campaign in the studio
spray
layer
spray
layer
spray the room again
is it chemicals or mildew I’m inhaling
while
of course
you know
it’s both
new mattress
new sofa must follow
musty curtains down
as if light and breeze had been let in
at Ms Faversham’s feast
breathe
changes
though the must continues
to permeate
room
nose
clothes
well
keep trying
I’ll take retroactive
the air when it was only
dirty
I suppose a northern autumn
shall help when
it arrives
with clear cold to push through windows
in
a current
now it’s steamy
not good
for dry
and certainly not cool
except for how you might behave
cool
Daddio
clc
photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash
The Shape of Day
(especially for anyone who’s disabled)
God keep
Us
This day of
Blue-white moderation
A day for
Breathing well
Unlike the closeness
In the hours
Of a heatwave
I drove
I walked
My limitations easier
For a while
I got some farmer’s food
Came back town
Right-angled through
The traffic grid
Not knowing
Any other mindset
Over the wheel
Set aside
Behind
And all the walkers
On an official summer’s day
Though this day was good
Breathy
Flavorful
Easy on robotic work inside
If in a fancy
Over the life of batteries
I have a year or so
Until
Sources must
Be switched out
But for now
I have today
Before we’re told
The next heatwave
Should arrive
By
Thursday
Sigh
C L Couch
Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Plain
x
Sigh
It’s Friday morning
We’re told
The heat is crested
So low 90s today
Which still is hard
For those of us
From here
Above equators
(there are two
you know
tell Ecuador)
And the tropic lines
x
We’ll breathe into Saturday
Be grateful
When it rains
Maybe too much
But they will break
The drought
As well
x
And these are
My
And our
Issues
Over here
How is it where you are
How is your health
And your family
How is your neighborhood
And any community wider
You are
Or must be part of
x
I am perforce
American
Though America is huge
And we tend to take the name
And then apply it
To one part
x
You are French
Or Nigerian
Or Indian
Chinese
From idealized Tibet
From Ukraine
From Russia
x
You might be from the South
Or the Northwest
Or the Northeast
Maybe all the way up
(we say)
To Maine
Maybe you know
Or encounter at the supermarket
Stephen King
x
These are places
In the USA
In France
You have
The Côte d’Azur
In Greece
Santorini for an island
(that might have been the home
of Atlantis)
In Egypt
The upper Nile
Into Ethiopia
That was Nubia
In China
There’s the Gobi
The severest place on Earth
x
And there are the people
We are people
There
x
Inhabitants of the world
The team of Earth
One people
Now we’re leaving it
And shall need identity
x
Should we live in peace
Appreciating our diversity
All
The shapes and sizes
In our making
And our choosing
The lives we have
That is
The lives we make
x
And we should make them well
And have the freedom
To do so
Too direct
Too easy
Maybe
x
But too bad to be good
Sometimes it’s easy
Put it down
The weapons
And the prejudice
Evil conditioning
Perhaps
Somewhere inside
Take up something better
Food to share
Safe water
The love of life
You know
That someone else
A group perhaps
Might need
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Yuriy Bogdanov on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Sci-Fi Goats
x
Goats eat anything
I am reminded
As do pigs
I don’t think goats eat tin cans
As cartoons and other stories
Tell
But maybe
Maybe in the multiverse
Anything is possible
A metal-eating goat
On a world of lead
Might be
Just the thing
While justice of materials
Is worked out on other worlds
x
Not that we’re excused here
We have what we have
To use
To keep
Or we lose ourselves
Without a possibility
Of portals—
x
Maybe goats
They might be traversing
And we never know
x
x
x
Poeming
x
It’s not hard
But it should be honest
In challenging to write
About anything
(say, sci-fi goats, above)
What is the real story?
In not in fact,
Than in judicious metaphor
And maybe both—yes,
Both would be better
So choose the topic
Or let the topic choose
Get to work with
Heart and head,
All the muscles,
All the organs,
All the aspects
(I mean senses),
All the parts
x
Breathe through it all
Let the apparatus work
Once something is set down,
Go over it
And over it again
(not too many times)
Then release it like
Letting go of healed birds
Into the wild sky
Then let the work
Make sense of the world
For a while
x
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Hello, Friends
Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel at Unsplash
https://unsplash.com/@rgaleria
x
Exhalations
I like the process
Glad it’s automatic
So many things can leave the body
Things we don’t need
Things in the brain stay there,
I suppose
We need exhaling in the brain
But we don’t get it
We have to learn what to keep
Up close,
What to file
The thing about a file, though,
Is that they’re not closed
For good
Mental welding doesn’t help
So open up the stacks
From time to time,
Letting air breathe through
The folders
We might need
Companionship for this
C L Couch
Photo by Elena Kloppenburg on Unsplash
Breathe Through It
What is it but
The wind,
Ruach, pneuma
What is it but breathing
In and out, back in
And back out again
Autonomically, thank goodness
I’d hate to have to think about it
Or blinking
Or a heartbeat
Sometimes we need a push
And then there’s oxygen
In a canister
If it doesn’t seem to work, that can
Be frightening
After a heart attack, when the EMTs
Arrive or at the hospital,
First thing it seems there’s oxygen
Pressed into the nostrils
Good thing, I’m thinking
And typically there’s nitroglycerine
(now there’s an irony in invention)
That eases the chest
And tries to split the head
Into pieces
Imitations of the spirit
All to keep us breathing
I’m thankful
Honestly, for both
The breath that keeps me going,
That takes me home
C L Couch
Photo by Alain Wong on Unsplash
Saint-Adolphe-d’Howard, Canada
Attending Nuclei
The spirit of God
Moves across the water
In the bathtub, not because
It’s trivial but because
It’s everywhere
Breathing, laughing, cajoling
Cleaning
As a spirit of God should
Present at creation, making
Things happen, here
And there
Inside the tree but not the tree
Taking part in everything
That’s made
And with us when
We’re washing dishes
More water
Water and air, we need them
Nothing lives without them
Except maybe anerobic cells
That might still cry out
From time to time
For a sip
Adding a speaker to
The microscope to hear
For all the cells
For all the grocery lists
For prayer at breakfast
For flat tires and new children
New cells on everyone
Everything that every second frames
Here endeth not so much
A lesson;
Here starteth—starts–a
Day of days worth knowing
Because when we want,
We find
The day and knowing it
Astounding
C L Couch
Photo by Camilo Fierro on Unsplash
After a Few Days Away
I drive through
A steam-filled
World
At home, more
News of dying
Both by design
And unassigned
I gather in
Headlines and
Their stories
While struggling
To breathe hot
Wet solid air
Searching for
Hope-openings
Through which
To inhale
clcouch123 
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