safety patrol
I’m not sure if I ever
got
the white sash or silver
badge
and I’m not sure the office ever
worked
to make us
safer
crossing the driveway at
the edge
of
the school
but I wanted these
‘cause they
were
cool
the folk
that is
who wore them
sometimes I clapped erasers outside
into
the air
you know
and not against the red bricks
of
the walls
but there was no cachet
in that
no creeping up the gradients
of
cool
like the rising numbers
on the hopscotch
that
I tried
sometimes
but for lack of balance
rarely
like
the cool quantity
ever won
c l couch
photo by Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash
The Smallest Moves the Mountain
Faith like a mustard seed
Among
The smallest of the
Seeds
For
That distinction
Not
To say that faith is a small matter
But
To say that maybe it is nearly
Weightless in
A way
To believe in it
To take if on
Perhaps
It might be easy
Though the convert might struggle
Over time
And with the knees
At
The last
I mean
The start
C L Couch
(Matthew 17:20)
Photo by Gursewak Singh on Unsplash
The View You Know
Sun
Out front
Only afternoon out
Back
Both struggle
Not with each other
But
With gray
Black buildings
Black
Branches
Inside
Things are grayed as well
I could be reminded of ethical
Situations
But
It’s not school
I am
Nonplussed
Could use some learning to apply
To like
The gray
Maybe draw gray things
Try not
To think in gray
Until a situation might arise
Appreciate gray shadows
In the day
A gift
Close my eyes
Appreciate the fiery black inside
While I
Nap
Which seems
A gray thing to do
Maybe
I could try
To smell
Gray
To taste
As if from the air
To touch one of gray’s shadows
To listen
To
The words from gray
‘Cause
I could be missing out
On
A gray gospel
C L Couch
Photo by Henry & Co. on Unsplash
“In That Silent Mood” [given image title]
First and Last Resort
I pray
And maybe I don’t know how
There is the famous prayer
To pray
And I pray that
Though am prone to leave it
To formality
In
The attending crowd
But how about from
Me
To you
I can pray anything
I know
I can say anything
You hear
You love
Even forbear
And shall be disappointed
Even angry
Maybe even punishing
On this
Side
(like the claws on her back
in
The Horse and His Boy)
I now it’s not a trick
A puzzle
To get right
One
Way with all the right pieces won
As at a contest
Or a fair
Hit with the hammer to show
Enough strength
Water
The clown
‘Til the balloon above should
Pop
Not a
Competition
Not at all
Like
These
May I say
I love you
And I need you
Don’t know
How
But anyway
And will you help
Even teach
To love and need
The
Others’
And my own
And is it bifurcated
The other’s wish
And
Mine
Fate even
Direction
What is shared
And what must be
My own
Though God
I have been on my own
Enough
(and
maybe the other
has
or hasn’t)
How shall I pray for these
Except
To keep it simple
Even humble as in
Without the dross of vanity
For
Distraction
From what’s true
Like the
Unencumbered arrow
And the target
Might be
Resolution
Shot with grace
The arc toward the center
Near
Enough
Perhaps
Being a newbie always
So it seems
Even practiced
For I pray so much to you
And
Still it seems
I only start
And if we mean it
Should be good
Amen
C L Couch
Photo by Isabella Fischer on Unsplash
Eve
I miss you
You know
In deeper times
When only visions carry me
From one side
Of concern
In an
Hour to
The other
When age is less an issue
More
Of distance
Not
To mention possibility
We got along
Had
Dinner
Watched a movie
Talke with each other
Easily
And these might have been enough
For understanding showing
There was
Something held
Here
Even a diamond-kind of promise
Precious
Lasting
Maybe a depth
Like nothing in the Earth
Mined
Or unmined
But what hearts
Must expose
With words that could
Have
Followed
If
Simply
Sadly
Not this time
C L Couch
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
lyrics on a day that’s cold and cold at least in the MidAtlantic
Suburban Wait
Winter light’s
Too bright
For cleaning deeply
Finally
Dispiriting
The leaning light
Shows everything we’ll never get
To or
Even want
To get around to
Those dust-bunnies shall
Keep their warrens
After all
While we wait
For the easy lighting
To clean by
Which
Will happen
You know
Spring
Roll
Roll in the hay
Roll out the barrel
Mister
Yankovic
Roll on home
Now
There might be rolls
For dinner
Rolled oats
Though I don’t know what
These are
Roll the dice
Roll to win
Field Work
God
You love us
Anyway
Which is remarkable
Not inexcusably
But
Unconditionally
Which splices doctrine
Maybe
But you can handle that
And so
Should we
The field of the Lord is vast
There are no mines
No
Not ever
Only living things
Mythic plants
That spring back as we pass over
Them
So that everyone may have
The chance
To pilgrim
Toward
What’s next
Possessive Tense
The dogs of God
The cats
The bunnies
Too
The aardvarks
And the platypus too silly
Some
Might think
The insects
Too
There might be reasons
For mosquitoes
What is tall
What is
Low
What is brief
What has long life
On Earth
The Earth is the Lord’s
Too
A place on which to keep
The complex
Living things
And
Well
Among these
Us
Use Words
(as you are able)
I love you
Honestly
I know
(since I’m in me)
You love me
I think I know
Not quite as
Whose woods are these
I know
(not with the same divine
assurance
frankly)
So you might have to say
From time to time
Though if you
Always do
(flawed occasions notwithstanding)
Then
Maybe not so much to say
But
Sorry
Still
To say
C L Couch
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” Robert Frost (cited)
Photo by Kevin Cress on Unsplash
Arundel
It’s
Larkin
Captures the detail
In the stone
That the couple’s hands are touching
Throughout what might be
The long life of
Statuary
Isn’t that the thing to
Leave
And who they knew the message
When flesh
Was intimate
The lord and the lady considering
The tomb
And a commission
To have their hands joined
After
Death
While
Uncommissioned
Beyond wedding vows
They had the life deserving
Of the clue
On the monument
For keep observers to be
Noting
And who knows
Maybe corresponding in their touching
As well
While on Earth
And promising celestial
Closeness
Too
Larkin’s message might be hard
(like
the stone)
Until the end
And it’s after I am thinking
Since his hands are in a posture too
Just now
And for how long
By bone
Or ash
There's knowing
C L Couch
a response to “An Arundel Tomb” by Philip Larkin
(can read at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47594/an-arundel-tomb)
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
graves in Arundel
my practiced cat sleeps
gilt by sun on the mattress
she meows to bless
c l couch
photo by Anna Karapetian on Unsplash
[not my cat, though my cat also gave the don’t-mess-with-the-cat look—this cat, by the way, is from Ukraine]
the question of this evening
(responding to “Now the Day Is Over”)
evening draws nigh
the old song
imposes
for the song becomes
well
rather maudlin
melancholy
minimally
there is a prayer
and that’s fine
for Jesus to keep us through
the night
but
some will ignore
all this prayer
to fire up
the evening hours
instead
so lie low tonight
or charge
the time there is
to pub
and such
though morning comes
and with it
some responsibility
unless
retirement
has taken over
as an age
or
attitude
and then
what then
a song of peace
results in consternation
for there is much to figure out
by night
by day
rebellion
indifference
extremes cut through
by rest
c l couch
(the song often sung in my college chapel Sunday night—here, sorry, the assurance questioned
Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky.
verse 1)
photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash
“Sometimes you just have to look up.”
(caption given)
clcouch123 
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