church time December 7
moonlight was used
against
its use
as there was preparation
near
sunlight
to betray as well
on
early Sunday morning
when order
and white uniforms
were torn
apart
and life a tissue by attack
and
everything exploded
while ripped-up men and women
with
children close by
tried to shoot back and
also
run
to stations
and to homes
the attack upon our useful soil
and beautiful
while
we thought
to live there and none
should
bother us by might
and
arrangement
and yet
and yet
empire and
democracy
too much to reconcile
too
divergent for our values
so we fought
with destruction
as the theme and total
the result
so
the agenda
and the strategy
the chaos of attacking
on all
sides
and so the President and Congress
said
this is officially declared
and so to the west
and east
and so many points on Earth
to
call the war
world
second Sunday in Advent
when
the candle’s lit for
peace
and on that Sunday
eighty-four
years the count
the awful
lively
living and the dying there
and then
and how might all politics and factions
reconcile
only
by tragedy
and where there is alliance
or
appreciation
now
new fronts are drawn
between
within
and these days
the radical
it seems
to keep value in the sacrifice
done
and remembered
and to apply
as we tend to think in reverse
reminding
and if owning
of
the greatest sacrifice
become
the saving doctrine
remembered by the seasons
then
and now
c l couch
photo by Graddes on Unsplash
on the elevens day
Veterans Day
the sale
yet we secure the sales
and
all the ordinary things
of home
and there are more and better
the people
those
we’re related to
our friends
all those we knew and didn’t know
whom we were fighting for
and we’re not whole or pretty
when we’re fighting
in our
fractured ways
by orders
and we give
as much as there is
and
if we’re here then we know others
who gave it all
by service
home
then
and somewhere else at war
which is the current privilege
of nation
democracy the great experiment
and thank you
thank you so much
for
giving of the gifts
of mind and heart
and skill
and should it go that way
in war
of blood
of bone
of talent
of however goes the willingness
to serve
which we count positive
so positive
not
by perfection
but by extraordinary exertion
on the field
in the arid
dusty streets
by the rinsing ocean
in depths
in heights
and on the even line
that horizons out
to Earth
and finally
to home
for all the steady service
and the sacrificing
maybe
it seemed ordinary
too
and yet is remarkable
in serving the great experiment
democracy
and peace behind the front
out of the trench
also
behind base fences
a presence and an action
which bring temporal peace
until
we all have eternal
c l couch
photograph by Jake Weirick at Unsplash
presidence
today is a day
for
Presidents
we know because of
time off
and the sales
but for Presidents
there have some good ones
and some
bad
ones
and we might say that’s
only human
but in addition to conniving
of the parties
and the money
behind
the money
there is will
as well
and so many words to affirm
in ideals
to the nation
that provide
no excuse
for not
trying to serve
us
which is the only reason
the position was
created
though partisans might differ
but
the one
and following
the preamble plus
everything that follows
must confirm
c l couch
photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
The First for Promise
(1 January 2025)
I
It’s a cold
Gray day
No promise of winter
Say
In the form of
Romantic snow
Not the fearful kind
The same
The foreboding of the same
That for me
Is a bad heart
And
Bad neighbors in
A chilly town
And an existential thinking
About how
To have and read
The next
Passage
Of
Things
And may I ask
What shape and content
Yours
Toward a sound structure
With
The broken beams that
Get majorly
In the way
While you are building
And yet
(for
me
for us)
The pressure’s on
As in
The stultified quality
Of things that never change
And yet
Should
In fact
They must
For the things that should not change
But must
How about in
The promise of new
And then
New years
II
Sigh
It sounds like
Resolutions’
Trope
The things we say
We sell things over
And yet
Will
In the popular
Way
Give up
Say
In a month or so
If that
Sigh
What now
What new way to say it
What way to say
We really mean
It
This time
What counts
What reifies
Well
We have this
The versicle way
To say old things to keep
And new
To alter
Songs
Novels
All sorts of declarations
Maybe and
Maybe which is why
We have these
We grew
And grow these
When
Needed
A new way can and
Does change
And so
What shall our new ways be
And so
Answer in
Your own ways and
Our ways together
Please
III
I guess I think
This needs to be
A year
Of change
Or else we’ll have
The same old thing
Dissatisfying everyone
Some
More if not
Forever
C L Couch
Photo by Wilmer Martinez on Unsplash
Times Square, New York, United States
Beautiful city lights looked like something straight out of the movies. The colors were inspired by the Tron: Legacy film. [What Wilmer has to say.]
By Numbers
Some of you
I think
Have had
The new year’s moment
Already
And are into the new number
The rest of us
Shall follow in fireworks
And maybe smaller flames
Inside
Not resolutions
Though they’re formal
But
In some craziness of growth
Some of which
Goes
Yes
Formally
As far as cells
E.g.
Might grow
As far as they might grow
Though sometimes cells are crazy
Too
There are classes
Too
And levels of promotions
And stages of development
(uncrazy)
And then the things that happen
We might make
To happen
Or shall take place
Anyway
To change us
To challenge us
In all of these
To grow
So happy new number
Sun-
Counters
Though some liturgically
Have started weeks
Ago
While others will have their first
Numbers
At yet
Other times
But let’s wish well
All
The beginnings with
“Well”
Meaning a tiny pledge
Perhaps
To help
C L Couch
Photo by Sichen Xiang on Unsplash
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