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la vita è bella


la vita è bella

keep the life worth living
meaning
life itself worthy
meaning
in and of itself

while we can bend it
tear it
staple it into something else
or accept another thing attached
in crazed efforts to
resemble
(as in
re-assemble)
something else

something conceived as better
though misdirected
mis-
achieved

but then life
can bend back

it has that quality
and
tendency
in fact

it can bear the folds
the rents
the holes where there had been made
accepted attachments
even
those that were not healthy

once folded out
life maintains the beauty
even
new
tempered beauty
yes
from scars

and also
then the way that some insist
art must be
born

but this is life
sometimes first and
after

the art come after
or along
like companions
on
the way toward a practical
or mystic Compostela

the pilgrimage
that serves the life
and
in turn
describes
defines
the life
even from the first
it is

c l couch


photo by Silvestri Matteo on Unsplash 
Dying Rose
San Zenone degli Ezzelini, Italy
is there no beauty here? (I ask)

this is the poem I tried to post yesterday and couldn’t, maybe more due to the image size or resolution, as for any other reason; if the post posts now, then I’ll know the smaller illustration is acceptable (even though I like the margin-to-margin design, sigh)

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response to a photograph-prompt arranged by Melissa Lemay


from the tent it is a sand and then a water world

I set my shoes
outside
as if I were entering
sancrosanctity
though really the sand-filled things
would not be convenient
in the tent

still
something east of here
and like a desert
calling
and I guess deserts go to coastlines
too
as this beach doesn’t go to desert
actually
but in its narrow strip
still calls what
to us might be
exotic wanderlust

c l couch


from a prompt provided by Melissa Lemay at https://melissalemay.wordpress.com/2025/03/24/melissas-fandango-flash-fiction-challenge-313/ (photo by Sara Cottle on Unsplash)

my thanks for Melissa!
https://melissalemay.wordpress.com/


(at) https://melissalemay.wordpress.com/2025/03/24/melissas-fandango-flash-fiction-challenge-313/
       Hello! Welcome to Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge. Each week I will post an image I grab off the internet and challenge bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the image. There are no style or word limits.
       If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post and use the tag #FFFC. Please create a pingback to this post and/or manually add your link in the comments. I hope it will generate some great posts. Don’t forget to stop back and read/comment on the posts of others.
       Thank you for participating!

4

cherish is the word


cherish is the word

the spooky tree

I just heard mention of
a “spooky tree”

trees are spooky
I suppose
or can be especially when given
the Hallowe’en shape
and
association

though trees are green as well
and the green parts
we are drawn
to
for all they are as well as
what they mean

green
la vida
(not loca)

we have had an equinox
lately
and so we’re on a kind of edge
or cusp
in
not so much
the sky-shape of the moon
and how the stars
are
traveling

or even tables of tides
or even
Zodiac zones

we are on a line
	an edge
	a cusp
and spring should follow
normally
though we have put the seasons on an edge
as well
through what we’ve done to sky
water
and ground

our edge
(related to the others)
is made up of
resolve
which the other things with lines and such
can’t muster

we choose the Earth
we choose
	the sky
	the water
	and the ground

and we choose each other
in the kind of
relation
that comes with deciding our part
of the cosmos
(sometimes
consideration is that
big)

what shall we choose
and
how to live

we have a cusp for timing

there’s no point in
despotism

we can be equal in each other’s eyes
and
all selective senses

and
yes
there’s good
and there is evil
and they need attending
for each is in the world
as each is
in
and from
each of us

we have to keep a world
governments and industries
we should value life
our lives
in whatever motley way we have life
once
we have it
and it goes on

the isms have their place
though they should be mollified by
things
mentioned through ages

befitting
old
and new
and renewed

c l couch


“Cherish” is a song written by Terry Kirkman and recorded by The Association.  “Cherish” was released in 1966.

Photo by USGS on Unsplash[--]Soaring, snow-capped peaks and ridges of the eastern Himalaya Mountains create an irregular white-on-red patchwork between major rivers in southwestern China. The Himalayas are made up of three parallel mountain ranges that together extend more than 2,900 kilometers. [From USGS.] (And it looks a bit like a Hallowe’en tree. From me.)

