poem

https://edgeofhumanity.com/2024/02/06/longing-for-the-god-who-stays/

second publication in Edge of Humanity

again,
I am published in the magazine
of text and imagery
Edge of Humanity
I am more than second bout
of gratitude
I also feel lucky
like the Irish side
might feel
from time to time

more thanks
to Jo
editor and curator
and may I say
you should read
enjoy
be changed
by the magazine
that sponsors
galleries
of words
and sculpture
also acrylics
watercolors
photographs

a panoply
and celebration
of the arts
that should
change us

Christopher
(C L Couch)

Photo by Steve Douglas on Unsplash

Prayer for Me and Everyone

(and everyone who needs to pray this way)

O God

Our help

Help me

Keep me safe

And sane enough

For jazz

Or really

For the world

Largely indifference

But with those

As we say

(as I say)

Who’d just as soon

Cheat you

As smile at you

(who cheat you

first

by smiling

at you)

Really

Though

I need your company

And to feel it

Please

As companionship

If I may ask

Not so much

As a judge

Even though you are

And shall

And woe to me

When that business

Comes

And

Yes

I’m thinking

Like the Amish farmer

Who when asked

If saved

Replied

For all this faith

And service

I hope so

And I hope so

Though there is a world

That needs you

Even for orneriness

And even

Scorn

And hatred

For the differences

It fears

While some of us find

Difference

Interesting

And how did I evolve

This way

Conservative

Yet believing

In the prismatic way

One light becomes

Well

Help me

Lord

Please

I am too poor

Without resources

To do much

But I am I

Such as that is

And it seems

According to doctrine

And the smallest

Mustard-seed

Like

Miracles that happen

You persist

Somehow perfectly

In loving me

And keeping me

And I’d like to ask

And will

About my friends

By blood

And choice

And happenstance

And for a world

That’s cracked

And losing air

To please give everyone

A chance

And then another

We need you

In unknowing

We are a cloud of witnesses

If a stormy

One

You made

And let become

Over ages

Where is Eden now

Where are the rivers

And the perfect

Vegetation

And shall

We ever

Know such things again

As at the start

If that

The angel on assignment

Could step down

And lowering

The sword on fire

Raise the other arm

Then say

The trialing time is over

Welcome back

C L Couch

Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope on Unsplash

to my cybernetic and my fleshly family

my computer's burning up
as with fever
meaning there's no fire
far as I know
except maybe
on the inside
as happens
signaled by devices
on our foreheads
or elsewhere

the machine is old
I guess
in the way
machines like this
get old
though my senses
as a hobbit
and a Luddite
get confused

but last night
like the theatre after hours
my machine
went dark
in something like
an impulse toward survival
I imagine

it came back
and might endure
in spates
of time
and functionality
perhaps

in the mean time
(like the theatre)
I might have to go dark
myself
here
and also there

not that the world won't change
because of all
good things that might be
happening
because of you

thank you
be well
following seas
I'll be in touch
as I can
(not may
this time
depending on my own
battery life)
until with
a new device
I guess

then
returning shall be more or less
indefinite
not undefinite
like certain questions
that some of our work
intentionally
proposes

Christopher

photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
(and blue's my favorite color, sigh)

Pen Pal

It’s a bright day
Here
If it sticks
It will the first one
That we’ve had
In a while

I’m tired
Slept poorly
I had coffee with friends
Last night
Which most likely
Kept me up
Though it was good
Coffee

And how is it
Where you are
Just now
More importantly
How are you
I’d
Like to know

More important
Than
The weather
Without doubt
Though
You know
The weather
Has been an easy
Entry
(and
entre nous)
Into conversation

Except
Maybe
Anymore
With changing climate
Then
Who knows
Who’s affected
By

What happens
Climatic
Anymore

So would you
Mind
Telling me
How you are doing
And how safe
In any way
You are
Just now

Sincerely yours

C L Couch

Photo by NOAA on Unsplash

it is Wear Red Day

locally
it is a “Heart” day
I am told
(with all the viewers)
wear red
remember
who’s researching
how to live with
all the troubles
that might happen
to this muscle
also
standing
(symbolizing)
for so much

National Wear Red Day
especially for women
who tend to go unidentified
as victims
of heart trouble

the day
this day
is also the centennial
of the American Heart Association
so much research
so much funding
for research
and also teaching

learning how often
this might happen to women
inside women
(yes
inside men
and don’t I know)
but the symptoms
can go differently
so differently
and she
and those for she
should know
identify
and react so fast
when these might happen
to her

red day
we are red
today
and red means oxygen
which all bodies
should take in
to nourish all our parts
with freedom

though when impeded
we need
red help
the symbol
raising money
and awareness
and our hopes
starting here
with her
with him
then to the world
with all the hearts
heart-lives
out there
out here

