ain’t together
(roaming like clouds or cellphone signals, I apologize)
anticipation
like the ketchup
rain
should come
at any moment
through
the unrelenting gray
to the west
and south
severer things have happened
and
I think
we
shall get the dregs
of it
flooding tempests
and tornados
well
it’s windy
now
though I don’t think
shelter-driven
though
of course
I could be wrong
and I’ll
be looking for
a doorframe
after all
and you be safe
unless
you be
stormchasers
then
I don’t what
to say
how about
God speed with you
and make wings
ahead
blow you the other way
when exigent
need be
coda
I’m sorry
we aren’t going through
what you go through
in Ukraine
or in Gaza
or
in parts where the same things
happen
and we don’t hear about
so much
I’m not talking about
bullets
killing or
explosions
the terror
then the thirst
and hunger
after
the infections
and the awful
draining
fear
for families
and I’m not in Philadelphia
where someone had to shoot
at Muslims
having Eid al-Fetr
at the end
of Ramadan
and I’m not everywhere
where white folk
hate the Jews
or anyone who’s not
so white
(I guess I mean
pure
ethnic white
whatever hell that means
as a thought
or an
agenda)
anyone
that is
whom we’re afraid of
as the next
majority
in number or
otherwise in power
well
I merely
started talking
about
weather
and by
implication
climate change
but
maybe
everything’s extreme
anymore
and the peace of moderation
sometimes called
the swing vote
might be desired
more than
ever
or I’ll only speak
for me
from a kind of centered place
that I hope is not
the hurricane’s
but God’s
eye
c l couch
photo by Clay LeConey on Unsplash
with at the start a reference to a TV commercial from the '70s
(x = space)
x
x
From the Margin to the Center
(Charles III)
x
He said it in his speech
Bring the marginal
To the center
They might need rides
And smart, official people left behind
To assess the situation
x
They need to come
Angry, surly
Cynical and hopeful
Their pain needs to be understood
Not so much talked about
x
They’ll need a promise
Not assurances
The weight of a contract
And a moral contract
As if made with the ground
The promisers are standing on
x
God help the British king
To bring back
The table round
And a belief of might for right
As classically expressed
Though contemporary lived
Policy
And money
Where they matter
x
England is still post-war
And inside war
And must be ready still for another
But all the lonely people
Isolated like the wanderer
In an ice age that was once the north
Of need,
The people need companionship
And energy
Ways to live feasibly
As an island nation
As the English,
Each one
And together
x
Don’t talk
(anyone)
So much next time
As act
God save the king
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Anna Dziubinska on Unsplash
x
A Memory of Church
The family of God
That is the church
I have a memory:
A small church building
On the edge of town
Maybe on the way
To the next place
Or into the countryside
Or simply on the
Outskirts; and in this
Church, there was
A very pleasant man
The pastor with whom
I had enjoyed an
Ecumenical Bible
Study in the town
I liked that man, and
I liked that church
He and it were simple
(In the best way we
Use that word), set
Apart—the way I
Think the universal
Church should be;
And isn’t—we want
To be in the center of
Town, where everything
Fashionably important
Takes place
We want to be in
And will accommodate
Much about ourselves
So we can be there
clcouch123 
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