Search

clcouch123

I talk you talk we'll talk

Open Search
Tag

family

The Killings in Thailand

(x = space)

x

x

The Killings in Thailand

x

They were brought

Juice and popcorn,

Dolls

Everything they’d need,

The children at the daycare center

x

But this was funereal

The children had

Died

Killed by a madman who killed

Others, too

Killed his family

Lastly, himself

x

The families brought juice and popcorn,

Dolls

Snacks and toys

To the daycare center

For the children to enjoy their day

x

Everyone had been to the temples

Then they came here

x

Come back home

Come back with us

x

The parents

Parents and the living family members

Said

Pleaded

Cried

While exuding dignity,

Respect

For everyone

x

Come back home

Come back with us

x

They were there

At the daycare

Leaving presents, organic things

Symbolic things

The children would have used

At their age

For their lives

In the daycare

x

Everyone had been to the temples

More to follow there

Now they are here

x

Come back home

Come back with us

x

They can’t;

Insanity

And criminality

Has taken them

x

Spirits

Journey

Hard

But shall be

Reunited

Wrongful death

Owns no victory

The children

Other victims

Know this now

They shouldn’t have to

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Charlotte Seo on Unsplash

x

0

Prevarication

(x = space)

x

x

Prevarication

x

How do I write about my brother

Again

And be ready one more time?

The doctor gave him time

Then that was it,

The doctor said

. . .

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by jules a. on Unsplash

x

1

We Prayed Today

(x = space)

x

x

We Prayed Today

x

“Today is a privilege” she said she’d

Embroider on a pillow

And on the other side, “I’m still

Breathing”

Because for all the despondence,

The despair we take to prayer

In our group,

There is beauty and joy

And so much to love

In fact, it’s what we love that turns

That often

Leads us to prayer

Compels us

We pray for the good things, too,

Wanting the goodness

We pray over cherishing the messed-up

World we have

And the messed-up lives we care for

And our own

We say amen

Knowing it’s never

The end

And we say thank you

With intention

We mean it

We are grateful

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by KARTIK GADA on Unsplash

x

0

Death and Saint Patrick’s Day

(x = space)

x

x

Death and Saint Patrick’s Day

(17 March 2022)

x

There has been

A death in the family

We will gather tonight

It might seem

As a wake

Though really it’s for comfort

Something pleasant

In all the difficulty

x

Which is maybe what

A wake is

Why the Irish developed

The remembrance

Bittersweet

Like coffee with sugar

Porter in a glass

x

Though the glasses

Won’t be broken

Ritually,

It might feel like a christening

Launching a spirit

Into heaven

While

Our part in having something

Unofficially good to do

x

Goodbye

Farewell

Fair winds, as sailors

From many nations say,

And following seas

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by SpaceX on Unsplash

x

4

How We Ate

(x = space)

x

x

How We Ate

x

Somehow,

We had turkey

On Thanksgiving and on

Christmas though not at any

Other time of year,

Not even from the deli

We had ham at Easter

Corned beef and cabbage on

Saint Patrick’s Day

Pork and sauerkraut for New Year’s

Cheeseburgers and fries,

Holiday cookies on

Christmas Eve

On Valentine’s my mother would make

And serve a two-later, pink

Heart-shaped cake

Speaking of cake, the Easter cake

Was made into the shape of

A bunny with coconut

For fur

With cardboard ears

The insides colored pink

With the carnation crayon,

Then all laid upon a grass of green-

Dyed coconut with jelly beans

Scattered in the grass

My brother Rick taking black jelly-beans

To place behind the bunny’s butt,

Which aggravated my mother

Every year

That was family holiday food

I could be missing something

We ate well

Better and better,

I’m thinking each year

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Maddy Hunt on Unsplash

x

(no, we didn’t eat bunnies—we were bunnies)

x

6

Holy Families

(x = space)

x

x

Holy Families

x

Candles lit

Season’s days are counted

It’s easy, given the

Days, to think on

Family

The sacred family

The holy family

Set apart

Unusually constructed

Older husband

So it’s said

Check the old windows

His hair is thinning

Brown to gray

She in blue and white

Meaning peace

And youth

How often

That may happen

And the child

Born to the mother

Not the father

Though he will be the

Father as that

Matters day to day (and

it matters greatly)

A boy

Who grows

Then moves apart

To heal

And to teach

x

This is the family

With the child

Warranting visits from

Shepherds

And from magi

With the calls of angels

Splitting the sky into

Pieces of cosmos

x

A family

Spirit-set

And in that way

Each family is

A holy family

x

C L Couch

x

x

Loretto Motherhouse (Nerinx, Kentucky) – Seven Dolors stations, Station 2 – Flight into Egypt

By Nheyob – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34985128

x

1

Missioning

(x = space)

x

x

Missioning

(for Mandy Shunnarah)

x

It’s Wednesday

And a hump day

Too many cases breaking out

Al-Qaeda talking up Afghanistan

Fires in California

New Apple phones

Unveiled there

I need shoes

More importantly a place to live

Local friends are helping

And good thoughts

Come from everywhere

Faroff family stands by

I’m eaten up with nerves

They eat me

Consume the calm

Like the noise above

That means I’m leaving

After many years

Too many jobs

That took up all

My energy allotment

Concentration

And my attempts to rest

And now

Semi-retired

Accosted with all that

x

My heart needs fixing up

x

This should not

Be all for me

Too many people

Have revocable need

I pray

Others help

With worldly substance

So much more than I have

But this should not be for me

In what I cannot do

It’s to put out fires

Help first-responders

Let go those

Who have no perspective

Build up health

Yes

It’s true

And I must ask

For all of us

x

C L Couch

x

x

Mandy Shunnarah has been writing about skateboarding and skateboarding—forthcoming book, Midwest Shreds: Skaters and Skateparks of Middle America from Belt Publishing (fall 2022).  Hers is a positive, inclusive, encouraging voice.

https://mandyshunnarah.com/

https://www.offthebeatenshelf.com/blog

x

Skateboard on Dry Lakebed

Photo by Kelsey Dody on Unsplash

Alvord Desert, Oregon, USA

x

4

Love Song of the Mendicant

(x = space)

x

x

Love Song of the Mendicant

x

I sit by the side

Begging bread for my bowl

I drink thin liquid,

Hoping to sustain me

Is it Egypt

Of long ago,

A curb in Cairo

Or in Rome

Or New York City?

x

We dream,

And in our dreams

We look for many things

Gold, perhaps—

More so for love, I think

The love of God

Of one another

Of those we know

And those we knew

Who have been away

For a long while,

Now

x

Now

We wake

And everything begins again

We are cast outside

By the world’s demand

To beg for bread

And something cool

To drink

And that, with enough,

We can share with

Others

In our group,

With our family

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Viviane Okubo on Unsplash

Palhano, Brazil

x

0

Folding Expectations

(x = space)

x

x

Folding Expectations

(thanks to Meg and Madeleine L’Engle)

x

There’s a physics

In the characters

Who wake up late

And join each other

In the kitchen

x

Eating liverwurst-and-onion

Sandwiches

And discussing tesseract,

Other functions and ideas,

The day,

The world,

And each other

x

I can’t pardon their menu

But I applaud the way

They spend secret,

Winking time

x

Wrinkling it,

To say,

Slipping a dynamo

Inside hours that pass

Most of us as

Static

x

I long to sit

At Meg’s table

Then join her

Sometimes with siblings

On the seeing rock

Out back

x

C L Couch

x

x

photo by Vinicius “amnx” Amano on Unsplash

gym ceiling in sao paulo, brasil

x

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