youngling
it is a young nation
though already acts tired
not
that the athletics aren’t impressive
less
investment in demagoguery
which might seem
energetic
though in reality
has an enervating effect
don’t we want
to be
this nation anymore
all
the sacrifice
for good and for ill
pushing natives west
and killing them
with ease
and by the way
once they saved our lives
and then
enslavement
easy
and if not easy certainly
ongoing
buying and selling of people
and then the privilege
to treat the purchase
miserably
against a definition of humanity
still
we had good ideas
some that some said made common sense
ancient of days
and new
ideals of democracy
and a belief in representation
though
governing of ourselves
we
could believe in balance
so much land
to destroy
so much to preserve
and so parameter
everyone
we can’t say we’re a good nation
not with evils and temptations following
we can’t go back
do not think that though maybe
forward
to new basics
we have a chance
we have improved
in fact
there is much that’s likable
and
on the board are all those good principles
that nobility could not afford
but
without that
we can
today
and toward
the present that we have
with old and new belief
in the future of us
all
c l couch
photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
5 July
x
Post-parade
As we must be
After battle
We have to count the wounded
On the field
The dying
And the dead
x
In Chicago
And across New York
Wherever we commit
And find,
To make the discovery
Again
x
That we are bestial
Worse than,
Since we weaponize
Our extensions
Limb
Tooth and claw
For killing
Over distances
And up close
x
Conviction is an odd word
That cuts at us two ways
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
Birth of a Nation
x
It’s the Fourth of July
In the USA
It’s hard to miss
What with all the sales
In the computer
x
And all the local booms
That will happen
Between buildings
In the neighborhood
This evening
Upsetting dogs
x
The bell did not crack then
And the document
For the assembly
And the criers
Wasn’t ready then
More like the sixth
And no one need worry
x
A day was selected
For the start of freedom
And a nation
Approving thirteen groups
That did not want to fight
But would fight
A famous army
With a storied king
From faraway
Now home
x
Home needing freedom
From political
And corporate interests
That took more and more away
Until at home we said,
Enough
x
And war is war
It would not be kind
Or clean
Though ranks set on the field
Were tried
And when to start the battle
x
Really
How farmers
Children died
Holding guns
Or something enough like
To draw fire from the foe
x
There were strategies
And spies
And those with local knowledge
Of terrain
And somehow
Against the European mind
For monarchs
The war was won
By merchants and farmers
Fugitives and foreigners
Identified
Foregoing slaves
To free
Only to count
x
With vision to admire
Yet with fractures
Like the bell that was fractured at
Other times
Now we had to form a nation
With all the blunders
And the cheating
All the buildings
And the farmland
All the expanding
All the settling to come
With treaties
Skirmishes
And battles
We borrowed names
America
The United States of America
x
We asked for God
Too often after everything arranged
Maybe we could do better at that
Now
x
God is known in many ways
Inside this land
The values of the heart
And mind
And neighborhood
Remain the same
x
Reasons abound
For trying God first
Each day
In every time
x
In a nation born
x
C L Couch
x
x
United States flag painted on the side of a Saturn V rocket.
Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash
Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, United States
x
Fourth Parable
Imagination,
Willy Wonka
Some songs are extra-beautiful
Depending on who’s singing
Today The Star-Spangled Banner
Always sung in martial fashion
So it seems
I don’t suppose there’s another way
But maybe remember that
The fort and city were outgunned
It wasn’t really victory
But endurance and survival
The flag was flying in the morning
(big flag, if you haven’t seen)
The nation got another day
Sometimes, I guess,
It’s all we need
C L Couch
Jay Bala, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=670634
Oh, Say
The American dream
Overextend the company
Charge more for products
Reduce services
Pay people less
Try to eliminate benefits, so-called
Maybe get raided by another firm
Everyone is fired
Move on
Wait, what?
What happened to Knute Rockne
And Jim Thorpe?
Horatio Alger
And the poor match girl?
(wait—she died)
The lives of Harriet Tubman
(whose image we pretend will go
on a twenty, yeah, someday)
Sojourner Truth
The words of Frederick Douglass
Susan Anthony
And to those
Asian and Latinx
Black and even white
In museum heritage
Or not known at all
Who made it?
What is it?
A home, a family
A car unless there’s good transit
In the city
Enough possessions
Something to pass on
Assets, among them
A good story
Justice enough
Truth enough
Faith a little more
Love more than that
A choice
A say
A vote
That’s some dreaming
That was here a while ago
But I can’t find it in my pockets
Or outside where I hear
The pundits
And pretenders
Evoking bitterness
And gorge onto
What should be a better scene
With sapling promises all
Planted, taken care of
Back to basics?
No such thing
Even on a good day
You like basics?
Me, too—guarantee of shelter
Food and opportunity
And, yes, I’ll say it
Say it with me
Freedom
I like reenactments
They rarely bleed
But some real blood might have to be
Spilled again
Before we’re through in
Or with
The world
And we understand what the world
Has been through with us
And a different ecumenism’s called for
Once we understand ourselves,
We’ll have to apply again
And take part
No longer the whole
That’s for villains in poor novels
And movies
So here’s the thing:
Forward to the basics
As in feed everyone
Learn democracy
Not from demagogues
Vote again
Rescind hatred
Don’t make it a crime,
Simply something lacking reason
Not to mention humor
We can learn how to laugh again
Without the grime
Without the fall
We can honor heritage
More so legacy
In festivals
Happy Birthday, USA
We can make it
If we try
C L Couch
covering the National Mall
User:Lipton sale, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60460085
clcouch123 
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