red hints on the land
autumn wants arriving now
cool sky is needed
c l couch
photo by Nan Chen on Unsplash
the overwhelming
of Nepal and Tibet
I’m lucky
I’ve gone
under
and come up again
not floods but enveloped
by
loss of breath and
danger to
recover
with scars and fears
yet
still here to learn and to offer
and take in
love
as has been directed by
the second great commandment
water
mud
current
overwhelming gravity
and
by the water
land
and force to still the muscle
take the breath
deliver death like
an angel
painting lintels on a certain
night in Egypt
only this
was from a glacier
that
maybe was
maybe was not supposed to break
and
send the killing ice to water
down
to overwhelm
the hundreds found with
hundreds missing more
to all
a hopeful rescue
or
arrivals
tentative to check
in morgues
for those we might have known
and to know or fear from
missing
so much destroyed and what
remains
and what
to do
and prayer has power
so does money
so
too
does presence
and all work together
present
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photo by Sanjay Hona on Unsplash
NBC News
August 28, 2026, 7:37 AM EDT
• At least 547 people are dead after catastrophic flash floods Wednesday along the border between Nepal and China’s Tibet region, authorities in Nepal said.
• Hundreds of foreign tourists are among those who remain missing in the area, which is popular with trekkers and pilgrims. Rescue operations have resumed in both China and Nepal after they were briefly suspended amid fears of renewed flooding.
• In China, where a mudslide hit a land crossing between Nepal and Tibet’s Gyirong county, authorities said five people were dead and 558 others were missing, including 260 foreigners.
• The State Department says 90 Americans are unaccounted for in Nepal and China, while three have been rescued in Nepal. It said it was not aware of any U.S. deaths.
• The deadly torrent followed a glacial collapse in the Himalayan region, which is home to many of the world’s highest peaks and a high concentration of glaciers.
islands
I was put off
by use
of the word “Whorehouse”
in
the title
what do I know
liked her work in
9 to 5
and Rhinestone
and better works whose
names
I can’t recall
her commanding pitch in songs
her marriage on Earth
of
59 years
her
foundation sponsoring
as
in making possible
literacy around the world
starting
I guess
in Tennessee
her love of the South
and then
everywhere
and everything to love
and
everyone
music
gone from Earth
music
in heaven
Dolly Parton
clc
drafting right after reading
my brother Paul worked with her in music, theatre production
Dolly Parton @DollyParton
Global icon and humanitarian, Dolly Parton, known to the world as a beloved singer, songwriter, philanthropist, actress, playwright, and author died peacefully today in Nashville, Tennessee. She was 80 years old.
. . .
birthday in Hobbiton
in one month
still get a hobbit charge
to give
and to receive
and wonder where the latest mathoms
are
a party
well
maybe for the young ones
I’d just as soon sit with friends
drink dark ale
hear some un-birthday music
and then
simple
conversation
about anything but me
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B’s and F’s is actually on the twenty-second
photo by Tim Zänkert on Unsplash
don’t do unless in Hobbiton, attended by a wizard
The Lord of the Rings, the inspired prompt for this work, is a series by J. R. R. Tolkien
(line-spacing without variations by WordPress, sigh)
I think Jane wanted to do something
remember
or
why would we
except I
do
of
Dick and Jane
with Spot and Puff
and
I guess Mom and
Dad
and they wanted to do things
but had to be smart
about these
and most things worked out
well
I think
and it was maybe to cite
the Think and
Do
program
and franchise for each district
and I guess that was
all right
except that Dick and Jane were awfully white
or
graphically blank but if with Anglo
features
and were they Protestant
as
was expected by the WASPs
in charge
could they be
Jewish
or Muslim
or Catholic or
agnostic
and Nancy Drew
fought crime after church
first
church on Sundays
and these were mentors
I suppose
from school where I was frantic
or home after
the reading chair where and when there’d been
some peace
and
to
get by
acceptably with freedom
if to feel
in summers only
then the next grade to fear
and to endure
unless investing
in
indifference
you know
too cool for school
and
forgetting what I might have learned
fright
then
or ennui
and could we not do better
serving us
and
not
to say that family doesn’t matter
for the dog and cat
and the whole family
needing care
maybe
adding what’s added
anyway
in the world for
faith
and reconstructed families
with
all the colors and the shapes
that Peter Max
elicited
and all the variations in the world
allow and by which keep
teaching for
our
learning
where and
how
Dick and Jane and with all names
to learn
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photo by Tianlei Wu on Unsplash
“meet my boi”
undeferred
maybe the universe
is better noise
except for that half hour from heaven
otherwise
a harmony
of spheres
of cubes
planes on or off axis
axes
and
dimensions
better when we’re talking
even better when
we’re singing
that is
anything by way of music
mountains as instruments
moons as notes
on staffs of
interplanetary compositions
let dreaming become
utterance
instantly encouraged
no deferring here
or there
at first
at last
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What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
. . .
—Langston Hughes
photo by Benjamin Chambon on Unsplash
so far, the line-spacing remains uniform, no matter how I’d like to separate the elements on the page (and it seems I’m needing to reformat often, part or all, sigh)
depth and breadth and height
prompt by her Sonnet 43
why do you love us
you could count
the ways
you love our flaws
you love what’s good about us
too
you love what we are
and what we’re not
in
what we want
and parsing what we want
by
perfect virtue
who we are
by you
by us
even by how the world has shaped us
you love healing us
when wills align
and in the end
to
take us home
where you won’t love us less
but there will be more
c l couch
photo by Mohamed B. on Unsplash
the poetry format is still not working right by WordPress; I can load lines but not spaces between lines, sigh
need and pleasure
those whose hunger and thirst
are dire
deserve food and
drink
and a balance for the body
I guess after need is met
I mean for
everyone
with food allowed there might come preference
and
pleasure
so that we have fun in the feast
once life secured
know I might rest
knowing the other might
sleep
as well
satisfied
perhaps in every way
though that could take another sermon
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Romans 14
15 If your brother or sister is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let your good be slandered. 17 For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
(the preaching this morning was based on this chapter–the verse above being my response, not the preaching in the service)
photo by MChe Lee on Unsplash
(WordPress continues not respecting the poetry format; I reached out and got a response promising a response–shall I be glad A-I can’t solve this?)
time is deciding
here and there from green to gold
late summer changes
c l couch
photo by Erika Fletcher on Unsplash
WordPress still won’t let me paste poetry to the page, a change from three days ago that doesn’t serve at all; I guess now I’ll have to shop around; I performed another technical two-step today to get anything down; if you write and post in the same way, then maybe you’re experience this frustration, too (only A-I has responded to my complaint without satisfactory responses)
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