimes I withhold
The choice
Long enough to hear
Or note the tug
Of the angel voice
Or pull
To indicate
This is what I should
Do
Where I should go
So I don’t know
It’s not
Negotiation
For we’re not in any
Way
In equal places
Equal parts
And yet
It matters how I listen
How
I respond
My decisions
(predestination notwithstanding)
Seem
To matter
Which might we say
From time to time
To listen to
Your know
The better angels
The other ones
Fallen like us
And yet for that kinship
We must look
To rise
Like the ones who fly
Roll of Thunder
First the lightning
Then the crash right after
Lightning
Close
Then the count took place
Increased
As hours passed
Flashes
Persisted
Though the numbers
Said the lightning had moved on
Inside
No lights flickered
Which
In a dismal state
Added balm to despair’s
Ennui
We Are Closed
(open to what’s next)
The hours close in
The last of the workweek
In my
Current culture
There will be a kind of ending
Paced by exhalations
As we leave
Where we have been for
Hours
Naturally enough
And on our way
(exhaling)
Toward home
Or pubs
Or whatever satisfied
Distracts
Over the connotative weekend
C L Couch
Have a splendid weekend!
(should you have the weekend)
Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash
visitationing
(there’s an answer to a riddle toward the end)
God behind the clouds
today
descending now and then
to look inside
the window
make sure that I am
still there
and I appreciate the feeling
though God could
come in
and we could sit
and God would ask
and I would
answer
though what I’d really like to do
is listen
to the Lord across
across
from
me
c l couch
photo by Ozgu Ozden on Unsplash
replacing a cell phone in 2025
(to my family first and then the artifact)
hi
my replacement phone is on the way
I wasn’t sure if had paid the insurance on the phone I had
(now run over)
but I had
I couldn’t access my account at first because they wanted to send a verification text
to the phone that’s smashed and splintered and (thus) no longer working
but there was a phone number that I called
and I spoke with a real person
who asked me for a PIN I didn’t know at first
and I tried a couple numbers in my head
and one of these numbers worked
then it was confirmed for me (by the real person) that I had indeed paid the
insurance
and so could get a new phone
for which I was given new numbers to try
phone number of the insurance company for the cell company
some sort of activation number
the number to call back once I had the replacement phone
on line again
I filed the claim
and now am assured (electronically) that a new phone is on the way
I might have considered an upgraded model
but received no enticement to that effect
and so
I’ll have the same kind and model of cell phone again
I’ll let you know when my mobile number should be working again
thanks
christopher
photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash
first question
and what of God today
and
dare I ask
in that
God is all in all
our totality
by
in creation
and salvation that we hope
to own
enough for admission
or is that confession
with our faith
maybe
(an Amish hope)
enough
for admission
to God’s heaven
as
the angels’
and in
part
perhaps our own
c l couch
photo by Jac Alexandru on Unsplash
lamb-like
(31 March)
today is a lamb-like
day
as it happens
where I am
whereas
you might be in a storm or counting
minutes ‘til one happens
or there could be
late-spring
or on a desert where the climate
seems
unchanging
though
if minutely
it is not
here
the sun is shining
as it
tries for spring
still somewhat winter-pale
here and there some detritus
from the frigid season
(or
the opposite
way south)
waiting to be washed away after
a widespread and
we may
hope
a natural sort of thaw
for anymore the Earth fool us
in that we fool
ourselves
in
how we grew
and now manipulate
(per se)
the climates of our planet
I mean
decades of abnormal
if not
aberrant
burning
poisoning of land and sky
and shall we mention water for
the nonce
in
all we’ve done
the state of pipes
e.g.
