bears

gray time

it’s late
it’s fall
winter’s rise
a month away

the bears
have eaten salmon

I saw the camera’s highlights
of
bear
red flesh
and moving stream
taking
what is red
away

so now
the bears are done
(the
salmon gone)
and time for the
sleep
of a season
in the impulse of the bear

and the gray comes
earlier
should clouds
impede
a brilliance for a sunset

either way
and then
is
black-paned night
maybe
rest

regardless
after
hours
the next
the new day

c l couch

photo by Val Vesa on Unsplash
Sunset in Cluj, Romania


Outside the Quiet Place


God
I need your help
I need the quiet
And am I
Too poor
For this

The wealthy can buy
Quiet
I suppose
And I could consider
Monkish ambitions
As my sister
Likes to say
In
A monkery

I don’t want silence
Really
As if
To live inside
The Cone of Silence
That they mismanaged
On Get Smart
Because
In fact
I like normal noise

And isn’t that
Relative

But children playing
Cars
And trucks
That pass by
And if their noise is bad
Well
They pass by

Dogs barking
Even cats thumping
As they run
Above
For rivalry
Or for recreation
Only

I’m thinking
My notion
Of good noise
Is minimal
And self-determined
For the world
And so
Sigh
Unworkable

Go back to being wealthy
And I could buy a camp
Inside
The wilderness
Where even bears
Are satisfied
To say away
Near their own moving
Water
For the fish

And foxes cry
But I know their noise
By now
And what is it
Owls
Scream
And crickets cry
By Shakespeare because
Folklore
Has it
That way
As it knew
(whoever it might be)
While drafting


C L Couch


Macbeth 2.2.15-16

Photo by Keith Hardy on Unsplash