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death

the overwhelming

the overwhelming
of Nepal and Tibet

I’m lucky

I’ve gone
under
and come up again

not floods but enveloped
by
loss of breath and
danger to
recover

with scars and fears
yet
still here to learn and to offer
and take in

love
as has been directed by
the second great commandment

water
mud
current
overwhelming gravity
and
by the water
land
and force to still the muscle
take the breath

deliver death like
an angel
painting lintels on a certain
night in Egypt

only this
was from a glacier
that
maybe was
maybe was not supposed to break
and
send the killing ice to water
down
to overwhelm

the hundreds found with
hundreds missing more

to all
a hopeful rescue
or
arrivals
tentative to check
in morgues
for those we might have known

and to know or fear from
missing

so much destroyed and what
remains
and what
to do

and prayer has power

so does money
so
too
does presence
and all work together
present

c l couch

photo by Sanjay Hona on Unsplash

NBC News
August 28, 2026, 7:37 AM EDT
• At least 547 people are dead after catastrophic flash floods Wednesday along the border between Nepal and China’s Tibet region, authorities in Nepal said.
• Hundreds of foreign tourists are among those who remain missing in the area, which is popular with trekkers and pilgrims. Rescue operations have resumed in both China and Nepal after they were briefly suspended amid fears of renewed flooding.
• In China, where a mudslide hit a land crossing between Nepal and Tibet’s Gyirong county, authorities said five people were dead and 558 others were missing, including 260 foreigners.
• The State Department says 90 Americans are unaccounted for in Nepal and China, while three have been rescued in Nepal. It said it was not aware of any U.S. deaths.
• The deadly torrent followed a glacial collapse in the Himalayan region, which is home to many of the world’s highest peaks and a high concentration of glaciers.

0

ides of December (3 poems)


ides of December
(3 poems)


north time
(5:42 a.m.)

still so dark
still
so dark
remembering that it’s blue
is
all

practicing memory of daytime as
it’s
taken away

creeps back with the solstice
yet
we believe it is brief time
with

victory enough
in
enduring days
again

again like these
to the north
       to
       the far south


prayer while frankly things are bad
(though regardless could be daily)

God
please
forgive me
help me
in
your timing
I know
though endurance with some endings
along the way
would
really serve
you know
and
of course
you do

you love
you know
you help

and if invisible while suffering
is real
and so there seems a differences
help me in this
to undeceive my senses
to
that the paradox of evidence unseen
and even
life by death
is
understood

and with embraces
here
nonetheless looking elsewhere
is it
forward or more directions
fully everywhere
at last


the past few days at Brown and in Sydney
(and the other places)

to have lost someone through murder
to have lost a child
a lover
or a friend

or to know there is an absence
a gap in what we knew
with health
was
a totality of presence

school of learners

place where faithful gather

any place that should
be easy to walk
through
where normal then became
punishing
insane

so much innocence
and
cowardice
not perfection in the victims
maybe worse for being any
one of
us

walking
breathing
now the smallest valley
sliced
in smooth land
where we had been walking even
if
absently yet
side by side

now only gone
and
in way that was horror and
now
how must we remaining
get on

because we must
we’re called
to
and we must call ourselves

and yet
to face all there is to face
to look within
then
at the world
in
what must be a teary way and then
once scoured
from
the empty place


c l couch


       At about 4:20 p.m. on a cold Rhode Island Saturday, a message from Brown University flashed up on cellphones all over campus — everyone should run or take cover from an active shooter.
       Hours later, horror erupted again, on the other side of the globe, as two gunmen sprayed bullets into a Hanukkah celebration on iconic Bondi Beach in Sydney.
       At Brown, two students were killed and nine others were injured. At least 15 people died at Bondi Beach, and more than three dozen remain in the hospital.
       . . .
(CNN)


photo by Nikola Johnny Mirkovic on Unsplash

0

church time December 7


church time December 7

moonlight was used
against
its use
as there was preparation
near

sunlight
to betray as well
on
early Sunday morning

when order
and white uniforms
were torn
apart
and life a tissue by attack
and
everything exploded
while ripped-up men and women
with
children close by
tried to shoot back and
also
run

to stations
and to homes

the attack upon our useful soil
and beautiful
while
we thought
to live there and none
should
bother us by might
and
arrangement

