(2 poems for the weekend)
Man’s Search for Meaning
nah
I simply cannot
come up with
what
to say
it’s Friday
named for Freya
I believe
to go with
Thor
from yesterday
I hope
you have
a pleasant weekend
fecund
(Freya would go
for this)
and with delight
without the mischief
Loki would rather
sponsor
enjoy the days
and look forward
to more
which is how
I think
we have to live
as we can
today
with an on-the-side assurance
of tomorrow
like at a restaurant
asking for
assurance on the side
you know
how figures
and metaphors
must go
as we need them for our work
our rhetoric
discourse
and persuasion
speak to
the birth of a nation
the death of gin
(for a time)
the resurrection
of our booze
(after)
say we are
a patchwork
I remember
melting pot
from school
though don’t hear it
so much
in these
so-called
grownup days
so it’s the weekend
two days to play
for those
who may
yes
chores
too
we know
running errands
and for some
there’s running
too
if you want to think
there could be time to think
though let play
and rest
be timely
too
as they are vital
literally serving life
in
all
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Golde and Tevye
only a little more prosperous
so I could buy the small appliance
when I see it
or trade with less anxiety
for a car
or buy clothes to wear
for comfort more than look
though comfort
requires cost
as well
anything else
well
a less hovel-like place to live
with enough space
to keep me
without doubt
un-claustrophobic
paying for a class
now and then
so I might get better at this
and other things
and there’s fresh food for cooking
like a marketplace experience
most days
though now I’m getting crazy
over riches
I am sure
but
there it is
the kinds of things I want
or want to have
within reach
C L Couch
Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope on Unsplash
Paucity
Yesterday
It dispensed easily
Like rain
Let go
From a swollen cloud
I had slept some
And daylight seemed
A welcome thing
And writing
Something natural
Instinctive
Like a salutary
Habit
Today it is forced
Word by word
Even choice in syllables
Certainly hopping
Around
Like bunnies
Or like joeys
Seeking mamas
Or small plants
While I seek
Themes
For nourishment
And all of us
Hunt space from predators
Something holy
Set apart
Something measured
Dispensing peaceful portions
Something with color and
With shape
That is also moving
Changing
Like diversity
Itself
As a
Kaleidoscopic offering
Without round lines
Bounding
Even
Weight presses down
Maybe I’ll try again
To sleep
The light is not inviting
Though it’s pretty
But pretty
Enervating
Too
Doze off a while
Maybe
For dreams enough
To help me when
I’m waking
And I’m doing this
Again
Z on
Dream on
Plenty
God help us all
This day
I know God will
The form
Is mystery
The timing
But God is good
Many say
That God is great
God is a spirit
God is love
To move us ‘round
And give us our
Discretion
Honest mystery
To treat us
As we matter
With everyone
And it’s everyone
Everything that’s made
That matters
C L Couch
Photo by Amer Alhalawani on Unsplash
half moon mid of the day
New River Beach, NB, Canada
(x = space)
x
x
Insurance, Roll (2 poems, maybe a minute and a half, then thirty seconds)
x
x
Insurance
x
Someone’s game
Since what’s insured
What’s assured
The people
Whom I deal with
Are human
They are kind
As well as enthused
And
Yes
They’re selling something
We sell lots of things
Not always cordially
Especially when
Necessity’s involved
x
These are
Community people
We live in the same town
We buy and sell
Sometimes
Maybe often
From each other
We live here
Don’t we live here
A modern age
That has split generations
Hasn’t split everything
Between us
x
Not that a moral’s needed
Some would say
No doubt
Leave out
But
Maybe
There’s some insurance
In that human sameness
For our differences
Maybe
x
(my car was totaled and I’m inheriting my brother’s car, dealing with all that)
x
x
Roll
x
I rock
Without a chair
Just rock back and forth
While seated
(wherever)
Works out my lower back
A little
Plus it encourages distraction
While sometimes
Reflection
I close my eyes while moving
Think of nothing
In particular
And listen
