the killings at Kent State
prelude
the lists don’t show
who shot whom
except
for whom
we don’t know the perpetrators
with
the guns
and certainly there are sides
though only
one side
was
you know
armed
more so we could
search documents or
talk with folk
to
know and note
who
gave orders
as if to say to children then
don’t learn more
or
your elders
might just as well
kill you
requiem
if you were at Kent State
in 1970
on the fourth of
May
you should have heard
shots
and known some of your peers
had been killed
by intramural soldiers of your nation
learning the price
of protest
I suppose
except that’s absurd
because the nation’s youth
and anyone who’s here under rights
and that
everyone
should not have to speak out at the cost
of loss of
life
and who had guns
but only soldiers
the only thing destructive
on
the students’ sides were
voices
yes
and maybe
numbers
it was tragic all around
unreasonably
even
stupidly
frankly so
I mean
what parent generation calls for killing
of its children
what learning process
even with complexity
goes so far
so
terminally far
to send a message
don’t learn anymore
don’t grow
don’t try
ever
again
c l couch
Taking place in 1970, the Kent State Shootings (also known as the Kent State Massacre or May 4 Massacre) were the killing of four and wounding of nine unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State University campus.
(Wikipedia and me)
Jeffrey Glenn Miller
Allison Beth Krause
William Knox Schroeder
Sandra Lee Scheuer
plus nine more students shot, wounded
photo by Ally Griffin on Unsplash
(stairways in Kent Ohio USA)
Good Morning, Teacher
A wizard without a monarch
Spells to cast for no one
Lessons offered in an empty room
So Merlin retires
A teacher in an empty classroom
Someone standing on the shore alone
Where is Miranda
For Prospero to teach about
The wider world?
We need learners
We need to serve the cause
In animated bone and blood and flesh
Mentors require mentees
Can you imagine Mister Chips
Without someone to say good-bye?
I can’t
I don’t want to
It’s not a crave for audience
The universe is crowded
It’s someone who comes into the room
Asks a question
Just right for a leading answer
An educator’s reply, meant for
Engagement
Let’s begin
C L Couch
Helen Mirren as Prospero in The Tempest
Source: The Official Trailer
Ashen Wednesday
(liturgical need)
You have dirt on your
Forehead, the student says
I wanted you to know so you
Don’t walk around all day
That way
But I had just come from
Church (an early mass), and
Wearing the dirt (the ash)
All day would be our routine
If I had to guess, I’d say the
Room is mostly learner-
Populated with evangelicals
With maybe an honest
Agnostic or two,
In which (for all) formal
Understanding, knowing of
Old church practices would
Not be prominent among or
Within
But any church that survives
In turn gains its own
Orthodoxy,
And we spend time after
Noticing the dirt, talking
About spiritual habits plus
Other rituals
My church is trying this,
Someone observes
Yeah, my church, too, another
Notes
And so together in discovery
It appears—newer evangelical,
Independent communities
Reviving treasured actions
Of the first church,
The one ablaze at Pentecost
Reviving in the church is good:
There is great precedence for
That
And for all of us on this new
Day, we find new ways into
(To share outside)
A faithful, ancient season
clcouch123 
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