quiet as a
I sit
on an old creaking
and solid bench
and could I be quiet
like that church mouse over there
I neither see
nor hear
but wears gray
with brown
and
needing to clean the dust of Earth
when drops of water I might
find
somewhere there
c l couch
photo by Zoshua Colah on Unsplash
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, NYC, USA
Mouse Culture
Mouse droppings
Signs of mice
They are old evidence
Except inside the walls, I’m sure
Where they congress
To meet upon important
Mouse subjects
Toward mouse culture
The latest look in traps
Especially the smells
Of things
I’m not talking rats
I believe their meetings grim
Volleys of hissing, punctuating
I mean gray mice
With small dark eyes
The kind of mice we’d rather meet
In fields
And in which
They’d rather find us
Meeting’s over
Crumb patrol, move out
C L Couch
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Cheeses
(Louises)
Oh, mouse
Poor mouse
You went swimming
In my coffee
Yesterday
It you had been more traditional,
You would have paddled better
(and at all)
You spent the night in my
Dish-drainer and now are hanging
On a hook with a cutting board that
Has a loop
But I’m sorry to say
You have been replaced
(at a cost of seven dollars)
Well, you dry
Then rest some more in your
Newly dry state
You may be the backup now
The new mouse is okay
I couldn’t write without it
Or you
The touchpad never working right
(or at all)
On the old computer
Microsoft, by the way, sent me a
Message that
Our operating system no longer
Is supported
The best advice to buy a new machine
And would I like to see some
Suggestions
Sheesh, would Microsoft like to
(you think I’m going to say something
now, and I’m going to say
another thing)
Give me a new machine
Surely, some holiday is coming
Microsoft would say,
We can’t afford to do that
To which I say, I believe
You could give everyone a computer today
(I mean everyone)
And still make profit
Enormously, tomorrow
I have a friend there
Maybe Eric would like to
Pass my suggestion along, or
Maybe he’d rather keep his job
Which for you, mouse, is neither here
Nor there
Rest, dry, then stand by
You never know
I never know
When I might have to call
The electric play
C L Couch
Bread Alone
A crumb set on a windowsill by a wayward mouse
Seen through the dust, returning to grab up
The part of grain
Clever mouse
Hungry mouse
Field mouse—headed back where it belongs
Leave it alone
It’s an old house
We might need an ally
You want to be in the right place, too
C L Couch
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