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
Fish Mint
Is a plant
Called Chameleon
And someone thinks
Smells like cat
Urine
It has strong
Roots
Extremely so
And it’s not enough
To pull the green part
Or the stem
Or the first clump
Of roots
You see
You have to go down deep
And find all the root
Pieces
Take them out of the ground
So that the only thing
Left in the earth
Is earth
This is the only way
To clear out the intrusive plant
And plant something
Kinder
And what of us
Except that when we have deep roots
Of things also intrusive without
Allowing
Other hale things in
Say
Fish mint roots as
The isms that invade
Try to take over
Racism
Classism
Misogynism
Ageism
That will kill a healthy thing
Such as a human spirit
That could grow
Into a
Viable
And sun-lit
Being
C L Couch
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
Last Gray Day
Last day of gray
Someone
Says whose job it is to say
I guess
So maybe yellow tomorrow
Red
And orange
Burnt-umber crayon
Too
Though gray belongs
In autumn
In spite of its mood
By tone
Interesting
And
Cloudy days
Out back of fall
C L Couch
Photo by Fons Heijnsbroek on Unsplash
End of Gray
(sorry, here be, might be, a rant)
A gray day
Did you notice
Maybe you walked through
The lack
Of sun
Of blue
Well
By unnoticing
Normal enough
After all
We’ll have these back
The sun and
Blue
Won’t we
We also have
Perfected images
Machined and framed
And
Perched
Somewhere
Or we move our digits
Over
Surfaces of phones
Or manipulate
Tablet or
Desktop screens
Or in
Our cars
Or on still
More
Shiny and electric
Screens
(still more)
Actual
Sun
And blue
Will be back
Sure as seasons
Until
We learn to crack the Earth and
Do it
For profit somehow
Or in another madness
Say
Because we can
Which
Like nanites and A-I
Override the fears
We
Did not
Have the time or chance
To be informed
To have
Or
(much less)
Choose
C L Couch
Photo by Liam Hunter on Unsplash
Found deep in the woods with no explanation.
[photographer’s caption, adding a period]
Round Numbers
Everything is ringed
Starting with the noise
That some of us
Must have
Inside our ears
Though meaning more
The matter of
Rings upon the water
In the rain
The ring-edge of the Earth
Around it
And through it
The circular movements of
Well
Everything
The ringness of orbits
‘Round the sun
The shape and movements
Kept inside
Of asteroids
And comets
How many planets
Each world
Is ringed as well
With its own attributes
And energies
Then watch
(or have the artist’s
replication)
The spiral movement of the galaxy
The rounded shapes of all
The galaxies
Of turning stars
And the dancing pas de deux of
Nebulae passing
Around
And by its own
Rule for ballet
Sometimes through each other
Maybe to shout
Or loudly
Sing
Like on that sunny street
ROUND
Is extraordinary
Necessary
Consider all the curvature that must
Be on
The faces of God
C L Couch
Photo by John Peters on Unsplash
I threw a rock into the lake with the intent of photographing the ripple effect and with the thought of how when we are kind to others it grows out in ripples to others who in turn spread kindness (still) to others.
[photographer's caption, revised]
Unlikely Sabbath
(a kind of call to worship)
We
Understand
Misunderstand
(together)
The sabbath
As a time to go to church
To pray
Officially
For things we might remember
Afterward
Then be free of all of it
For food
For games
For preparing all the real time
To follow
The next day
Or
Instantly
As we might be driven
Driving
That is
Ourselves
But is the sabbath more than services
And really
Was it ever
Well
Ancient reminders
I suppose
The priests to the people
Saying
Or as if to say
By the tent
Then by the temple
In here is the
Holy of holies
Don’t forget it
Don’t forget
Our dedication
So
What is the sabbath
We might
Wonder
Being first
A seventh day
Created
A day for God to rest
And so
A model for
Ourselves
Modeled after God
After all
And so
First week
Completed
And so
Laid out for us
Six days of creating
Then a day
This day
To keep it holy
As in set apart
For
A spiritual reason
Like the fruits of
Field and vine
Set apart
For spiritual
Remembrance
And
I don’t know what
To say
Anymore
Except that it was
Said
Thank goodness not by me
To remember
As in have
The sabbath
It’s a discipline
To rest
An invitation
To play well
To remember
The source
Of love
And everything
That’s good
C L Couch
Photo by Sai De Silva on Unsplash
A Little Fancifully
I don’t know why I’m
Thinking about dragons
And then about
Stories from
Sunday School
Like the story about Gideon
Who broke pitchers
Inside which were fires
Having surrounded
Even a greater
Force
But through the effect
Defeated foes
With faith
And then with fear
And fire
Is the connection
I suppose
The fire from the dragon
And also from the pitchers
And it’s the weekend
Time for wondering
Perhaps
Of characters and stories that are
Fanciful
And that also
Invite us
Fictively and
Non
To keep the faith
I guess these
Break the tension
Just a little
Outside stories
In the world of worries
That we occupy
Certainly
More often
C L Couch
(any story with a dragon, say, Farmer Giles of Ham, or a dragon of your own internal making—also Judges 6 for Gideon regarding faith and fire)
Photo by 順平 黃 on Unsplash
(the Asian dragon commands respect as an aspect of religion and what I would call real myth, because there is such a thing--and so my advice is never belittle dragons, maybe anywhere)
“Unsurvivable”
Hurricane
Helene
Has killed through
Its own force
And
Maybe we’re complicit
For
The lack of means
We should
Provide
Even
Long before
I don’t know
And in the moment
Don’t care
Probably as much
As
I should
But I have family in its way
And maybe you do
Too
How about we pray
Then find
Additional ways to
Help
How about no matter
Who we are
Or where
We pray
Then find
Additional ways to
Help
C L Couch
Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash
(haiku for fall, starting in a grumpy mood, I guess)
(1)
well that’s enough of
haiku play and fancy with
no work proof for pay
(2)
the hour is done now
leaves have fallen into water
growing into green
(3)
old and new worlds tilt
leaning could be tree-delight
as dancing solstice
(4)
water purify
as on our other planets
with true air command
c l couch
photo by Mathias Reding on Unsplash
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