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Flesh and Plastic

(x = space)

x

x

poem plus a verse nodding to tomorrow

x

x

Flesh and Plastic

(having heard about the current cancer rates)

x

How do we poison

Ourselves

How do the cancer rates

Increase

I looked outside

Through polluted air

While inside

My mother fought for life

Or couldn’t fight

When the disease

Or medications

Were too much

x

And I couldn’t help

But wonder

Do we do this to each other

Change condensation nuclei

From dirt

To chemical compounds

And so our snow in winter

Raindrops

All year ‘round

x

We poison up our food

The animals

And plants might have it

Too

With all the Earth

We used to praise

And respect

If only scenery

For action

x

And now maybe

The Earth talks back

To say

You could once blame us

For our parts

In quakes and floods

Eruptions

But as you do

What you do

To yourselves

With how you build

And how you bury

How you live

We must share the blame

For a plastic planet

Made of chemicals

That do not make the cycle

Of planting

And fruition

But poison everything

Removing what is natural

(what is ours)

From the seasons

x

From what is natural

For life

The life that we would have for you

Even with quakes

And flooding

Eruptions

The harsher liturgy

We provide

With all the living

Rather

Life

x

The God whom we report to

Might be sad

Might be angry

Might be waiting

As with faith

For you to get it

Change

While polluted soil

And water

Air

We keep waiting as we can

For change

For better boxing

As discretion

To let the poison

Be mistakes that mar

Rather than

Daily living

x

For now we take

The poisons as we can

While expecting

Your human race to change

Before the earthline

Fails

And falls

Before the fire consumes

Where then

Would you go

x

We wait

God waits

So change

Already

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Brian Yurasits on Unsplash

Plastic bottle floats in water. Plastic pollution is a problem that every single person on earth can relate to. Single-use plastics are being found at every corner of our natural world, and it’s a problem that each of us can help to solve. Follow on Instagram @wildlife_by_yuri, and find more free plastic pollution photos at: https://www.wildlifebyyuri.com/free-ocean-photography

planet earth

x

x

Introit to All Souls

x

November two

All Souls

Yesterday to celebrate

The living church

Now to remember

Reconnoiter with

The church that has gone on

Some of which

That stays behind

To watch

To receive prayers

x

CLC

x

1

two offerings, second poem for Hallowe’en

(x = space)

x

x

two offerings, second poem for Hallowe’en

x

x

Amnesiacal

x

It’s funny

How willing

I am

To start a new day

As if in part

I’m starting over

And I take the day well

The dawning

The rising

Making coffee

With whatever

Or nothing else

(cold water)

And the world comes in

In not so welcome ways

And I am here

Again

Struggling

With everything

Appreciating

Too

Some better things

And will the day progress

Or step back

Will the pains prevail

Or hope

I’ll be ahead somehow

By evening

x

x

(Not Unlike) The War of the Worlds

x

for Hallowe’en

x

I don’t know

Have a pleasant day

And night

If in costume

Moving through the chilly air

Or swiping

The candy from the bowl

While warm inside

x

And if you don’t play

Don’t worry

You don’t have to

By conviction

Or convenience

There is no requirement

Keep the porch light

Off

x

And as for Devil’s Night

Or Mischief Night

That’s why the costumes

And the candy

Were invented

In this culture

Maybe yours

While the mischief

And the devil

They are petty crimes

With which

You should not have to deal

x

Enjoy the day

And night

By watching scary movies

Not too gross

And with a story

That might interest

x

Have some fun

If you will

Within the borders

Of what’s fun

Even

Many children know

That the childish fear

Today

Tonight

Is fun

x

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Jarrod Reed on Unsplash

x

1

Triduum-ish

(x= space)

x

x

Triduum-ish

x

let’s try it this way

happy trick-or-treating

get chocolate

enjoy night air

and dressing different

as against the veil

ancestors

disguised themselves

as well

x

then enjoy the day

for the saints

the followers of God

who are alive

and acting

faith and charity

all the time

or who must go

in fits and starts

x

then remember

those who are not here

anymore

but as if another veil

draw near to family

so the tradition

goes

with picnics at gravesites

brightly lit for now

while there are conversations

with the dead

in gratitude

for the proximity

x

a kind of triduum

that is

three special days

nothing incumbent or required

(priests would differ)

except that

we should enjoy

we should take part

we should remember

and also

(you know this)

show up in church

or synagogue

or temple

or mosque

or center

some place holy

every now and then

x

boo

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Cortor Media on Unsplash

x

0

Unthinkable Think Think Unthinkable

(x = space)

x

x

Unthinkable Think Think Unthinkable

x

God help Lewiston

And Israel

And Ukraine

(and more

always more)

Settings for

What we’d like to think

Unthinkable

x

I care about

Don’t care about

The sides

I care about the living

Suffering

About the dead who died

Suffering

x

About the living

Who remain

To bend

In mourning

And those who rise

In fear

x

There is anger

War is angry

I imagine

Shooting someone else

Is angry

x

Anger the mask

For fear

Fear the mask

For sin

Maybe we could sin less

With our devices

And machines

Pick up each other

Donate

Through the screens

And if on site

Somehow

Watch out for each other

Get physically involved

(and also hide

when needed)

to hide)

Which can be dangerous

I know

Though everything

Might be endangered

Now

Or anytime

We do more

To resist the devil

Having released itself

Out of hell

Upon our world

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Napendra Singh on Unsplash

x

0

Maggs

(x = space)

x

x

Maggs

x

Yesterday or recently

(depending on

the rate

at which cop blotters’

notes move on

to general news)

A boy

Who was 7

On a scooter

(child’s fit)

