A Plain and Fancy War
I’ve made
Notations
On the weather
Even risking
A mood
Based on the same
While all the hundreds
Are new victims
Anywhere there’s war
Or war
On deck
As if to step up to
The devil’s plate
In a game against a team
From hell
And this is stupid
Reasoning
So far
Foolish metaphors
Of weather
And of games
While in the east of east
From here
And west in Asia
So much is brewing
Like
The witch’s
Stew
That at this time
Is also fanciful
All because
I do not want
To face
With my face
And what's behind it
The real death
The ghost of war
(un-
metaphor)
Come
To haunt again
And everything
That schemes with it
Famine
Hopelessness
Annihilation
Of the body
And the spirit
To win more souls
For hell
Though for now
It’s destruction
Literal
Destruction
That matters most
And
Yes
The devil’s work
In strategies
And I can’t keep from this
I guess
The rhetoric
The discourse
When we have no mouths
And if we had
What we would have said
Gone ignored
And then frankly
Horribly
Set
To detonate
And then
Explode
The tangling
Of war
The limbs
The lies
That both must soar
In gruesome pieces
Through the battlefield
Certainly before
And after
Without doubt
When
Generals and presidents
Defend
Without forfending
And this is one place
And there is more
In more
Places
With all the consequences
To the body
As we say
And the soul
Cliché for closeness
And the truth of things
We must have one
And have
The other
Losing one
Or both
A battle
On the plains
Or any parts of middle Earth
With all the forces
Human and human-like
Divine and like divine
Assembled
Frankly
Like Megiddo
And now
To consider
What shall happen
C L Couch
Photo by Zihao Wang on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Prayer Practicing
x
The best place to pray
Is at church
Or at home
Or in the car
Or on the sidewalk
(watch your
step)
Or beneath a tree
Or inside a tree,
Having climbed
Up
x
With others
Or all alone
Or with numbers
In between
One and many
x
On a farm
Or in a skyscraper
On the water
On a hillside
Atop a mountain
In the valley
At the entrance to a desert
Far within
x
While walking
While
Sitting still
x
So anywhere
And when you’re feeling
Where is
Nowhere
x
Amen
x
C L Couch
x
x
View of Mount Cook, circa 1930, New Zealand, by Margaret Stoddart.
Photo by Museum of New Zealand – Te Papa Tongarewa on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Late Cancer
(diagnosed, lived out)
x
My brother
Might have to be moved
Again
He is frustrated
Wants to be home
Before he wanted to be
Elsewhere
But elsewhere isn’t working out
I understand
The purpose of a medical setting
Is not to settle in
But to leave
When well
Stay is contraindicated
Home
As it cannot be managed
Still remains the prize
x
He’s in pain
Palliation only goes so far
Before the pain
Folds in again
He’s also frightened
I would be
I am in contemplation
Though these are his days
And shall the cancer
Diagnosed too late
A year ago
Take him to another home
Prepared
At last
To last
x
But there’s today’s pain
I don’t know how to wish
The pain to go away
Without invoking
The scary, heavenly alternative
But prayers aren’t magic
We aren’t dealing with a genie
Waiting to misstep
Our hopes
In misspoken entreaties
Heal my brother
Still
Is every prayer’s day
That might make nothing happen
‘Til the pain-releasing thing
Must happen
Tragically for us remaining
For him who suffers
Most of all
x
It is late December
I agree it is a magic season
How much amazing
Might be borrowed
From days
Of extra stars and circles
Green and all the other colors
Only for him
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Kalle Kortelainen on Unsplash
[photographer’s narrative]
A crisp afternoon around 3pm in Dalsjöfors, Sweden these incredible snowflakes appeared on the hood of our car. You can almost hear the crisp snow creaking under the soles of the winter boots by just looking at them. Pure natural magic.
