12 February 2024
today is
Lincoln’s birthday
as I recall
most years
uncongealed
from the
single
Presidents Day
and
yes
ten days from now
is Washington’s
Lincoln was
from Kentucky
as was I
though much taller
when he grew
much taller
about everything
adding that hat
for greater
height
he split rails
the kind for fences
I believe
maybe to be ready for
a fenced-in nation
he took us
through the worst
making mistakes
I’m sure
and losing children
maybe
tens of thousands
of these
whose names
might as well have been
Edward
William
Thomas who went by
Tad
the ones who died then
and the others
later on
as
a tragic legacy
and in two days we’ll celebrate
romantic love
which has me recall
the story of
how Lincoln first encountered
Mary Todd
saying he’d like to dance
with her
in the worst way
and then
proceeding to prove that
and she endured
poorly
as the war happened
and then
once it was over
she lost her family
viscerally
terribly
one child remained
as company
for her
remaining days
the President would turn
215 today
which means
he wouldn’t
but in remembrance
where his years
as in heritage
are eternal
he made mistakes
I’m sure
but he was whom
we needed
for splitting fences
in and of
themselves
the biggest
worst metaphors
barriers
having been made
by slavery
with other interests
from the states
that having been decided
in a sibling war
could turn out be
the U.S.A.
a single entity
imperfect
but so far indivisible
again
c l couch
photo by Ron Graham on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Death Toll in Kentucky
x
I am from there
I am from other places
Doesn’t matter
x
I don’t need to know
The topography
The lay of the land
x
The floods have happened
People have died
Many things are ruined
x
The count continues
While the water rules
And there’s no good way through
x
Forgotten parts of the world
Except in songs
Shows from NPR
x
There are storms, I know
And people die
And land is ruined
x
These people are one by one
Discovered
And remembered
x
There are stories
There will be more
And we should be grateful
x
Some places might rise
When dry
Some remain below
x
In hollow places
In the Earth
Inhabited
x
Uninhabited
For ages
The hollers
x
Remembered
Unremembered
We can only hope
x
All the counting
Numbers and greater meaning
And their stories
x
C L Couch
x
x
Kentucky Flooding Death Toll Rises to 37 as Governor Says Hundreds Remain Unaccounted for
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/01/weather/kentucky-appalachia-flooding-monday/index.html
x
Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash
x
Such a Church in Louisville, Kentucky
I hope it is still there
The black church I attended Sunday morning
Louisville in 1983
We were the only white folk there
The service went for hours (yes, it did)
And we were made so welcome
I’d like to have stayed for hours more
For Presbyterians, there was a lot of moving
Clapping and the singing was fantastic
Because they meant it
(it was tuneful, too)
The praying must have gone straight to heaven
Having made faithful conduits
Such an ordinary feature
We would have more meetings
Take our leave and go our separate ways
But we were together, then
Sinews in a toned body of
A holy congregation ‘round the world
When such people meet for such a purpose
Holy, holy, holy
C L Couch
Photo by Akira Hojo on Unsplash
Lord,
I don’t know what I’m doing
I know I often act misdirected
But where is the magic
The spotlight that tells me
I’m in the right place
And on the good way?
Came out of nowhere
I just heard that phrase used to
Sell something
A cliché, but it’s poetic
Really
Out of nowhere, ex nihilo
Philosophy
But isn’t that how you create?
Out of nothing appears
Matter
To set new flesh upon a wound or
Fill a gulley in the desert with
Water unheard-of in the
Season
Out of nothing I was made
The spark in emptiness that fused
A spirit to new cells,
And I am here
Though you’ve always been here
And I can’t say I understand that
How you are in the charges
Of my neurons
And the pulses of my heart
And over Earth
And through the universe of chances
Although I still feel useless
And pathless
For the Gethsemani contemplative
It was enough to know
Random instincts somehow speak to
Providence
That isn’t me
I’m not so smart
Or self-sufficient
Maybe
He wasn’t, either
We both want to know
And what do we find out?
We wander an agnostic landscape
Step toward uncertainty
An answer in a
Moment
And for the next,
Maybe
Will that do?
For us, it has to
And bold enough, if cautious
To go beyond the mortal shell
To tread in a fossil sea
To take a walk on Mars
C L Couch
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040628.html
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