Treading the thing next

To his mother

Was hit by a truck

An NYPD

Tow truck

The driver on his cell phone

When it happened

x

This could be the news

Of the day

If we wanted things

This way

Then move on to pestilence

To wider crimes

To war

x

(sequel)

x

Is there more to say today

Beyond small tragedies

Small hopes

Perhaps

What happens if

Remediation

Anyone who seated at

Any round table

x

Good news

That’s strong and wide

And numerous

Throughout the world

We would talk about these

Too

x

(d.s. al coda)

x

There has to be the larger news

As well

That’s normal

Becoming all the media

In circles

I mean cycles

To see and hear

x

But sometimes

We keep it small

A fire here

Some thieving there

Small

Local tragedies

With ads surrounding

x

Maybe a fundraiser

For a smaller while

Highlighting

Human need

Addressed

x

It’s a mishmash

And

Yes

The larger

Overwhelms the smaller

(the whale that subsumes

the krill)

We might say

The way of the world

And who sets that way

The Earth

God

Or us

Or even us as

God’s

Program directors

x

Well

Signing off

Let’s find out

How things might be arranged

To settle heart and head

Into priorities

Of one day to the next

x

(now d.c.)

x

We must do the things

To do

Address the wicked

Heal the wounded

And remember

x

Remember Lewiston

Tree of Life

Parkland

Columbine

x

Elevate each spirit

In our minds

That has already gone to God

While our ongoing care

And remembrance

Go on

Here

x

And do we learn

Do we get better

Fuller

Sometimes

Sometimes it takes a trend

Some public outrage

Sometimes

Some public mourning

x

We can change

We can grow

What is the main thing

What are

Side things

Which is first

Then second

In our lives

x

How do we moralize

With wisdom

Restraint

Humbly working it out

As if about

To kneel

Before a divine

Committee

That keeps knocking

That keeps asking

x

(30)

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Mike Hindle on Unsplash

x

1

I Should Get God

(x = space)

x

x

I Should Get God

x

I should finish

For the day

Though I haven’t thought of God

Frankly

Enough

Even in everything

Thought

Reason

Let those serve

Better than roted doctrine

But through holy words

Inside

x

For there

(sometimes in the world)

God is there

I know

Existence not incumbent

On my knowing

x

It is a choice

Not to exist

But to believe

x

I talk throughout the day

To someone there

Who is not

(if I were crazed)

A Roosevelt

Or Fred Gwynne as an angel

x

Though I like Fred Gwynne

An angel

(you may look it up)

And so think of his portrayal

As an angel

Telling stories

In a deep voice

Given to

A sonorous performance

x

That’s my suburban way

Real angels are magnificent

And frightening

Reflecting awful

As in awe

In aspect

In deserved

(for being)

In response

To God

x

But we talk

Maybe-angel

And I

And I am nudged

Throughout the day

For choices

To consider

And which work out

(tend to)

If I listen

x

Presence

Like a present

(pun)

For grace is free

Salvation won already

A door that works

Like a door

Except

Without a door knob

x

We are inside

There is a knock

We know who it is

And only with a latch

Only on our side

And shall we open

And invite

The one we know

If only heard of

Now and then

x

And it is Jesus

Even as a stranger

Exudes the promise

Though we may leave outside

The person

And the invitation

We are allowed

x

Existence doesn’t change

So much

But our will

Is changeable

As it is viable

x

We truly make the difference

In this meeting

Thinking head

Incising heart

Maybe a hopeful spirit

With yes

Well

There is God

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Katia Rolon on Unsplash

x

0

First Frost

(x = space)

x

x

First Frost

x

1

Last night

x

It kills some things

Blankets others for the night

That is the final season

x

Nature knows

What we try to control

Knowing that relenting is

The final lesson

x

2

Ally ourselves

Withal

The nature of our lives

With the nature

Steadfast all around

Whose

Perturbations are

A part of all of it

x

Rhythms

Cycles

Seasons

Storms and quakes

Floods and eruptions

Take too many

Should have their own

Rhythms

Cycles

Seasons

x

Try to dance

Like skaters

Swimmers

Climbers

They all fall

And rise again

x

We could take care

Of all of us

This way

And let us grow

Into work as play

And play as work

(if we take in both parts)

Into retirement

What comes next after

Seed and bloom

Trunk and ever after

Life again

Life ever after

Goes the story

x

Join with the movement

Of the seasons

Of the spheres

While together

Work it out

For better times

Reasoned

Lives today

Living ahead

The generations of the forest

x

We are the forest

Too

x

C L Couch

x

x

(the briefest of bibliographies)

x

The Word for World Is Forest

Ursula K. Le Guin

x

Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
To God the Creator triumphantly raise,
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
Who guideth us on to the end of our days.

Katherine Davis

x

x

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

x

1

Today in Washington, (a) District of Columbia

(x = space)

x

x

Today in Washington, (a) District of Columbia

x

Huge aid

For Ukraine

And for Israel

Sits still in Congress

While Republicans

Look under seats

Wherever

For a

Speaker

x

While the

Democrat

Gets more votes

For candidates

If not

(but yet)

Procedure’s

Righteousness

x

Ironies

Within

The government’s three houses

While we wait

(who put them there)

For something

Most likely too partisan-extreme

To happen

x

C L Couch

x

x

wars for many are not partisan but human and humanitarianism; save lives, feed people, fix their wounds; that’s a side perhaps but undivided by our race, our minds and hearts and spirits, all other differences aside; save lives, feed people, fix their wounds, our wounds—build a society, healed

x

Photo by Alex Martinez on Unsplash

x

0

Poetry and Senses (3 poems)

(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

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