change

A Climate Change

A Climate Change

(an issue in iambic)

We had rain yesterday

The kind of rain that soaks

Into the ground that that needs it

It’s still too warm for autumn

But the wind, I think,

Is trying to be cold

There is some color in the leaves

The brilliance in their own tradition

Hasn’t happened

The days we want to call crisp

As in Frostiana,

Which is persistent, begs a fire

Inside or in a ring at camp

Life in the north, I know

The south of Earth doesn’t have to care

I think it does

C L Couch

Photo by Irena Carpaccio on Unsplash

October 17, 2019 0

Lent 33

Gray light filters through

A window pane that should be cleaned

For spring

Porous curtains reach to the floor

The house is yellow

There is a Lincoln emblem on the front

This is where I live

Welcome

You live somewhere else

I hope it is a good place for you

If not, I hope that changes

I hope that you are well today

If not, I hope that changes

The season turns toward conclusion

We didn’t make that happen

We didn’t even have to count

So many things inexorably

So many things we change

If we can,

If we want to

Maybe what you have is good

I’d like to think so

Though I know too many patterns that

Imprison and a lack of catalyzing

Will

Maybe this has been a waiting time

There are several days left

Maybe you’re learning to

Lengthen your breathing in one way

Or another

Maybe you can count

And it doesn’t keep you in

Maybe freedom with rules

Is understood, at last

These passages are ours, you know

As all seasons that we have

Belong to us

We could turn the circle over

Beholding nothing that we own

As well

That’s all right

We know what we can take

It’s not much

And it’s the most important

Have what we have

And enjoy the passing

C L Couch

Muhammad Mahdi Karim – Own work, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13092558

A dhow in the Indian Ocean, near the islands of Zanzibar on the Swahili Coast.

Cat People

Cat People

I don’t know why we like

To change or stay the same

Is it up to us

As a campaign?—when

Burdened, yes, when

Abused of

Our better parts and

Aspirations

(Or maybe because we bug the

Hell out

Of those around

Us, and they’re right)

Otherwise, doesn’t the universe

Offer instinct-movement in

Gravity

And the attraction or, admittedly,

Repulsion of

Black holes and

Neutron stars?

And all the turning elements

That ask of us to

Dance if possible with joy,

Day by day,

(And anyway)

With all the nuclei?

Like felines who jump across

The yard or run the

House

Because they can

Because the gods of catliness

Say cats must—

And don’t they want to!

C L Couch

November 1, 2017 0

Recessional

Recessional

We leave the church, and
Were we ever there?

Passing through television
Channels, lighting briefly on
Local access showing state
Legislators quite literally
Working on the plumbing
(Plumbing contractors) in the
Commonwealth (which is
Pennsylvania)

This is what we do: in government,
We fix the plumbing

In church, we fix the pipes as
Well—yes, the organ has pipes
(If there’s one)—but I think you
Know what I mean, for you’re

Wise enough to on occasion
(Split infinitive, I know) to worship
God or wrestle with the concept—
And in some togetherness we
Wonder through sensorial
Experience: sound, sight, touch,
And taste (and, when there’s incense,
Smell), and what happens?

We leave, readier

Unless we’ve done all we could
To avoid changing from the experience

In which case, the processional
Might challenge us

When we go next time

February 19, 2016 2