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we can be
brief
without sound-bites
that are extreme
the other way
while
of course
beyond verbosity
we can punch with words
we can overwhelm instead
or more
with
reason
and with courage
they need such words in
western Carolina
Florida
in western Asis
too
and all the places
that need healing
still
they need work
we know
more than
words
though words will
give the order
as well as
keep us going
how about
few words with
power inside
with which
words invoke power
to work
to expend our better energies
say
we love you
and we’ll help you
meaning
significance
and practicality
and
we’re coming
and we’re there
with
more than wishes
alone
rather with agendas for
health
and maybe peace
upon the land
and in our
minds
and in our
hearts
and in our
souls
too much of you
has perished
lost
too much
and with few words
we’re on our way
with actions
and resources
in hope of nature’s and our own
cessation
of destruction
at least
long enough to heal
and
with God’s help
perhaps
to remain whole
on these parts
our people
of Earth
c l couch
photo by MJ Tangonan on Unsplash
Chimney Rock, North Carolina
(my family tells me Chimney Rock the town’s no longer there)
(x = space)
x
x
Nicole
x
Hammering the east side
(no hyperbole)
Working its way over now
To wreak havoc
Like the dogs of war
On the panhandle,
Then move north
x
We’ll get remnants
No one seems to care
Up here for here
(good)
But six hundred thousand people
Without power
How shall they do?
How shall they cook
And read
And watch TV
Manipulate keyboards and screens
And stay cool?
x
It’s still Florida, after all
x
What can we say
To habitual destruction
Only to build the same, again
And maybe many times?
x
I’ve not been there enough
(not enough)
To understand the charm
x
Their politics are weird
But I wish for them
Electricity,
Dry days
x
I could wish that
This would learn us all
Something of our neighbors,
Their catastrophes
That linger years
In loss and less than everything
In daily rise
And style
x
For now,
Floridians
We pray for you
Really for now
For all the wreckage
You must live through
And as they come
For fair winds
And following seas
And maybe for
A long, long while
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Half a Building Gone
(Surfside, Florida)
x
Half a building gone
It seems,
Unreal
x
I mean, how do we
Take it in?
x
High-rise exposure—the
Condos look
Like cells,
Like empty egg cartons
Many stories high
x
The back that stands
Looks brown;
The open part looks
Silver,
Though I imagine
The effect is the light
Of day
And camera resolution
x
How many died?
How many live?
x
Already a pack appears
Around a microphone,
Mouthing
Not enough details
Although with
Many assurances
x
Maybe that’s good
x
Maybe it symbolizes
There should not
Be panic
But that the best advice
Is to sit
Or stand around
x
While the recues
Work on,
Heroes
x
When the experts
Do their jobs
That they do well
x
Stand by
For more information,
More assurances
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Dan Russo on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Degrees of Incarceration
x
I don’t know what to say today
To students, peers, siblings, or anyone
I keep thinking about
The Pennsylvania woman on spring break
In Florida, who was raped and left
For dead
And who died
Whose credit cards were stolen,
The proceeds to sponsoring more partying
By her rapists, now incarcerated
x
I keep thinking about the images
I’ve seen of spring-break partyers in Florida
At night and looking young and fit,
Drinking from cups on lawns and in driveways,
No doubt parking lots as well
And in many, many rooms
And there is not a mask in sight
And there is no safe distance in between
For any reason
x
I keep thinking about the places where
People are fighting, virus (also) notwithstanding
Syria and Yemen
Myanmar
Hong Kong where leaders and speakers
Are arrested
And all the acts of violence in my land
The land about which Woody Guthrie wrote
And sang
Irving Berlin and Kate Smith, too (respectively)
x
There is too much to think about
But no sedative or anesthetic for me,
Please
I have to deal with side effects from
What I take each day
x
I ramble but around a theme
And I’m revising, too:
What do we think about what threatens to
Close us off from normalcies
And niceties?
It’s all right, you know
(I know)
There is no Sunday best required
For thinking spiritual thoughts
Or wondering how the Spirit as we know
That Spirit might be enlisted
Might be involved, anyway
x
If not our neighbors or our friends
Though maybe our neighbors and our friends
And family people
Encouraging our say
As we encourage saying
For all the times I want
To shut up, and that is right
For all the times there is something pressing
And I
And we
Should release it
x
And, yes, I wonder if poems
Should have messages and morals, but then I think
I’d have to say that poems aren’t for less
x
Maybe poems are
Things we have to say
That can’t be said better in
Any other way
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
Photo by Rajesh Rajput on Unsplash
Love
x
To Parkland Youth
(Florida, USA)
I’ve worked with teenagers forever
So it seems
And I’m glad
I like precocity
The plain way teens tend to speak
Reminding me of why I like to walk
The streets of Pittsburgh, for
Pittsburgh people speak their minds with
Measures of respect with
Arrowed expression
And when I’m with youth, to say
Don’t forget to be fifteen,
Sensing some relief
All around
Being teen is good, and acting real is
Good
There are things you don’t have to
Own because you’re not there,
And this is good
Which is not to put you down but to raise up
All the growth that
Happens
In delight, frustration, error, joy
You should be free to
Know what to leave and what
To take with you
Should not be a thing for you
That we can’t let you finish adolescence
And so enter
The rest of the world
You have to step in now
And you shouldn’t have to
You have to act as two generations
And there it is
And for all I like you
And because,
This is not right
C L Couch
clcouch123 
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