all is bias
(all is leaning)
the eyes are too big
in
the portrait
but
everything is bias
everyone
we lean
as the body’s not symmetric
neither are we
in
our views and
causes
and this is what we have
with
no objectivity
rather
wondrous in diversity
no weight to give to false claims
of
reference or authority based
on who we’re not
and
how the world
isn’t
find and claim
our bias
let it matter
then
together
all our views with all our
angles
add up to three-sixty of a planet
of ourselves
and
yes
to know the cosmos better
in the health of all
pluralities
nothing to win
or lie
rather
let an honest process have us understand
express
and progress
toward what’s distinct
and
what’s the same in
us
as
well
everything
when bias is applied
of course
to gain points
or
win the day
we could lie about our biases
to say
I’m with you when
not
as in
politics
or the political
way
to accomplish
anything
until it changes is made
up
and for a style of
lies
c l couch
photograph by Juan Cruz Mountford at Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Poor Evangelist
x
I am a Christian
x
I hope anyone who
Needs to know
For good or ill
Knows that
x
The things is
I don’t mind if you are not
x
In fact, if you are from
Another faith
I’ll find that interesting
And want
To know
Something of your story
x
It’s bad evangelism
I know
And I’ll be glad
Typically
To tell you more about my faith
x
But I am entrenched
(without the trenches)
With respect
x
I want
To respect your tradition
Or your lack of one
Or somewhere in between
x
I think this is what we need
In the world just now
x
With respect,
We might withhold our fingers
From the buttons
x
We might shut up our cant
Or rant
Instead to listen
x
Stories are personal
And of a people
x
After and while happening,
Most stories deserve
To be heard
x
Shut down the hate
To hear
And have your circle of perspective
And acceptance widened
x
Hope to be treated
The same way
And that the Earth will hold
Together
From our destructive devices
Not only military
While we listen
And by impulse,
The way we are constructed,
Learn
x
To say
To welcome
And to hear
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Agenda in the Storm
(having gathered)
x
New York was hit
Awfully bad
It’s moving north and east
The fires out west are also
Famously terrible
And there are storms
And floods and fires
Elsewhere
x
It is bad in Kabul,
Too,
The President asking for
More planes from non-military
Sources
And we can’t compare
This to Saigon, because
The fighting isn’t over
There’s a force ready
To fight the Taliban
Will North America and Europe
Recognize this group
To send them aid,
If an irony of aid
x
And there are other groups
In prisons and dealing
With worse persecution
(another irony)
On the outside
These groups are in Myanmar
And China
And northeastern Africa
And in North America,
Native Americans
And First Families
And do we want to keep the
Border nonporous to the south
Because we want to contain
Mexicans for being
Mexican?
And blacks and whites
Where are we now?
x
These are the ethnic
Fires and the flood of hate
And fear;
In the USA, we once liked
The melting pot
Though now it seems a crucible
To separate us and to test us
Then we might go back
To melting
In that first, patriotic pot
x
There’s climate
And still too much unchecking
You know, there’s a town
In Ohio that found natural gas
In a parochial way
And burned it all,
Frankly, excessively
Until there was none left
I don’t want to blame them
For excitement
Or working out technologies
At large, we need to do that,
Too
x
But I suppose there’s a lesson
In there, somewhere
And we have so much to learn
And do
To stop the fires,
Contain the floods
Mine in every way
Our minerals well
Maintain both poles
Step in, step out
So there might be
Peace in western Asia
And elsewhere
x
And then there’s hate
And fear behind the hate
That’s for our dealing,
Too,
To have a planet that we’re
Fond of and it shows
It breathes, it smells,
It tastes, it sounds, it feels,
It looks
Grand as canyons,
Vast as deserts,
Cold as frozen,
Hot as eruptions,
Living as oceans,
Deep as thought
x
C L Couch
x
x
The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill is alluded to, above.
x
Photo by Kevin Grieve on Unsplash
x
Here’s News (and a Haibun)
(1)
Here are three news leads from The Guardian:
The United Nations has for the first time signalled its “human rights obligation” over the deadly cholera outbreak in Haiti that has claimed the lives of at least 30,000 people.
‘It’s only working for the white kids’: American soccer’s diversity problem [headline]
Yesterday, a report came out that said more than 1,000 migrants and refugees have died just in the last week while crossing the Mediterranean.
(2)
Everyone on all sides of things is falling down. UN peacekeeping. Soccer, the world’s sport. Migrants we don’t count who die. Doesn’t help my own precarious feelings about stability or sanity in the world. Doesn’t help the fragility in me or mine. On this side of apocalypse (only frightening for some), what might we save? In order to retain poetics, I’ve refrained from news of politics today. I doubt anymore the answer’s there.
(3)
Black box of the plane
Black box of refugee’s boat
Black box of sea’s depths
clcouch123 
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