c l couch

(and, yes, it’s been the time for Imbolc and Candlemas and Saint Brigid and the groundhog did not see his (Phil’s) shadow—and these mean more than we may know for how we observe and take part in our seasons and also all our days
but women suffer from not only heart disease but from lack of awareness of symptoms and then what to do
while heart disease kills all of us more than any other reason such as cancer or crime)

photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash


prismatic day



what if racial

were delightful

what if I

delighted

found deep pleasure

meeting you

or passing you

and

exhaling

with deep pleasure

such an

interesting world



I know

I know

this nation

for example

started in

a backward

human way

since owning people

is reverse

of what God wanted

what God made



if only

in Africa and Europe

and then here

we had

I don’t know

let it go the other way

reasonably

let Blacks own whites

upon the block

at auction-time

and in the fallow

fields

needing crops



I know

I know

those made

and make

an even Biblical

argument for ownership

maybe for skin color

too

and white-righteousness

but I think we could

we could

agree

agree

that in the present context

of the way we live

today

today

such major points

made of minor insinuations

are wrong

at least wrong-headed

and frankly

evil

to have practiced

and to practice

now



I don’t know

call me a lover

I have had

my encounters

as have you

if you have



the world is the world

I guess

and we should take it

as it is

but never

never

leave it there

the unjust parts

the evil parts

the sinful



we have long ways to go

long ways

before we like each other

in the meeting of each other

superficially

then there’s the depth

of skin

beneath the skin

to plumb

in our knowing

of each other



there are the other differences

too

that cause disruption

disequality

disliking

so far to hating

ultra-hating

in some parts of us

here and there

(and sometimes there

is huge)

while these are the very things

for liking

for the difference

for how we are

and we contribute

differently



so much a fearful world

and there are fear-mongers

who profit

from the fear

who delight

wickedly

from the control

the very thing that’s good

turned bad

for perception

for agenda

hiding behind

(not underneath)

the skin

also

the skin of things



so much fear

so much fear

and fear turns into hatred

turns into anger

turns into righteous crime

as rationale

for hurting

for robbing

and for stealing

and a plan

an expectation

to get away with it

for righteousness



God

is righteous

we

are not

and in my doctrine

God as Christ

had to die for this

to open up our

pretended righteousness

to life anew

having surrendered that



while in your doctrine

God is also good

and God is

great

or there is no God

and still you wouldn’t justify

the taking

and the killing

for another’s difference

which could

and should

add to yours



meaning there is reason

as well as doctrine

for the liking

of each other

out of

foundational love

in the creation

and the molecules

of everything

which makes love deep

and practical

and liking

at least good for style

and really so much more

for meeting

and transaction

in the world



so shall

we give the world a chance

maybe as is

as well as it should be

colorful

shapeful

a myriad like prisms

in spectrographs

a miracle

perhaps

but a real delight

as in the taste of

good food

and good company



though there is

the matter of need

though there is

the matter of need

and shall we say

that matters

for deliberation

more importantly

for practice



it could make for

a separate economy

if need

here’s an economy for need

here’s the economy

for money

stocks

commodities

and bonds



the need is filled

on its own

with those devoted to that

the rest might be

for profit

as it is

(though I’d prefer

less life-sucking

if not less

murderous)

so that

we have a world

that might drink and eat

have shelter

and the chance for learning

which would make us

better

less war-like

having less need

for war



an argument

for economy

and peace

and the meeting of each other

in better forums

and

to say the least

more promising



you know

I have been sorry

say I’m sorry

every day

and in sorry

there might be change

maybe stepping toward

contrition

repentance

compassion

(then)

and empathy



like listening

like listening

there are skills

to learn



and a world to see

or without seeing

hear

and more than senses

have some feeling

for a world

that is our world

really

without destroying it

our world



c l couch





today begins Black History Month (the inspiration)



photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash

let’s say a year

a year
let’s say a year
a year of peace on Earth
to try
then come back
in a year
to talk about
how it went
how it goes

we might learn
say
that war
is bad for the economy
though the bullet-
and missile-
manufacturers
might disagree

we mean learn
that keeping up
our homes
is better
when our homes
are actually
up

we might enjoy
green spaces
beneath unimpeded
blue

or we might
work so very hard
on the other things
that worry
us
(like wool)
and sometimes destroy us
parts of us
all of us

we might make safer airplanes
and what goes
on the road
we might go
on the roads ourselves
to seek a peaceful journey

match the tone
of the time
set down what we
hear and see and smell and taste
and touch
set something down
to share
via the summit
later

we might learn
that we like this state
and that we like
this place
this way

we might go for
another year
or let explode
all things behind the barriers
that could explode
explode
and go to war
in small
destroying ways
like infiltrating
toadstools
or have an armageddon
between nations
letting in
militias
and weaponed gangs
as well

and fight officially
or with a sense
of random
‘til it all be done
except
it’s never done

or
as was said
we could go for
a second year
of peace
and in that time
upbuild
the rest

but for now
how about
a year
let’s go for a year

c l couch

photo by Pascal Bernardon on Unsplash