act

How We Might Be Made


How We Might Be Made

In a cloistered class
Someone could
Ask
Maybe
Inspired by
A word

Where do we live
Inside
And how might that relate
To what’s outside

Say
(say)
How do we
Live inside
In a war
And then after
If alive
In a time of troubled
Unbelieving peace

Inside
While
Waiting for what happens
To break and ruin
Outside
Once again

How does we prize
Our own
Ambition
Against all the things
In the world
That
Take the pursuit of
Dreams
Away

How do we act our dreams
After war
Even a war with nature
Though
War with each other
With humanity
Seems worse

But after trauma
Living trauma

Then in such a group
To begin
A response

Well
(well)
We hope
We can

C L Couch


Photo by Julia Rekamie on Unsplash

September 9, 2024 0

Texas fires


Texas fires

I cannot say enough
about
the fires in Texas
and how those
who can
should fight them
toward containment
and cessation
and then
the multifarious care
of victims

and how
those of us who can
as in fight fires
go there
and those of us who can’t
remain behind
to offer aid
and give it from
where we
might be

it’s fire
folks
and politics aside
it is a horror
a series of horrors
from what burns
and who’s caught
in the way

can't say enough
because it's time to act

c l couch


photo by Michael Held on Unsplash

February 29, 2024 0

gifted


gifted



I’d like to give you each

a present

though I’m poor

and not the kind of poverty

that saints admire

for I have little

mystic understanding

and what I have

is tied

to nothing like

how much

how little

I have



I’d like to say

go slowly

as the Buddhists

say

especially

when parting



I’d like to say

remember all your loves

made up of

reason

practicality

and balance

not that passion

doesn’t count

	it does

but there should be a measure

in most things

of what is right

and what is easy

(like

Jack’s pieces

well

maybe not so much)



which is

(really)

to say

let all good things

have their place

and do not rearrange

from the heaven

of creation

and the philosophy

inside all things made



for there is

certainty

as well as confusion

the way this world works

and don’t deny

the sure things

that you

and others

who are smart

and might be trusted

might ally



I’d like to say

think God

(like another movie)

though I know

that’s not enough

or I could say

love

and let love

not frilly silly

(‘til the day)

but steady

and trustworthy

have its say

and guide

however trite it sounds

each day



I guess

some things are cliché

like the way we use

iconic

meaning not a symbol

but celebrity



believe

and love

so common

(a cliché)

and yet maybe

we can still ourselves

and our sophistications

to accept

that some things

important things

the most important things

are commonplace

no secrets

no requirements

but to accept

what is instilled

(installed

as it were)

within internal palaces

or offices

or bungalows

(I’ll take a wooded cabin)

in the mind

in what we call the heart

in what really is

the spirit



might be

an alliance of the spirits

one by one

within

between

our groups

our nations

for an errant world

on its quest

our quest

to grow

to acquire

and to save



good things

and we could have rituals

and easiness

(not mindlessness)

in what passes

from the Earth of now

into

the next

of now



c l couch





photo by Luca Pennacchioni on Unsplash

January 25, 2024 0

all saints day


all saints day



saints small s

every day is their

followers

of God

who try

both to believe

and to act



patronage

of nothing in particular

no groups

claim our own

but the

relative

ease and simplicity

without notoriety

or beads

or rituals

simply leave it

to faith and action



anyone

believing

anyone who tries

a life of faith

with flaws

the Holy Spirit

will provide

kintsugi



c l couch





photo by Motoki Tonn on Unsplash

January 8, 2024 0

Sensate

Sensate

I hope you hear me, God

Beneath the words

Not that they don’t matter,

Because they do

And there is accountability for

Them

But in grace there is a filter

Not in people

But in the perfection of

Your senses

And your astounding biases toward love

While I cannot expect forgiveness

From the world,

I can count on you

Not for escape from responsibility

But for a way to learn

To keep it

And to live it

My soul’s protection does not have to be

On the line

Or if it is, not paramount

There are your ensuring promises

But there is the day-to-day,

My life on this side

I am not kept out like

The match girl,

Though I might share her fate one day

Yet I think you will open me

To bring me in

Where are warmth and companionship

Sustenance from heaven’s hand

Give me a chance

To hear and then to act

With those of us who

Wait for you

One way and the other

C L Couch

Melissa McCracken paints what she hears with Synesthesia while listening to music

https://www.reddit.com/r/woahdude/comments/9npvyc/melissa_mccracken_paints_what_she_hears_with/

November 13, 2018 0

Lauda

Lauda

All the things I should have said

All the times I should have said

Thank you

I love you

I’m sorry

Let me help

Yes, it’s me

Yes, it’s maudlin

Though it might be useful

I might be

Maybe I should wear motley like a fool

A reminder to step out of the folds

Of an otherwise fixed and unkind people

To say instead

I’m fragile

And I make mistakes

But I’m not done

To say instead

To act instead

Let me try

C L Couch

Wikimedia Commons

June 5, 2018 2

siping

siping

a simple, loving act

intimacy fulfilled

in that we rest

together

C L Couch

Word-High July: Welcome!

Maria of Doodles and Scribbles and I [that’s Rosema at rosemawrites] are more than excited to read your takes on the 30 Beautiful Filipino Words.

Write or create a post inspired or about the Filipino word prompts.
A post can be anything. A poem, a fiction, a six-word tale, or even a photo. It’s all up to you.
Linkback/create a pingback to this post: Word-High July 30 Beautiful Filipino Words. Here is a quick tutorial on how to do a pingback.
Tag your post with WordHighJuly, so your co-bloggers will be able to read/see your take on the prompt. Here’s how you create tags.
Most important of all, read and comment to your blogger friends (old and new found, we’ll never know).

HOP ON and let’s all GET WORD-HIGH this JULY!

July 15, 2016 7