and yet
and yet

empire and
democracy
too much to reconcile
too
divergent for our values
so we fought

with destruction
as the theme and total
the result
so
the agenda
and the strategy

the chaos of attacking
on all
sides

and so the President and Congress
said
this is officially declared
and so to the west
and east
and so many points on Earth
to
call the war
world

second Sunday in Advent
when
the candle’s lit for
peace
and on that Sunday
eighty-four
years the count
the awful
lively
living and the dying there
and then

and how might all politics and factions
reconcile
only
by tragedy

and where there is alliance
or
appreciation
now
new fronts are drawn
between
within

and these days
the radical
it seems
to keep value in the sacrifice
done
and remembered

and to apply
as we tend to think in reverse
reminding
and if owning
of
the greatest sacrifice
become
the saving doctrine

remembered by the seasons
then
and now

c l couch


photo by Graddes on Unsplash

0

terminus


terminus

it is finished
and
it wasn’t
but
to Jesus in that
time
it was

in that moment of unliving
it was done
and to be
plain
there was no more

and
who knows of surprise
from God in
having
or unhaving this

the finality
of death

not
to feel the body released
from iron and wood
to be
taken down and carried
who knows where
at first
though finally to stone

small space rolled shut as all of
space rolled
shut
in all systems everywhere
it might seem to
us
and to angels likely
and who knows
but
to God as well

even some knowing
might not
shut out the pain and then the nothingness
to have
in all the heavens

as with us on
Earth
we had our prophecies but forgot
or forgetting to believe

and
did it happen right away
the resolution
and
the glory
and was hell harrowed
right away

or did the sleep without sensation
go a while
so
it was death
complete
even more so than our own

though the moment did arrive
when
the stone and
the space inside the stone
were
not enough and there might have been fire
in release
and
so to heaven
and on Earth

so much a timeline
we don’t
know
though we believe

and who knows how difficult for God
who gave up being God
to
live and
die mortally
totally
by our count for three days
and then

c l couch


photograph by Lucrezia De Agrò on Unsplash

0

on snowy evenings


on snowy evenings

an early evening when
sleet pings on the window pane
behind me
while I write
and try to write
to say something not likely
pithy
yet a touch
maybe to a point
and to
confess it

or to let
the setting like
the season stand alone

the dark and cold and icy rain I know
and thinking of a friend’s
father
who died last night
surrounded by faithfulness
it seems
and yet
I’m sad for her

and maybe I should let the night before
and the night behind me
do the talking
now
about
what feels separate and
in faith
might not be
a union shown by fact
someday

c l couch


photo by Anastasia Zolotukhina on Unsplash

0

Consideration of the Afterlife and Through-Life


Let It Go

I should write early
Then release it
Each piece a journey
If a stroll

And like a tapestry
There’s thread
And there’s a loom

Something
On which something else
Is framed

The work
The weave
Go out in directions
And make patterns
And there are
The damaged parts

But it’s a
Piece at last
For all our senses
And
Overall
The sense in things


[here’s an example, first thing out most recent session, not revised to death—or life if it can’t reach]


Consideration of the Afterlife and Through-Life

So what happens next
The short answer is that we don’t know
The long answer is
We hear things

Saint Paul tells
There shall be no pain
And our bodies shall be perfect
Perfected
That is
Through some sort of transformation
Some new alignment of
The spirit and the flesh

We have stories from
Those who have
Gone
And then come back
And I don’t know
These stories
Seem
To go along with ancient texts
Of many traditions
Many followings

And
Do we translate somehow
Right away
And where might judgment be
How might it
Happen

Christians say there shall be
Advocacy
In what transpires
And that we could
Be secure of heaven
Not for being
Good
In an unerring way
But for belief
Solely by belief

Sola Dei
Sola Christus

Other groups have other ways
To understand and have
The same
To be respectful and to say
Sola-something else
Sola-someone else

We don’t know what we don’t know
But it seems
We do know things
Though it’s all
So abstract
And invisible

What happens
And criteria
Could be clearer
And frankly sensible
As in
Assuring to the senses
That we have

It all would be
Frankly
Less frightening
As well

But then our will would have no place
It seems
And for the loss of Eden
It also seems
That what we choose
Does matter
And there might be no higher stakes
In fact

Sigh
I wish it were all easier
Though even angels
Without will
We say
Manage to rebel