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Emily Grace Corley on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Tricksy
x
Not the wife of Norton
More like the creature
In the cave
On an island
In the lake
Who paddled
Throttled fish
Or goblins
And had one precious thing
That in the contest for it
He was sure
He had been hoodwinked
Of it
x
Which is an approach
To life
For some
To foresee and draft
A plan for taking
What’s desired
Or escape
Or something else from Earth
To own
Maybe to give away
The planet as a medium
For catch-and-release
x
Or an item
To pull out
From time to time
Like a jewel from the safe
Of one’s own
Righteous things
x
Something not to adjudicate
But to employ
When the thick is thin
And we in
The thick and thin of it
And this recourse will help
With or without
Preamble
Or an ongoing commentary
To say
Look at this clever thing I’m doing
It will save our bacon
Should we have any bacon
Either way
Quandary resolved
Some measure of escape
And I picked up something helpful
On the way out
Into daylight
x
The thief’s
The hero’s testimony
And we allow
What’s taken
As an exigent chapter
In the story
Of the quest
That passed under mountains
In the dark
x
x
x
Go Westmarch, Young Hobbit
(paean-ish)
x
Silly hobbit
Writing as if at Bree
In a room above
The raucous tributes
Below
x
Not in the study
Preparing contributions
To the read book
That is so important
It is red
x
But there is time
For twilight
And smoke rings
Beer and cake
Or something better
x
Maybe watch
For someone to come by
Whom we anticipate
Especially
When not there
x
And Middle-Earth goes by
And we ponder
Dancing steps
That might please Bombadil
While Goldberry
Marks the time
With other details
Of the party
x
x
x
(title a corruption of advice by Horace Greeley)
x
x
x
C L Couch
x
(x = space)
x
x
Illusion or Reality
x
Do we know illusion
The things out of the corners
Of our eyes
I see my cat
From time to time
x
But an actual illusion
Actual
Something we sense
That isn’t there
It might shape
For our senses
But really
Is a thinking
And misthinking
Of our minds
And hearts
Misallied
In the moment
Or maybe all the time
x
Have we seen some things
That are not there
How does this match
With illusions
In our attitudes
Beliefs
And minds toward things
x
The illusion is for fun
Mismanaging our thoughts
Is something else
x
And now reality
Which is something
As it is
Material
No argument
About it
x
The rock is real
Our eyesight
When it’s measured
The Earth is real
When we stand upon it
x
Yet there’s the question
Real or illusive
Do we have the handle
Are we confident
With our machines
Even machine
Logic
x
In a relativistic age
It’s hard
Sometimes
To tell
Though it’s our invention
For an age
To twist ourselves
Maybe by people
Who make money from it
Or harbor an illusion
(hah)
For power
An abstract
Made of will
Always another
Added to our own
x
We could be superheroes
Cape or helmet
But then
That is illusion
For
Yes
Our entertainment
Though there is inspiration
Too
In these images
And faultless actions
x
Hmm
A reason for illusion
To prop up
Even to help direct
Reality
Remove the versus
Then
Consider
Allied with
Even for fuller comprehension
Even for fuller life
x
In the air
Through the barriers
Who is that
It’s us
x
x
something for Friday
something pre-Hallowe’en
for when you are
we are
midnight persons
x
and now
something about midnight
x
x
Late at Night, You Know
x
Midnight
It isn’t really midnight
Three o’clock is midnight
Which might be why
He had bad things happen
At 3:15
x
Midnight for stories
Nonetheless
And a witching hour
Whose story we might not
Really know
What were the practices
Done in an hour
If that
Or more
Or longer
x
Midnight and shadows
Where are the shadows
In the night
Well
With the moonlight
Or our
Artificial arrangements
Against total darkness
‘til the dawn
x
So there are shadows
There are shapes as well
Of new dimensions
Taller
Without features
For a face
x
Except we know that one is there
Something devilish
Autonomic
Human
Is there
And we shall know too late
If there’s identity
After the action
Or is stands there
A small tower
Over us
‘Til we have the fortitude
To move away
x
Shall there be ghosts