and each of us may now
take part
though most of us were not decision-makers
in the melting of
our
atmospheric health
while this is not an issue save as
breathing might be
one
it is not a choice in politics
whether or not
the Texas-sized hole in the ozone
exists
(which could be less regarding relative
in danger)
and I
was saying it’s
a lamb-ish kind of day
and here
it is
if pale
in the hope that with the season
all colors and movements
there
in climate
shall become robust
in
spite of things and
even as a cosmic
gift
to us
in most zones
if not them
all
by new-normal and by worn-plastic
rather literal
causes
c l couch
photo by Mitchell Orr on Unsplash
abduction
(a draft about salvation)
we were taken away
from Eden
with Edenic living
whose fault
we don’t know
maybe everyone’s
maybe not ours
so much
because we were not there
except in some spirit
time and space
possibility
now we are held captive
and there should be
a ransom
since kidnapping goes that way
some amount
some prize
according to abductors
who have caged us in deceit
to call it living
so who must pay
to whom
and how much
the price might be forever
be everything
anyone could have
and pay the price
the price paid
which was a final deception
a trip
in which the rescuer
now gone would leave the rescued
untenable
not fit for anything but fire
the infernal fire
which is to say fire upon fire to
the glee
of the one who thought
who planned
who entwined
and who
in fact
led the absconding or ourselves
and now in victory
having arranged the killing
of the only one to save
until
this moment
this moment when it
turned out
there was a reason for the death
and it was
to guarantee a life
one life
all
lives
together have the chance
now
to be saved
and what weeps and what
gnashes its teeth but a
planner
the abductor
who thought that killing it should mean the end
and it should now
but doesn’t
in that we may choose
faith in our own supernal return
the one returned
who offers the returning
to anyone
and as plus with anyone
becomes
an all
a following
angels and us
perhaps
in faith then
by grace
we return and then
even better yet move forward
to the gates of Eden now
angel-unassigned
shall become a new Eden and how about
gateway to new Earth
by new heaven
c l couch
photo by Peter Thomas on Unsplash
a two-part matter of monsters
monsters
monster means something important
out for show
but we know monster
really
for ourselves and
also monstrous
connotation
and old scary movies
and before that
illustrations here and there on paper
though mostly
through
stories
the monster that we see outside
and
do not see
the gruntings or the screams we think we
hear
there is what goes into
and has always been
inside
the mind
monsters worse that in there
rise
sometimes in sleep
or we take them waking into
feeling
thinking
the spirit
the ego
our inner things fed one way or another
and then become
our conscious
if monsters not-consciously influence
‘til
they’re
known
maybe through counsel
maybe we learn to drag the beasts from
deep lurking
into a shallow sunlit place
where they
are known
and
let
awareness both appreciate as well as
eschew
all monsters
doubting
they do not go away
so we’ll pursue
and
come to know in unshadowed time
and circumstances
live with
then
the monstrous as
best
(not beast)
as we may
monstrous negotiation
maybe that’s how I’ll leave it
a discussion
for
the day
of what’s monstrous
what are the beasts that lurk away
or want
to invade
and also the shaded things
as creatures
that
we keep inside
the world
certainly can
be
a bestial place
look at D. C.
and also western Asia with points
west
and east
until except for penguin colonies
the Earth is subsumed
by
all the monster presences
and possibilities
and we think monster-hunting will
resolve
except the monstrous will not like it
and might attack
or simply
push
tall and deadly things from
the forests in
our way
the forest out there
and
of course
the woods in here
the fairytale monsters
point
toward us while
reading or
otherwise receiving
and while they
return
and so we have more stories
maybe there’s
a matter of negotiation
that
only lately
except for Androcles
the narratives are positing
that
we make friends
with dragons
and
so ask Saint George to consider new
pursuits
that we bargain with ourselves
as well
and the clawed and jagged creature-parts
dwelling
deep
but changing moods
and agendas near and over the surface
to outside
and
then each other
rather
to learn the monsters
that
we won’t need to feed them
they’ll be fine
and teach us in return
that what is
monstrous
needs no encouragement
but
in appreciation
then
of everything we are
chastened
we step into the waters of the world
all the currents
even
caves once knowing
what inhabits
there
in me
in you
so us
and in them
until the them be us as well
c l couch
photo by steffen wienberg on Unsplash
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