So all things choose
Perhaps
Nature chooses
In the changing seasons
In responding to
New
And ongoing circumstances

So try to believe
Appears to be the way
Do well
Do good
Because it’s better
More uplifting
More constructive
Evidencing of itself
The better way

Thinking
And feeling better
Too

Children
Believe
For we are all the children
And belief is our
Incumbency

Our legacy
Our lore
The words of God to tell
And evidence in
Nature
Clear enough for being made
By God

C L Couch


Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash 

“And in death they were not divided. 2 Sam.1.23” (for translation programs)

0

12 February 2024


12 February 2024



today is

Lincoln’s birthday

as I recall

most years



uncongealed

from the

single

Presidents Day



and

yes

ten days from now

is Washington’s



Lincoln was

from Kentucky

as was I

though much taller

when he grew



much taller

about everything



adding that hat

for greater

height



he split rails

the kind for fences

I believe

maybe to be ready for

a fenced-in nation



he took us

through the worst

making mistakes

I’m sure



and losing children

maybe

tens of thousands

of these

whose names

might as well have been

Edward

William

Thomas who went by

Tad



the ones who died then

and the others

later on

as

a tragic legacy



and in two days we’ll celebrate

romantic love

which has me recall

the story of

how Lincoln first encountered

Mary Todd

saying he’d like to dance

with her

in the worst way

and then

proceeding to prove that



and she endured

poorly

as the war happened

and then

once it was over



she lost her family

viscerally

terribly



one child remained

as company

for her

remaining days



the President would turn

215 today

which means

he wouldn’t

but in remembrance

where his years

as in heritage

are eternal



he made mistakes

I’m sure

but he was whom

we needed

for splitting fences

in and of

themselves

the biggest

worst metaphors



barriers

having been made

by slavery

with other interests

from the states



that having been decided

in a sibling war

could turn out be

the U.S.A.

a single entity

imperfect

but so far indivisible

again



c l couch





photo by Ron Graham on Unsplash
1

Halfway Home

(x = space)

x

x

Halfway Home

x

The sacrifice

Of your shed blood

He said

On our behalf

In prayer

His words the surrogates

A shadow

Of the death itself

x

Horribly

A bleeding body

Shed of its spirit

At the last

A life too pure

A sacrifice

For us

x

Yet there it was

In expiation

Half redemption

For our sins

x

The weight of everything

That hates

Crushing his body down

Pushing out his spirit

On to Hades

Or Valhalla

To Gehenna

Or to Sheol

As it’s understood

To name it

x

Half the promise

The brutal

Ugly

Barbarous part

Complete

And it is over

He said it was finished

Maybe it is

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Didssph on Unsplash

x

0

Five through the Ocean’s Gate

(x = space)

x

x

Five through the Ocean’s Gate

x

I shirk

From contemplating this

I love the water

Love the ocean

Love the walk along a portion

Of its rim

At early morning

x

I’ve never been out far

No cruise

Or transatlantic anything

To look out

At waves without horizon

When there is the slightest haze

Along our edges

As if the clouds

Were now

Rimless warnings

Of an endless

World

Along the top

Let alone to think about

Below

x

They are there now

It seems

Their bodies

Anyway

They died in that below

Circuitous to

The wreck of all the wrecks

One of the sisters

Whose names were too large

A hubris

For an invitation

From the trickster gods

x

Five of them

Five of us

Someday officialdom

Will offer numbers with

Technical reasons

For us outside

The families

Conclusion

So we can move on

To other stories

To think about them

Once a year

Perhaps

x

Exploration

Research

Play

All are valid reasons

Human reasons

To go down

Into the blue

Though without expectation

I imagine

That there would be

No returning

x

Sorry

For your loss

We must do better

Say it months from now

And years

With meaning

And with safer

Measures

Though adventure

Is a chance

And cannot change

From that

x

C L Couch

x

x

Missing Titanic Sub Crew Killed after “Catastrophic Implosion”

Helen Regan, Adam Renton, Rob Picheta, Aditi Sangal, Elise Hammond, Matt Meyer, Tori B. Powell, Mareen Chowdhury

https://www.cnn.com/americas/live-news/titanic-missing-sub-oceangate-06-22-23/index.html

x

Photo by Inés Álvarez Fdez on Unsplash

x

1

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