big noises out front
BANGS the street where something leaves
something new come in
c l couch
photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
(BANGS goes with street; I have the former word in all-caps so that reading might beg the particular connection—and it could be fun to say the word aloud and LOUD or to think only inside)
(x = space)
x
x
Poetry and Senses (3 poems)
x
x
Upstart Clay
x
God will help us through
By being quiet
Leaving all the noise to us
Except the wind
Maybe the water that descends
To strike the surface
Maybe on the ancient
Mountaintop
That moans
Or the young one that must explode
Or pushing geysers through
The scalding
Earth
x
So there
God might be noisy
After all
To take a part in all this
And remind us
Of the presence
And natural participation
Of the maker
And the making
Which is us
Fashioning our noise
Into making something
Too
x
x
The Color Wheel
x
There is yellow
There is red
Then blue
There are the colors
In between
Orange
Purple
Green
And there we are
x
No white
Or pink carnation
For a crayon
No black to see
Though depending on perspective
Black might be suffuse
x
We love our color wheel
Couldn’t get along
To see
Without it
And the colors might turn concepts
To explain
x
To touch sometimes
Though there is no distinction
Doing that
To smell the color
Which is to smell the paint
Nothing to hear
Unless the wheel
Be turning
And there is humming from an engine
Or a supplicating gear
x
Imagine Earth the wheel
Us the fashioners
How are we doing
Are we colorful
Do we six colors
Bordered
Unattended
Or do we mix and blend
And have a globe
Outstanding
Then when turning
Make a noise
Send a message
To the others
Here we are
Introduce us to yourselves
x
x
Wheels within Wheels
x
Wheels within wheels
That had been said
As it’s been invented
With clay
With metal
In the mind
Over centuries
x
As a metaphor
Plots within plots
Every smaller
Going out
Ever larger
So that families
And nations
Are affected
Even over thrown
Reinvented
From parts left over
Rounded
And toothed
To have new rhythms
And redesigned
Noise
x
Wheels that press
Or parts caught
Inside gears
Or there’s so much pressure
So much lack of space
That something crushes
Unless so difficult itself
Breaks the gear
Breaks the wheel
x
And someone
Victor
I suppose
Must rework everything
So that we’re round again
And might make music
This time
As we turn
Through space
And time
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Matt Seymour on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Anchorite Paradigm
x
There is quiet
There is some noise
There is the right
Combination
Based on relative needs
And wants
So that the anchorites
Inside
Might thrive
x
I’m not sure
I can tell
Because I’m not she
Or you
Preparing for retreat
Or the quiet
Time
In every day
For God and one
And later on
A few more
Maybe many
If there’s a meeting
x
It has to be a merging
The world isn’t one thing
Or the other
Spirit
And flesh
Technology
Impulsive
Even pollution and clean air
Is the way we have things
Now
And for a while longer
Until something breaks
Like a good wave
And we have innovation
With tradition
And legacy
That’s in between
x
Breathe for selah
In our inventing
Wait a second for approval
Then move on toward
Another
Better
Newer
Defensible
Amen
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Mitchell Y on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
monday protest
x
get up
listen to the noise
and go
and this is how it starts
x
a day
in the modern world
x
no,
thank you
iI’ll stay here
in the drab place
and time
x
of dark and cold
of sleep
and safety
well
x
i won’t grow up
not i
x
if you must leave
i’ll stay
x
c l couch
x
photo by eduardo mallmann on unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Eve X
x
I cannot help
But love the evening
Maybe you feel the same
And in the quiet night
A miracle
And it can’t have been quiet
With the mother
And the father
And the animals
And the outside
Night noises
And yet the heart is quiet
Generally
When
There is the birth
To contemplate
In the dark
And after
Maybe
An extraordinary light
That might be candlelight
Or dawn
Or an inside
Sunrise
x
And it could happen
In an hour of
Any Christmas Eve
With apologies to mothers
And to fathers
And to animals
The wilderness
x
But we might need
Silent consideration
Of it all
And then to have a new day
In more silence
Or the noise
Of a wonderful
However illuminated
Day
x
Darkness
And light
Darknesses
And lights
We might need both
To understand
How a birth leads
To eternal life
Because it may
It does
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Remy Gieling on Unsplash
Believer holding candle at evening church ceremony in Paris.
x
The Noise
I think I hear street-sweeping
Wrong day
No, it’s a plane
The noise is now stentorian
Now it’s Doppler-fading
A truck going through town?
No follow-up
Wet tires, maybe
On other cars
Scattered showers were predicted
C L Couch
Photo by Daniel von Appen on Unsplash
Tomorrow Look for Litany
Quiet nature
And it’s not
It’s noisy—screeching, scratching,
Tearing, flapping, crying out
In pain or loss or delight
It’s an uneven, all-textured
Unbalanced affair
Not all spheres are smooth in space,
Not every nest has beauty
There are scars and broken limbs
That bespeak mortality
But could we have it any other way
There is math in the nautilus
And harmony when mourning doves
Begin the day in need
Conversing with each other:
Come, join me
In this tree, set with me
C L Couch
clcouch123 
Recent Comments