x
(x = space)
x
x
Time and Again
(for J. R. R. T. in the birthday month)
x
Sometimes
We know it’s happening
Far away
By powerful people
National leaders
Soldiers with weapons firing
Or
A catastrophe
That has not befallen us
Specifically
And like parades
We know they and these are passing by
x
Sometimes it’s here
Still not for us
Our role might be
To observe
Or like the chorus
Comment on events
But this is not our stage
We are not the players
Not the principles,
At least
When there is news
We will know more
x
Sometimes it is our time
The light might be on us
Maybe not
But it is our time
The actions
And the consequences
Our place in the world
To secure
x
Perhaps I mean
The deaths of kings
(inclusive)
Then a fire in another part
Of town
Then maybe no more than
A birthday celebration
To have with grace
And thanks
x
Or maybe our time
Is more important
However to us
It seems
To the people
To the planet
To the cosmos
Believe me or not,
It could happen
x
It happened to the hobbit
Most of us are hobbits
Even without the provenance
Or wealth
(before the treasure is acquired)
Of Bagginses
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Look Up Look Down Photography on Unsplash
Hobbiton, Mata Mata, New Zealand
x
(x = space)
x
x
Gaze
x
Give me a
Small piece of Earth
For a while
With dust swept in the corner
Without perfection
A hard floor
Some stones for walls
A ledge from which to look
While I can look
Out upon, well,
Everything you’ve made
And the uneasy alliance
You have with
Your creatures
Maybe all of them
Certainly the ones who
Made it out of Eden
Not unscathed
And how much we took with us
No one knows for now
And it’s been a while
And in this place
I’ll ponder you
And us
And our place with each other
In the grander scheme
Of things,
Which for now is
Still a guess
Though sometimes
We think we’re getting closer
But I won’t care about conclusions
Rather the sacraments
In each moment
Normal, mortal
Materials
Turned
Taken inside
To serve a spiritual purpose
However far
A thought of you
And us
Might take us
x
C L Couch
x
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The Sacrament of the Present Moment by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
x
Photo by Brigi Uhrin on Unsplash
Budapest, Budapest, Magyarország
x
(x = space)
x
x
Pagan Petition
x
Freya of the
Earth,
On your day
I ask for
Such a small part
Of the world
To borrow
x
Where I stand
Where I sit
Where I might lie down
For a while
x
Yes, I mean
What metaphors might mean
Yes, I need a place
As trolls need caves
Only with a door
And a wide window
And some plumbing
x
It would be home
Until it’s a time again
For wandering
x
Please
And thank you,
Lord and lady of
Earth and earthiness
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Reliefbüste “FREYJA”, Amalienstraße 51, Fürth
Wofro – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21650063
x
A Cool, Dark, Quiet Place
For optimal sleep, this is the
Room we need, certain
Voices say, though I think the sense
In it (in that) might be apparent
To reach out to the left or right
Then bring it in
Like muscles with a game ball
Lights out maybe with a care toward
Preplanning disorientation
From lack of light
We’ll need something soft, too, for
Our belly or our hip or our butt
Plus something for our head
Resting to the side or back or somehow with
The face pressed down
The coolness comes from moving air
Though climate control has become a
Denser thing, inside
As for quiet, we are on a noisy planet
Where some think noise is just for them
And could it harm the rest of us?
Let’s not think about that
In our cars,
On top of our neighbors
(I’m not bitter)
Cool, dark, quiet
And we sleep
I tend to think we figure
Other things might go that way—
Sex and, yes, well, rock ‘n roll
The play when that’s the thing
Our time in movie houses
Maybe for some exercise of other
Sorts, a walk at night, escorted,
Maybe in the rain
So I think we should vote for this
Approve efforts to make it happen
Good night to you
God keep you
God buy you
Goodbye
C L Couch
Photo by Ryan Searle on Unsplash
Heal’s, London, United Kingdom
A Quieted Place
A quiet place
A song
A horror story
Someplace where we want to be
Sometimes
A park
The parking lot at the stadium
Night with lights outside
Inside with a candle
Or with nothing
But our senses
As they are
I carry the noise
You might
And so must have another
Point and counterpoint
To make a wash of sound
And give me (us) echoes of the sea
Or some such ambiance
For peace
C L Couch
Photo by Amanda Flavell on Unsplash
Lent 34
I hope you find a place
It doesn’t have to be upon a
Tor, stone and tall and spare, near an agitating sea
(though we read some heroes like this)
It doesn’t have to be
A lonely place
And you may welcome others
When there’s an occasion
When there’s none
Be at ease, if possible
Sometimes life is contrary
Bring a drink, a few words from a book
A tablet and a pencil
Have the liberty to write
Whatever
(you be judge of what to keep)
Be in thought
And when you’re ready
Or before
Say something like
A prayer
In case you want to know that
Someone’s there
But it’s discretion all around
Be as alone
As required
Sometimes the way
To figure something out
Or simply be
To remember
Find out more
Of what we’ve been
Who we are
What is desired of
An audience of one
C L Couch
Photo by Rebecca Georgia on Unsplash
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