on reading a passage from Madeleine L’Engle’s journals
there is the moment
when
the medal has been shot
that had been
placed in the V of the trunk
of a tree
out in the country
at the place where they stayed
and how outraged
the narration
turned
toward that phantom crime
become a waking travesty
and
my wondering on reading
if too much were being
made
and in time to wonder
were it enough
because I’m thinking now if each
took to small destruction
in this way
then
there should be a movement
to take domestic and then global interest in
anything that should
remain
whole
c l couch
The Crosswicks Journals
photo by Mantas Sinkevičius on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Dear Next Page
x
This isn’t a diary
Dear Poem
Or what have you
Diaries are for
Confessions
Apologies in the old-fashioned way
As in explanations
Defensive explanations
And wishes
Wishes maybe
For the world to change
x
I keep a journal,
Which in the definitive way
Is dull
Why do I think the way I do? is
Taken on
And why is there breath
Or anything
But here’s the thing,
There I often write about
The way I feel
Not asking why I feel this way,
Simply saying
x
Maybe it is a diary, after all,
In the tradition of
A lock and key
x
I have a password
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Drahomír Posteby-Mach on Unsplash
Trollenäs 104, 241 92 Eslöv, Sweden, Trollenäs
x
Commemoration of an armistice.
Remembrance, acknowledgement, and honoring of all veterans from all wars, everywhere. What do the warlords care? They care for strong backs and arms that shoulder fearsome guns. But in a democracy of feeling, the rest of us know individuals. Hopefully, we know their stories and we tell them.
What do I know? I know their service is a wonder. Their sacrifice a heartbreak. Their strength shoulders the mind.
I went to Gettysburg in late December. I felt it the saddest place on Earth. How many open battlefields have we? How many can house or canopy the service of the dead? The preservation of the living?
Yes, there’s Flanders Field. Somme and Gallipoli. Israel and Egypt in week-long wars. Massacres in India and China. Killing of indigenous that maybe should be classified as war.
Why do we have war? Elihu Root claims that it has to do with keeping peace, an irony of iron substance. The New Testament asserts it’s because we ask amiss. We ask for things we cannot have. And so we take them.
I don’t know. I don’t know anyone who favors war except in movies. I don’t think real people do that, favor war. We fight so there’s an end. We fight so that the fighting stops.
Will there ever be a battle in Antarctica? Can we keep one place clear?
I hope we cherish veterans of service and of war. And the peace they promise.
note
This is from my journal entry for the day. I wrote a poem, which I should post. Not because it’s great but because it’s timely. When I wrote about the day this way (excerpt above), it seemed appropriate, too. Hope so. Hope you’re all, veterans and civilians, really well. If not, I hope you’re better soon.
https://albanyvisitors.com/explore/veterans-day-parade/
The Albany’s Veterans Day Parade is the biggest Veterans Day celebration west of the Mississippi.
clcouch123 
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