And shall there be story
For us to set down
Until dawn
Or share from what we know
And what we don’t
For comfort
Or for titillation
Until dawn
x
We should remain
Keep our souls inside
It might be just a story
Or a real thing
Inside
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Nika Benedictova on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
2 poems
x
x
at the h. f. clinic
x
to the doctor’s well
a doctor type at
the clinic where my
heart failure’s diagnosed
and worked on
blood pressure’s up due
to medication or
some other cause
there’s all the weight from
fluid that is uncomfortable
to feel but since it tends
to kill people by
some kind of drowning I
guess then I should be
grateful and you
know I am
x
x
tawny punks
x
today is
someone’s day
or something’s
thanks to
greeting cards
or causes that simply
want a day
and get authority
to say okay
x
pizza day
beagle day
greeting card day
with greeting cards
for greeting cards
a day for me
is groundhog day
because there
are no cards
so you can cross
out christmas
or new year’s
or presaged a dismal
valentine’s
and write greetings
from
Punxsutawney
over that
and so practice
spelling
Punxsutawney
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Ralph Katieb on Unsplash
Groundhog didn’t like the late April snow (she was in the middle of nest building when it hit).
[photographer’s caption]
x
(x = space)
x
x
Sides
x
If God is for us
Whom shall stand against us
Well, they will
They are they
They will
These are not shadows
Except in meaning,
Haunting for a while
Our better selves and motives
x
They are there
They are ghosts
(with apologies to ghosts)
Who look as if
They are substantial
And their weapons
Somehow
Wound and even kill
x
They (with those)
Tempt us from our fate
One by one
And altogether as
People loved by God
Who have a purpose covered
For the moment
Until the glass
Is clear
x
The battle won
Life prefigures death,
Better shows the shape
Of life again
x
C L Couch
x
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31
x
x
Earth Is Ours
x
Do you hate the sides?
I often do
Jerusalem and Antioch
East and west
(Istanbul and Rome
as part of that)
China and Taiwan
Town and gown
City and countryside
North and south
And much, much worse
Cain and Abel
So that only Seth remains
For legacy
One without three
x
We need our groups
We don’t need the borders
In between
We should have the joy
To have our own
The strength in defending
Everyone
The Earth
Our own
Everyone’s Earth
To own
x
What does this mean?
It’s right to ask
Since we ask
And everything is lent
And legacy is life that
We cannot gift ourselves
But there’s a promise
Prophecy
Assurance in or as
What we believe
x
What we shall own
Though frankly we must share
The bigger parts
x
C L Couch
x
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Let Angel Minds Inquire More
(two poems)
x
x
And Can It Be
x
The stakes are doomsday,
The life of the world
There are sides
There is disbelief
There is, as people have,
Denial
x
What comes next
Is mystery
The greedy hope to outlive everyone
At the cost of everyone (else)
There is delusion
All around
x
Maybe we’ve given up
On bomb shelters
Except the big ones no one knows
The war is still blue
With cold
There are madmen all around
Maybe madwomen
Maybe not
x
x
That They Should Gain
x
There are those who gain from this
While the bombs are kept at bay
(in bays)
Accruing
At the cost of someone else
Reducing supply,
Raising prices
Getting us used to
Three dollars a gallon
Against the early day
When it was thirty-five cents
Or the day
A while before
To fill the tank on two dollars
x
Should we lose it all
Maybe not in war
Maybe in destroying Earth
In other ways
(we know these, too)
We won’t believe
It is that bad
Or we shall gain it all
Back again
And more
x
In less
We think there’s more
A trickster’s game
The raven sometimes has a plan
To teach us
Something
There is hope
In its cry
It cannot be
Too late
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
with thanks to Charles Wesley, brother of John
x
By © User:Colin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48615973
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