How Are You

golden ruling

must one believe
in order to appreciate
even
to have
a sabbath

there have been laws to secure
weekends
and public mores
if eroded with
work
the busyness of virtue
and so we always have to prove we’re
at it
or are breathing only
for a moment

laws about that
too

the fullness of life
it seems
or as defined by someone we don’t know
must have hard edges
justified for
pay
and even neighborly acceptance

be seen to cut the grass or
not
to stay out late
too late
whenever that should mean

though we have work
and work is
paramount

live to work
the verse that we know
too
and yet eschew if with some longing

work to live

it’s a puzzle and a challenge and an expenditure
and could we really see and have
the thirds
of work
of sleep
of life that is neither work nor sleeping
that we get
to define
and maybe have some say
in all the rest

or is it safe to question and prioritize
shall we keep our jobs

I hope so
as in
twenty-four we get with
maybe threescore and ten and we think
it should be
longer

and it should

and so let life be good with all
the parts
with liking throughout
not
without challenges

and if
really possible
meaning worked out and on
we could let love
course through all
like
if you’ve seen
gold currents in
kintsugi

c l couch

photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

(x = space)

How Are You

We have shot four youth

This week

In the USA

One young person’s dead

All were hit

Wounded first

One died

Three are treated

One hopefully recovers if, oh,

So slowly

None can be the same

In Earth

Or heaven

(our daily petitions

for)

Now we pray

We shouldn’t have to

We should be

Praying for

Their joy

In youthful living

Not in

Struggling

To live

At all

Cheerleaders,

For goodness sake

Honor students

Good people, all

The kind you’d like

To get

To know

And if not our cup of tea,

We don’t shoot

At them

For that(,

crazy people)

And now

Their lives are changed

For the worse

Forever

We shoot our children

We can say

We are afraid

We are threatened by

The unfamiliar,

Anymore

But really, now,

We shoot children

Because

We can

The shooters being with us,

After all,

These locked in due process

And shall be heard

The victims cannot speak

Nearly so well

At all

And had no plans

Before

Except to live

You know, to adolesce

To grow

To live

And be alive

That’s over now

If they live,

They’re grown up now

We grew them

When we shot them

This week

In the USA

Our nation of

Domestic

Intimate

Gunplay

n. b.

Yes, without guns

We’d say

We’d use knives and sticks—well,

Okay

C L Couch

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Photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash

(well, there’s Pogo who observed that we have met the enemy and it is us)