a little chappy-book of poems
Anyday Fog
Fog
Fog today
A Dickensian lesson
(get started
on Bleak House)
To know
That like the existence
And the movement of the fog
There is connection
Between all of us
Regardless of economy
Or privilege
Or barriers
Presumed
That as far as the single race goes on
Do not stand
Aloof
We are connected
That is the way of things
Do not forget
But relish in it
The reality
And all the possibilities
Together
Or stay apart
Behind our barriers
So-called
To let the fog move
Inimically
Exuding fear and guilt
As we forbid ourselves from
Seeing
(without eyes)
And acknowledging each other
The fog connection
Irony
For there it is
Well
Then let
The better lesson of
The real thing
To a greater thing
Take over
All our humanhood
That should lower unnecessary things
In the way
Then let in
The light
(more than light)
Too Easy
Blindness
Blindness chosen
Not the sense
But the lifestyle
Even
A cause
That in the dark
We shall strike
And have our way
Forgetting
(among other things)
The anthologized
“Dover Beach” that
First-year students
Are foisted
To read
With the “ignorant armies”
In the night
That clash
Who wins
Who loses
No one knows
Except that blows are struck
And there is wounding
And humanity destroyed
By degree
Those who are blind
For real
Know the sacrifice
And the ridiculousness
In selecting darkness as
The quality
For sight
And shall we choose
To be ignorant of each other
Shall we fight
From distances too great
To know much beyond
The switch
Or the button
We could draw near each other
Rather
Withholding our destroying
Part
To leave the great part
Of curiosity
And even peace
Let go
Learn who is my neighbor
On the planet
How might the Earth do better
If we re-trained ourselves
For nature
The greater challenge
To
Like military
Pull back the extremes
To repair
Then prepare
For what’s next
To know
Who is next door
Not to pry
Or lord
Or anything overlording
Or pervasive
To learn each other
As we are
Even the agendas
Learning how to speak
To listen more
And to understand
(lessons in language
might be
the first thing)
Allowing curiosity
To be positive regard
Respect
The better agenda
Knowing which virtues to use
To influence
And which to use to
Be changed by
As we grow
In and with
Those we have relegated to
The other
As an objective distinction
(no such thing)
To render targets
Rather
Than people
Simply put
Do not destroy the world
That’s rather stupid
But put down the guns
(the buttons and the switches)
Find food
And drink
And other fixing things
With which
To approach
Nourish
And give the world
What is the real
Fighting chance
Family Game Night
(we can do it)
No one wins
No one loses
Leave that to
Real games
And remember to embrace
Congratulate
Game-winners
While in the world
We do better
With nothing like a game
At stake
But how we live
Together
Make enough
The base for everyone
Then all we reach for
After that
In other words
Feed everyone
Because
We can do it
(Rosie
says
we can)
Provide everyone
With something safe
To drink
Shelter and the opportunity
For education
Of ourselves
And the world
The unpeated past
The glories in the present
(let science say
amen)
Maybe
Remembering
The God who made
Everything
Is waiting
Withholding Armageddon
‘Til there’s faith
In the outcome
For those who choose
To care
And believe
In the world
And the living
Selves
And neighbors
It’s simply
Really
Embrace good
Eschew evil
Learning the two
More how to build
Rather than
Destroy
It’s easy
Each can prosper
After all are well
In fact
Prosperity
Will grow
While all are fed
And drinked
Have shelter
And the means
For education
Will the problems end
No way
But we’ll have a go
With advancements and
With possibilities
Which is
The world growing
Which is how it was
And how
It should be
By us
Eden
With the walls let down
The best Eden we can make
Yes
For billions
Living well
And each other
Has a chance
To go from there
To growth
To gold
Whatever might seem good
Without extremes
Of anarchy or monarchy
Rule one by one
And by assembly
Which is how
The world’s growing
(at its best)
Anyway
Grow on
Absent Lion
(not that there’s climate change)
Well
Winter’s MidAtlantic
Ended
Seventy
In western parts
So where’s
The lion
Seems not
To have arrived
There’s always
Aslan
For always good
A sign
Of faithfulness
And power
In faithfulness
There are other lions
Some as
Metaphors
Others in fact
Don’t go
To meet upfront
The real ones
For their strength
Is in
Predation
It’s the qualities
And made-up stuff
That make
The lion
Useful
(leave the real ones
out there)
As we can make
The lamb
Render its own qualities
For our own good
And at least
In these parts
Earlier
In March
What’s Blue Is Blue
Maybe this is all
I can do
For now
Write against the blue
Until
The retinas
And other parts can’t take it
Then leave
The machine alone
And even
Wonder
How we do this
All
The time
Go see
The eye doctor
Maybe she
Will know
What is healthy
What is useful
What is
Disciplined
For health and
Productivity
To ease the headaches
And the
Stress
Maybe from blues
Though maybe
I need to play the blues
C L Couch
Photo by Vestfoldmuseene on Unsplash
to my cybernetic and my fleshly family
my computer's burning up
as with fever
meaning there's no fire
far as I know
except maybe
on the inside
as happens
signaled by devices
on our foreheads
or elsewhere
the machine is old
I guess
in the way
machines like this
get old
though my senses
as a hobbit
and a Luddite
get confused
but last night
like the theatre after hours
my machine
went dark
in something like
an impulse toward survival
I imagine
it came back
and might endure
in spates
of time
and functionality
perhaps
in the mean time
(like the theatre)
I might have to go dark
myself
here
