ocean

2 poems about perspectives


2 poems about perspectives (and prompts)


anyone by Tennyson
(reflecting on “Ulysses”)

and if
Ulysses leaves
then
something wrong in Ithaca
something rotten
like the other precedence
to say

maybe his administration by which
his parting
will take the ill with him
and
shall we be ruled
then
by Penelope

who knows how to weave and
keep
the promise
loyal as all promises
are pledges
in
themselves
and so security humanity
in adventures bearing truth
and
at home
bearing love
reliably
secure

the place for that pursuit of happiness
also from the Greeks
to know
and so by wandering and settling
to have

yet
do not settle
say Ulysses and the followers

though
yet there must be a place
of ours
enacts Penelope

and
shall Telemachus serve as medium between
the parents
and the warring notions
of the heart
and will

battle well
the main place
the parts
where battle matters


“Ulysses,” a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, published originally in 1834


the ray

these
things that Bing promotes
the rays that fly through water
by Galapagos

they swim
they point the way they’ve gone
to mark the way
for what should follow
also
to defend
and promise that through the long black
point
that each possesses

and they do all of this
these creatures
and
the species
thousands of miles from here
though there are analogues
closer in

the beings have a mind
but no mind about this

they
do not move aware
of us
as we think we should be observed
and
recognized

rather
they move in life
and life
is what they know

both need and celebration driving
which is all to strive
against
our vanities

a lesson in moving existence
in all


“spotted eagle rays in the Galápagos Islands”
presented by Bing/Microsoft (Tui de Roy/Minden Pictures)
homepage 8/15/25


c l couch


photo by Maksim Shutov on Unsplash 
Lisbon Oceanarium, Esplanada Dom Carlos I, Lisbon, Portugal

August 15, 2025 0

[3 haiku about (coastal) land and water]


[3 haiku about (coastal) land and water]


dawn in its first hour
gray hour at the ocean sings
gulls cry food for praise


knowing god looks out
from shore with the church folk there
looks back too through waves


gold rise red to blue
east coast sun sets into land
western sun in sea


c l couch


(3 haiku about (coastal) land and water, in part because I haven’t been to the ocean in a while; I mean for each poem to stand as each, though they are tied as well)


photo by René Molenkamp on Unsplash

May 25, 2025 0

What Kind of Country


What Kind of Country

The Constitution
A grand response to the ancient notion
Of democracy

Preamble
Principles
And rationale
And then how to operate a nation

Amendments
Laws to address exigent
Inequalities

And is all this worth defending

It’s worth repeating and
Defending

We could say
Defending to the last
We could say
Defending for the first

If the first is a child
If the first is First Family
Is the first was a slave
If the first
Lives and by living
Is mistreated

That’s the first
She is the first
And all
Who by birth and by the way
Are here

Only one of us was here
To begin with
The rest of us have
Come in waves
With each wave unwelcome

Scaring
The preceding wave as
A single ocean
Never acts

C L Couch


photo by Sean Oulashin on Unsplash

May 7, 2025 0

A Trip to Europa


A Trip to Europa

There might be oceans there
Of water
Fit for life
As we are fit for life

The novel warns us
But we’re going
There
I think some fellow-feeling draws us
As if
We’re all in the ice
Reflections
Of ourselves
Maybe the way
We should have been
The way
That denizens
Might have us
Now

C L Couch
(Europa Clipper)


Photo by NOAA on Unsplash

October 5, 2024 0

Five through the Ocean’s Gate

(x = space)

Five through the Ocean’s Gate

I shirk

From contemplating this

I love the water

Love the ocean

Love the walk along a portion

Of its rim

At early morning

I’ve never been out far

No cruise

Or transatlantic anything

To look out

At waves without horizon

When there is the slightest haze

Along our edges

As if the clouds

Were now

Rimless warnings

Of an endless

World

Along the top

Let alone to think about

Below

They are there now

It seems

Their bodies

Anyway

They died in that below

Circuitous to

The wreck of all the wrecks

One of the sisters

Whose names were too large

A hubris

For an invitation

From the trickster gods

Five of them

Five of us

Someday officialdom

Will offer numbers with

Technical reasons

For us outside

The families

Conclusion

So we can move on

To other stories

To think about them

Once a year

Perhaps

Exploration

Research

Play

All are valid reasons

Human reasons

To go down

Into the blue

Though without expectation

I imagine

That there would be

No returning

Sorry

For your loss

We must do better

Say it months from now

And years

With meaning

And with safer

Measures

Though adventure

Is a chance

And cannot change

From that

C L Couch

Missing Titanic Sub Crew Killed after “Catastrophic Implosion”

Helen Regan, Adam Renton, Rob Picheta, Aditi Sangal, Elise Hammond, Matt Meyer, Tori B. Powell, Mareen Chowdhury

https://www.cnn.com/americas/live-news/titanic-missing-sub-oceangate-06-22-23/index.html

Photo by Inés Álvarez Fdez on Unsplash

June 23, 2023 1

Sextant

(x = space)

Sextant

I have no idea how

One works

Somehow the sextants

Set

The way we need to take

In relation to

The stars’ own courses

Like the lodestone

The sunstone

A compass

Or the stars themselves,

We go with an absurdity

Of faith

Considering how wide

The water

How minimal the shorelines

And they

Save us against

The ocean’s

Featureless horizon

A journey by design

Or an irony of pressing,

A crossing by

The sextant’s parsecs

Tentatively ending at

A port-of-call

And the decision not

To yield but

To carry on,

Wayward sailors

Wayward children

Seeking the

Navigator’s colors

C L Couch

U.S. Navy Quartermaster 3rd Class, practices using a sextant as part of a navigation training aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), 2018

By National Museum of the U.S. Navy – 180423-N-DL434-149, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70793138

July 7, 2022 0