What Do We Say and then What Shall We Do
I crashed my airplane
Through your roof
Near
But not on
But near enough
To the place where you reclined
Holding a sketch pad
And I could even see the thing
With which
You drew
I apologized
For crashing through your roof
And through the ceiling
In the room
You demurred
Citing lack of inspiration to draw
Anything
That moment
In fact
For the hour
Or that day
So far
At least
And I said
Strange
I had my notebook and my
Pencil with me
Though sometimes it is a pen
And I
Was stuck
Coming up with something
Of substance
You know
To set down
How strange
She replied
That we should both be at a point
So to say
Where nothing was forthcoming
You for words
And me for an illustration
Still
I’m supposing that is not
Why you crashed
Into my house
Indeed
No
I responded
I crashed because
I’m simply
Not really good
At flying
Ah
She said
And I got out
And we had tea
With all the authorities
Whom
Arrived
And so we had our stories
Words
And pictures
Even
A collaboration of long-standing
Over years
In fact
After I paid for
The construction of her house
That is
It’s easy
Isn’t it
To crash into something
Do some damage
After which
We should apologize
Then fix
What we have fallen into
One person
State
Or nation
C L Couch
Inspired by What Do You Say, Dear? by Joslin Sesyle, Maurice Sendak
Photo by Martin Robles on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
salute
x
soldiers died
ironically
while training
in the weekend
that was
set aside
for veterans
x
we have to give them
salute
rest
those who died
this way
in the time
x
a model for
the battlefield
death by surprise
when readiness
the mission
x
honor these
and families
and all
our family
community
protected
by our own
for these our own
forever
x
C L Couch
x
x
5 US special operations troops killed in Veterans Day weekend crash after training ‘mishap’: Officials
Five American service members were killed in a crash late Friday after their helicopter had a “mishap” during a training exercise and went into the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the military said Sunday.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/5-us-service-members-killed-crash-after-mishap/story?id=104830136
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Photo by Jacob Morrison on Unsplash
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(x = space)
x
x
Many Deaths in India All at Once
x
The electric signals
For the trains
Went wrong
Crash
Crash
Crash
Who knows how many times
And many died
And this means hundreds
Hundreds of people died
Because of this
And we who were not there
Will wonder briefly
About trains
Except we’ll keep them
And make more
Like bullets
That carry us
From guns
Which is fine
Trains are better for us
x
Pages and pages
Filled
All the names of the dead
How many names
Did each one carry
I have three
And you
And I’m still here
We are here
I’m dancing ‘round
The tragedy
Because I can’t make the math
Turn into people
x
I saw one photograph
Tracks and smoke
The right side went dark
There were the bodies
I suppose
Parts of trains
Yes
But unmechanical
Blood and organs
Separated flesh
With all the spirits gone
Released by death
In horror
Nothing like timorous gentility
In age or temerity
Of faith
x
What time for prayer
Seconds to turn
And turn
And turn
Challenge to our consciousness
Our bodies thrown
Moments of discomfort
Injury
Where are our own
Then silence
Even while
The fire of earth
Rage on
x
And we shall rage
And wonder
About planners
Admin. Folk
Even inventors
And
Yes
We have logistics
Everything to deal with
After
Which is us
And now
x
We’ll keep ourselves
We’ll try to keep the earth
And these
Close by
Until way over here
By tomorrow
Maybe tomorrow
x
One life
Let’s save one life
Over this
Then do that
Hundreds of times
Everyone
Everywhere
x
C L Couch
x
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Despair and Anguish Stalk Hospitals as India Reels from Devastating Train Crash
Story by Ivan Watson • 2h ago
(CNN)
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‘I Am Haunted by It’: Survivors of Deadly Train Crash in India Recount Trauma
by Krutika Pathis and Rish Lekhi
5 June 2023, 6:29 a.m.
(Time)
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Photo by Ashwini Chaudhary(Monty) on Unsplash
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(x = space]
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Plane Crash in Nepal
x
preamble
x
And if you think of other planes
Dimensions, even
Torn and torn apart
I think you’re tragically
Correct
x
story
x
If you’ve ever seen
A landing in Nepal
(I saw one, recorded)
Then you saw
How steep
How brief
A perilous experience
Considered normal
Was there sudden wind
Inside the mountains
Of Himalaya?
Was there ennui
Among the pilots
Who got too used to doing this?
Was there worse
Or better
Doesn’t matter
To the loss of life
That’s final on this side
And for us
All the keening
And investigating
A place of peril
On a good day
This was not a good day
It was a horror
Out of normalcy
We like to think plane landings
Are ho-hum
Not a terror
The humdrum fabric
On the loom
Ripped apart
The frames of bodies
Broken
Flung and sung away
For furies
Or other agencies
Who mission is to surprise death
Out of our ordinary
x
This was ordinary
Leisure
Otherwise, uninteresting
Now the count
The cost
The loss
The news
Prayers lining up through ages
A horrible new age
Unending sorry
Ending
Beginning
Some kind of cycle no one
Wants to live through
And live through
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Rahul Lal on Unsplash
The Other Side of Himalays
x
(x = space)
x
x
Lockerbie
x
So many lost people,
Lost at Lockerbie
x
They are in the news again
And should be;
All our losses need remembered
(losses’ need)
x
We think
A culprit has been found;
Headlines, texts, and images
Need smoothing out
x
How awful to be made
To remember
And how necessary
x
Let’s not look
Away
But mourn
With forward eyes
x
C L Couch
x
x
Lockerbie bombing suspect in US custody
x
Photo by Andrew Ridley on Unsplash
x
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