and also there
not that the world won't change
because of all
good things that might be
happening
because of you
thank you
be well
following seas
I'll be in touch
as I can
(not may
this time
depending on my own
battery life)
until with
a new device
I guess
then
returning shall be more or less
indefinite
not undefinite
like certain questions
that some of our work
intentionally
proposes
Christopher
photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
(and blue's my favorite color, sigh)
(x = space)
x
x
2 poems about power
x
x
A Day without Power
x
The plug on the computer broke
Last night
I had what was left of
The battery’s charge
I thought about what to do
Without the use the computer
To get a part for the computer
x
I live in a small town
There aren’t big signs saying
Fix Your Computer Here
But I call a friend
And with real words we discussed
The problem
x
He knows more than I
And so helped me make a list
Of non-electronic possibilities
I moved on one of these
Using the car
(not a mouse)
Going to a place with walls
Not firewalls
Looking people in the face
And telling my brief story
x
We found something universal
That could fit
My machine
I purchased the new thing
That wasn’t cheap
But a day without
Going into two days
Was not desirable
x
In the world,
There are better needs
And bigger
I didn’t lose electricity
And I’m not in a war zone
I am poor
But there’s help to get me food
When need be
And sometimes other things
x
I am sick
And usually tired
But am ambulatory
And have lots of pills
That help
And there are side effects,
Which mostly thanks to taxes
And my age
I can afford
x
I tend to think your needs
Must be greater than mine,
More real
And more pressing
But in my larger story
There was one decent passage
I can share with you now,
Hopefully to hear
Your story, too
x
x
The Power of Friendship
x
We’ve been through COVID
Got our shots
More or less retired
From our jobs
We both believe
And sometime have
Good conversations about faith
We share books
We don’t shop
Or take trips together
We might cheer on different teams
He has a house
(mortgage paid off recently)
He is married
Has three children
I’m forever the third wheel
x
We give rides for each other
When needed
For tests or procedures
He’s gotten me to hospitals
When necessary
And sat through
Unovertly
Through many times of waiting
x
There’s power in this
Unplanned
We simply met through the department
And it’s been many years
Untypical perhaps
Too academic
I think we both
Like the mind
But there is more
As there is more to people
And a complex world
x
The future will provide
There is no prophecy
Apart
We have our issues
And our challenges
Together
What David and Jonathan
Might define
Or Gertrude and Alice
Something in the ether
And before the TV
Watching movies (us three)
On Friday
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Robert Linder on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
machine time
x
repeating numbers
for today
ones and twos
the sun is shining
angled beneath
clouds
mist that has risen
and such
above it could be blue
and then the black of space
with all our trash
and earnest vehicles
in orbit
x
look down
and there’s the floor
to the left
is cooling coffee
right in front
is this machine
with a screen that challenges
endurance
still so much easier to use
than typing through
a master’s degree
on Olympia, Corona,
and my sanity
x
remember paper?
that’s what we used
for turning in assignments
before the imposition
of electrons
paper, sticky stamps
other adhesives
it was a world, then,
that we could touch and hold
and know we’ve used
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
x
Cheeses
(Louises)
Oh, mouse
Poor mouse
You went swimming
In my coffee
Yesterday
It you had been more traditional,
You would have paddled better
(and at all)
You spent the night in my
Dish-drainer and now are hanging
On a hook with a cutting board that
Has a loop
But I’m sorry to say
You have been replaced
(at a cost of seven dollars)
Well, you dry
Then rest some more in your
Newly dry state
You may be the backup now
The new mouse is okay
I couldn’t write without it
Or you
The touchpad never working right
(or at all)
On the old computer
Microsoft, by the way, sent me a
Message that
Our operating system no longer
Is supported
The best advice to buy a new machine
And would I like to see some
Suggestions
Sheesh, would Microsoft like to
(you think I’m going to say something
now, and I’m going to say
another thing)
Give me a new machine
Surely, some holiday is coming
Microsoft would say,
We can’t afford to do that
To which I say, I believe
You could give everyone a computer today
(I mean everyone)
And still make profit
Enormously, tomorrow
I have a friend there
Maybe Eric would like to
Pass my suggestion along, or
Maybe he’d rather keep his job
Which for you, mouse, is neither here
Nor there
Rest, dry, then stand by
You never know
I never know
When I might have to call
The electric play
C L Couch
Document1
[Compatibility Mode]
It beckons
To use a fashioned word;
I put all files to rest,
Because I was told that updates
Were required;
I let all sleep except the function, my
Initiative (the computer would
Not have started otherwise),
And then I went away to read a book (you
Know, pages to touch and stuff);
The machine is done with me for now—and,
Wouldn’t you know,
There is a blank page on the screen,
A first page,
As if the program were inviting me
To start again:
I didn’t mean anything by it;
It’s my protocol, you know.
Please start again.
I want you to, really.
I am bound by algorithms; you
Are bound
By turmoils I
Cannot compute.
C L Couch
clcouch123 
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