13 Friday

phobicly yours

superstitions

le chat noir

ladders
cracks in stones
spilling salt

and on
and you know some
for sure
I don’t

so this is a bad
day
as it was
certainly for the Templars

on 13 Friday
in 1307
(October)

and I have not had the best day
though
I hope you have
because
if you didn’t know the day or number
you might have a good or bad
day
regardless

and the same
a good
or bad
day tomorrow

hoping it’s good

c l couch

in 1307, the king of France got the approval of the pope to attack and kill the Knights Templar with the agenda to eradicate the order; the date was 13 October, and the day was Friday (all over France at the same time, Templar knights were captured, slain, or imprisoned to be slain a.s.a.p.)

and if cats, by the way, black and any kind, were not considered evil as likely devilish familiars—and so exterminated in great numbers throughout Europe—then the Black Plague might have been forestalled or in fact not happened, since cats tended to eat the rats that carried the fleas that carried the Bubonic infection

stepping off the soapbox now

photo by Adél Grőber on Unsplash


2 poems about the day


Fish Fry
(check the shape of stanza'd, ichthus undulation)

Friday
Fry day
Fish fry day
At the Catholic church
For penance
I suppose
Though the is
So much
One can’t complain
Of abstemious devotion
And the money
Should go somewhere
Good
And we Protestants
Can enjoy that
Too
Should we think on it
While crunching into fish with
Whatever else
Is
Provided

Yay
Catholics
Thank you for
This weekend treat
You all
Have
A great weekend
Too
After all the cooking
(the worry over getting
burned
while frying)
And all the cleaning
That frankly
We did not
Have to do
Though when it’s our turn with
A rummage sale
We’ll clean up
Afterward
For you


Thirteen O’Phobia

Today is Friday
A thirteenth
Sorry to
Triskaidekaphobes
Watch out
Black cats
They’ll be avoiding you
Which now I think it
Might be the quite suitable
Arrangement

And ladders
Mirrors
Sidewalk
Cracks
Salt containers
All the things that make
This day less
Amenable

And it’s the number
Generally
As well
The lack of such in buildings
Even
Now
And what was it
Crucifixion on a Friday
Or the barbaric
Gory dissolution of the Templars
On a Friday
Thirteenth
Early in the fourteenth century
(1307
look
another thirteen)

And Judas killed himself
Maybe on that
Friday
Being the thirteenth disciple
(once removed)
In some lore

But for me
And maybe I should apologize
I often
Find
The day goes very well
Which might be
Determination
Or
Luck
Half-Irish luck
For my mother’s family

While on my father’s
Side
There are the English
Who most likely
Do not care
About the day and
Date
As long as the flag is flying
Somewhere in a
Time zone
Over Earth


C L Couch
(9/13/2024)


Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

Matthias, Paul, Judas—who is the thirteenth disciple/Apostle?  (Rhetorical question--depends on whose tradition's answering.)