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haiku plus announcement


haiku plus announcement


yellow brown blue white
and there must be green for spring
gospel of out there


       As I’ve mentioned, I find haiku a challenging craft.  Maybe if I knew Japanese, though I’d have to know Japan as well (more than I know now).  Nonetheless some haiku of mine—five in all (each one invited to send five)—will be published in an upcoming collection by Literary Revelations (https://literaryrevelations.com/).  I’m keenly grateful to the publishing house for accepting my work to share with others.  More specifically, I'm grateful to Gabriela Marie Milton who invited and received submissions.  (If I understand the process.)
       More details as I have them.  Thank you for reading and thus encouraging my work.


photo by Xuan Nguyen on Unsplash

2

cloudy days be good


cloudy days be good

and now there’s nothing
nothing new
       renewing
and shall I say
the devil
won
and not really since
the devil is too small
and by the end
or even
now
unvictoried

if I let my spirit down
as in descent
now
that is something

and how far to go and then
to start my soul
back up
toward land and sky
again

and now the fool is mentioned
and the fool for Christ
comes
to mind
in
that the world thinks it’s wise
and admittedly
faith built on no evidence
material does
seen
nonsensical
if not Seussical

but like the cat
there’s foolish fun
especially
in
rain
(if in the house while it rains)

when clouds shall run
until the sun
return
with the typical
the good play when it’s easy-bright

and it is
and should be

but should
the rain persist wherever
some
foolish reasoning
be apt

as in have faith in the sun
find interest in the rain

believe
that both
and so many things
have
value

the better parts
supporting faith and does it go
better
the other way around

faith first
and faith below
and faith above and wherever
in
lack of transparency
we through the dark glass
choose
and live
to believe

c l couch


(with allusioning to The Cat in the Hat by Doctor Seuss, also 1 Corinthians)

photo by Damien Dufour on Unsplash

0

Pale Day


Pale Day

Pale blue
Pretty
I imagine there are
Even piquant clouds somewhere
Bouncing
Even though they’re still
Or moving slowly
To see them
Actually

Adding extra movement
To the elements
Because it’s probably happening
Out there
Up there
Down there
Anyway

And we take movement
All too seriously
As if to be still
Even to rest
Were tantamount to some kind of death
Before
The actual

And is that the antipathy
Toward rest
That it’s too close to resting
Mortally
Forever

I don’t know
It’s a pretty blue day outside
And I’ll think on all these things
And maybe you shall
Too

Blue is for rest
As well
And if it is
Or can be
Some kind of sabbath for you
When it’s time or
You decide
It’s time
Then my wish is for a day of blue
For you

C L Couch


Photo by Oliver Cole on Unsplash

1

All the Green Hours


All the Green Hours

It’s the witch hour
The day after Saint Pat’s
Though
The ministry of saints goes on

Brigid might be busy
Too
Being the saint
And also something of
Imbolc
The supernal spirit of the land

C L Couch


(for Saint Patrick’s Day late)

Photo by Greg Willson on Unsplash

0

The Body Practical


The Body Practical

The human body
Is impractical
I mean
It’s working well enough
Until it isn’t
But what we really need
In addition to nominal
Health
Is an option for gills
That fold away
Until we need them

And we need
Wings
That keep
And when unfurled
Remind us as we fly
That God favors
Us
In making us
And we
At the very least
Owe the favor in return

While we are soaring
And at other
Times
Plunging
Also with delight
Into the depths

C L Couch


Photo by ibuki Tsubo on Unsplash

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Long Earth


Long Earth

Thinking
About day and night
In the spring surprise of
Noting
Blue light persisting
Layered
And
Dissolving in to dark
And yet the longer time
As Earth considers turning
Back
Leaning to favor
Days of planting in the northern
Half
While the southern part
Has winter

A cycle of
Waking
Hibernation
Still for a billion years
Two billions or so

Until a final pressing
To go away
To land upon another world
With the surprise
Discovery
Of its own planetary cycles 
And its seasons become
Our own

C L Couch


Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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