Long Exhale Now and Then
Exhale
And then a little more
Get it out
Whatever it
Might
Be
More than
A pulmonary test
Or getting the bad air out
As
In a cartoon
Getting into meditation
Only if
There is
The time
Otherwise
Breathe out
As
You would have to do
Anyway
You know to
Keep on living
But let it out
A little more
Not as an exercise
As much
As to
Let a little more
Of the bad air
Out
The promise also
Taking of
A little more
Of the good air
In
By God
In a kind of sponsorship
And also of companionship
Two promises
Not if
But as
They happen
Irascible
Indelible
Perfection in divine reality
As well as perfection
In the offing for the rest of us
Maybe
Beneath the angels
(the war in heaven notwithstanding)
For the mortal
Rest of us
C L Couch
Photo by Laura Ohlman on Unsplash
Like the Hammer at the Carnival
You know
In a pulmonary test
You are directed
To exhale then
Exhale some
More
Empty the lungs
As strongly
And as thoroughly
As you
Can
With then another round
And another of
The same
Not an exercise
In breathing
We should not breathe that way
But
It seems
To find out how strong we might be
And then again
Some guessing about strength
And then
Some
More
C L Couch
(with the thing at the carnival, you hit with all the strength you think you have and then must hit again with more)
Photo by Nhia Moua on Unsplash
(space = x)
x
x
Any Day Now
x
Sigh,
It’s Friday, Lord
I exhale into the day
Sunlit
Upon the floor
A cat might be happy
There
x
I can’t
Keep the news
In my head
I know it’s hard
Sometimes
There’s something good
To help the day
We’re breathing through
And gently taking from
x
Our cats and dogs
Upon our floors
And all the strays
We made
An age ago
And should take in
As well
x
All the causes
Everything that moves us
And should bind us,
The catastrophes
We should see each other
Through,
Which make us ready for
A triumph
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Matheus Queiroz on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
See the Chill We Feel Outside in Fall
x
I was out past midnight
When I left the store
I saw my breath in vapor
A little cloud
The first time in the season
x
Our fall has been too warm
But in the night
Beneath the parking spots
Outside the entryway
To Rutter’s
There was something
x
Evidence of exhalation
I am breathing
So are you
Breathing through
The midnight hour
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Tanya Pro on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Impulses
x
Exhaling’s good
x
We feel as if we’re
Letting go,
Letting things out
We no longer
Need
x
Maybe small cells
Of disease
(don’t breathe those
at anyone),
Maybe
Small particles of
Memory we
Could do without
Because they act like
Sickness,
Like an infection
x
Maybe we’ll
Straighten up a little
As we inhale,
Let the shoulders
Do their part
x
Maybe we’ll inhale
Healthy remembrance,
As life allows
For these, the
Memories that heal
x
It’s a dicey game
That is no game
Breathing, hurting,
Healing,
Breathing some more
x
We learn from
this, from these
x
It’s why we
Went to school,
To learn how
To learn
To breathe
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Erik Dungan on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
2021
x
Say the new year
With me
We’ll be allowed to have
More expectations
By then
Except for the things that got
In the way
Of righteous living
All the ploys
In my land
In Washington
(no stimulus until I get my way;
hand him the derivative
fiddle while
Rome burns)
The groups that have socked
Billions
While those who live
Day by day struggle
To maintain
xxxxx Is this the saying that
xxxxx War is good
xxxxx For the economy?
There will be a
Reckoning,
Though we’ve got better
Living to do now
Maybe in November,
Starting
Maybe next year
For those still here
And breathing well, at last
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash
National Day Fireworks
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
It’s Not a Race
We take chances
Just to breathe
But breathing’s good
We should stay with that
We should keep going
We don’t need to manufacture
Inspiration or wait
For it to fall as
A perfect weight from heaven
There are things to believe in now
Silly things and absolutely vital
I’m thinking babies
To get to know and fight to keep
I’m thinking neighborhoods
To get to know and fight to keep
I’m thinking other people
And the babies, too
If not first of all
First of all,
There’s God
More than ninety percent of the world
Would agree
And all of nature, too
We can listen for God’s word
Spoken through wind
And words in good books
We can’t afford to be crazy now
The world is too close
Though there’s still room
The sense of it could be
That here’s a planet:
We are here
Others will follow
Someday we will leave
It would be good because we choose to
We are old
We are new
Please, let’s keep trying
The day might not be waning
It does not matter yet
There’s time
There’s play between the seconds
Elastic possibilities
Keep breathing
Keep moving
C L Couch
Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash
Lent 20
Where are we now?
Somewhere in a season
Let’s not count
But let slip a moment, here and there
To find a new way
To breathe and not to worry
To accept something familiar-feeling
And not be surprised
That something new can feel this way
And, yes, it feels true
C L Couch
Hildegard of Bingen – Hildegard von Bingen: ‘Werk Gottes’ (Codex Latinus 1942 in der Bibliotheca Governativa di Lucca?)., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1823924
Medieval depiction of a spherical earth with different seasons at the same time (from the book “Liber Divinorum Operum”).
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