here’s a chapbooklet for later on Thanksgiving Day or next should such things be saved—happy day, please be safe (irregardless of the world), maybe don’t deep-fry anything


A Day in the Life

It’s a strange world
Uncivil people live above me
By default
Encouraging me
To be the same

It’s a chilly town
In fact
Socially speaking

We bare say hello when we pass
And most often
Say nothing
Nothing
Through eye contact
Either

I suppose there are safe
Encapsulations
Maybe where
The profit’s highest
Too

Little havens
Barricaded from the rest
From us plain folk
Who want
A relatively easy life for interactions
Not to deal with the wanton noise
That simply proves
We’re here

Against and by
Indifferent suffering
Or prejudicial machinations

A happy holiday
Why don’t we


Tried

I’m tired
And maybe tired
Is good for now
I can’t do much
But so what
The world doesn’t
Turn by me
Or any
Rather
It’s a twirling gift
From God
And maybe if don’t clean
Enough
That only
Causes me to suffer
That’s all right
God loves me
Still
Both ways
As God loves you


Parade Monologue
(Thanksgiving day)

It was okay
I guess
Which is an awful thing to say
I’m sure

All the millions
Of hours
And
Yes
All the money
Too

In hope of celebration
For good ratings

I’m sorry
But it’s an electronic masquerade
Anymore

Pretty enough
Though there are mistakes
Mostly let go
(mostly)
Which seems odd to me

When the agenda
Is perfection
Yet
We can’t pull it off
In
Well
Anything

Pretty enough
I suppose
But it could be less perfect
Less tall
Save for the floats
As in
The high balloons
That seem to have a life
For movement
And
I guess
They do

Though where was Underdog
(supposing it’s too much
to look for
the Sinclair dragon
anymore)

The marching
Playing
Twirling bands
Are good
And should get more time

All the celebrities
We could use less
Of the ones
I do not know
And mostly will not see again
Which
I suppose
Is my problem
In cultural ignorance

But
God bless the Rockettes
And Santa Claus
(pulled by a cool
truck
this year)
Whose appearance
Mom would say
Means the official
(family)
Start
Of the Christmas holiday
Season
And I suppose
For Hannukah as well

And
Is it allowable
To wish for less
I wonder
In what begins
Our seasons of wonder


Thanksgiving Daytime
(in October by Canadians)

Water
One coffee
Then another
Yogurt
Time
I’m thankful

I could use less for thanks
Less noise
Less penury

But we have what we have
The days
Are existential building blocks
To make a tower
Of a life

Maybe a giant
Maybe a forest

Maybe a cover
And a framing for
A story about
Noise
A tower
With a giant
In a forest

I could be thankful for that
Too
And for imagination
Yours and mine
That could come up
With such things


Momaw Again

It is Momaw’s birthday
Most likely
You did not know Momaw
From Tennessee
Life in the Depression
A widow
Then the grandfather I knew
And comforts for
The rest of her life
In the nineties
And I’m glad and thankful
For her
Life on Earth


Thanksgiving for One
(how sorry should I feel)

I have a frozen entrée with
You know
The seasonal things
Inside
And a can of
Cranberry sauce
Whole not jellied
(sorry
Joe)
And
Sorry
Loneliness for a table
On my bed typing
In fact
And here I shall dinner
I presume
With noisy people
Up above
And a wish
For angel intervention

Maybe being tired
Is good for
Tolerance

Not isolation
That
Frankly
Today
Is not good for much of anything


An Approach in A-Grammar
(like a-nathema)

I made a lifetime out of
Getting the grammar
Right
And yet
Choose to use no punctuation here
Less and less
In fact

I guess I think
Line spacing helps
And as a reader
You may decide the pauses
Location and
Degree
As well

And maybe read through twice
Before deciding
How the thing should sound
Which could be an agenda
On my part

And thank you
For not smoking
(except metaphorical)
More so
For reading

Thank you

And thank you
Ms Lamott


Scripted
(rom-com)

1
Hug your mom
Why don’t you
It’s time
And regardless of the script
You should
Hug your mom
In this even-fictive moment

2
Two hands in the popcorn
Like
Lady and the Tramp
With spaghetti
More hygienic
This way
More noncommittal
Too


C L Couch


Photo by Odiseo Castrejon on Unsplash