(2 poems for the weekend)
Man’s Search for Meaning
nah
I simply cannot
come up with
what
to say
it’s Friday
named for Freya
I believe
to go with
Thor
from yesterday
I hope
you have
a pleasant weekend
fecund
(Freya would go
for this)
and with delight
without the mischief
Loki would rather
sponsor
enjoy the days
and look forward
to more
which is how
I think
we have to live
as we can
today
with an on-the-side assurance
of tomorrow
like at a restaurant
asking for
assurance on the side
you know
how figures
and metaphors
must go
as we need them for our work
our rhetoric
discourse
and persuasion
speak to
the birth of a nation
the death of gin
(for a time)
the resurrection
of our booze
(after)
say we are
a patchwork
I remember
melting pot
from school
though don’t hear it
so much
in these
so-called
grownup days
so it’s the weekend
two days to play
for those
who may
yes
chores
too
we know
running errands
and for some
there’s running
too
if you want to think
there could be time to think
though let play
and rest
be timely
too
as they are vital
literally serving life
in
all
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Golde and Tevye
only a little more prosperous
so I could buy the small appliance
when I see it
or trade with less anxiety
for a car
or buy clothes to wear
for comfort more than look
though comfort
requires cost
as well
anything else
well
a less hovel-like place to live
with enough space
to keep me
without doubt
un-claustrophobic
paying for a class
now and then
so I might get better at this
and other things
and there’s fresh food for cooking
like a marketplace experience
most days
though now I’m getting crazy
over riches
I am sure
but
there it is
the kinds of things I want
or want to have
within reach
C L Couch
Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope on Unsplash
a wing and a prayer
(2 poems)
marathon magic movies
I wish I were a wizard
a good one
as in
good at it
I could change the things
that frustrate me
and are
only things
the things that
do not fit
the things with
parts
that do not work
so well
as they did
once
or I could make
new things
out of unused molecules
of things
that broke
and-or I gave up on
a while ago
a wizard
for convenience
though
maybe I’d have to
pick my sides
as well
though it seems
that wizards often
stood between them all
to force and even host
negotiation
then
once all was done
return
like Cincinnatus to the farm
rather to the cave
to rest
and learn some more
of magic in the world
and the world
itself
perhaps
for which
the magic serves
obviously spiritual
do I want to say
something
obviously spiritual
always
thought it always seems
to come with
something secular
as well
and that’s because
I am here
while you are there
(and here)
and your host moves
in between
what do you say
what does love say
why can’t I
serve these all
the time
doubtlessly
with only a little more
than what I have
and what I am
and this
prevaricates
this elongated pause
while at the edge of things
that wait
even indifferently
for my
participation
the world waits
in emptiness
and need
and with too much of it
held hostage by too few
behind the gates
of hell
that we are told
cannot prevail
against
our own rock
our body in the faith
that set on it
these gates
even with those
who push from the inside
cannot
shall not
stand
wow
all this from me
and those like me
have faith
and share in faith
to love actively
and maybe not much more
which is
Herculean
beyond classic labors
that shall
tell a new story
a second set
of revelations
as it were
so I believe
and sit with those
who believe
then we shall stand
and nothing bad
what has chosen to be evil
shall prevail
but at the last shall hide
and have its final
bastions
thrown apart
by faith
togetherness
and love
which sounds simplistic
to be simple
but there it is
like Jesus
or another Lord
accessible
by anyone
no secrets
or secret knowledge
simply
believe
together
and together
love
and though it’s not
the most important thing
well
to win
c l couch
photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash
Steel Brass Plastic Agenda, Never the Last Word
(2 poems)
Steel Brass Plastic Agenda
There was an argument
In Kansas City
And evidently
Lots of guns
At the scene
So who wants to be powerful
Who wants to be famous
First
Who is more superior
By bullets
An argument
Is not enough
Except perhaps
For pretense
I am ready
I have the final volume
With my gun
Keep talking
Keep rising
I’ll have you
With the last word
My own
Explosion
To settle everything
Then come and get me
You should
Know me now
Never the Last Word
This is no last word
But taking a breath
To breathe
Without the news
And all things
That press on me
On us
I can’t do this without you
And don’t want
To
But let’s all take time
To breathe
And we can drink
And talk
Besides
We could sit
At table
In that made-up
Lakeside café
I keep making up
Adding details
For our ease
And for reflection
On reflection
Of the water
And we could leave
Better than before
Join me
In breathing
If you will
In sipping
Also nibbling something
For small pleasure
Great pleasure
In the interacting
Relief in
Trying to be ourselves
A little more
Each time
We meet
You send me something
And I send you things
While the café waits
And other good
Imagined things
In between
The substance of ourselves
And what we choose
In greater and more open
Health
(let’s try)
To share
C L Couch
Photo by Fern M. Lomibao on Unsplash
a few things I’d rather have written about today (and then heard further about the shooting)
Tributaries
Today is
Mom’s birthday
She’s been gone
Since ‘83
Gee
Now fifty years ago
Come 13 June
There is gravestone
With a flower
Though we had planned
A rabbit
And they go it
Wrong
So many things went wrong
Back then
And not to say
Things are so smooth now
There’s legacy
Though certainly
We’re on our own
And up to us
And on us
All our choices
By life
She lived too brief a life
I had wishes
For gifts and such
Hopes for relating
Never realized
Dreams
Dissolved
Everything went numb
And dark
For a while
And some of that remains
Even fifty years
Later
When it’s late
In the time
Of all of us
The children
While it’s also blessed early
For the new ones
To carry on
Inside generations
One by one
And all together
One, two, three, four
Black, white, green, red
One by one
And all together
Now
The Today Show
Today
Is a better day
Because I washed something
You don’t know what it means
If you’re depressed
And then
Improve one thing
One small thing
Unless
You are depressed
And maybe this works for you
As well
I hope so
Not to scrub
Obsessively
Toward bleeding in
(bleeding out
or in)
Somewhere
I mean washing
Almost without thought
Cleaning it
For safer
More hygienic use
Again
So ordinary
Now so extraordinary
Realized
And realized
There’s
Some sort of spiritual
Match in this
The extraordinary
In the ordinary
I can’t remember
Is it us
Made by God
This way
To live that way
Is it our purpose
Or the purpose of the universe
Made of small things
That become huge
In planet-making
In eruptions
Upon every rounded surface
At some time
I don’t know
Somehow the small is large
While remaining small
And I cleaned
Something small
And it has largened
My awareness
Just enough
To let in something better
And I could give it
A name
But for now
Will simply live with it
Let it live with me
(please let it live with me
a plea)
Nameless
And wondrous
For a while
lento
the ashes are gone
most likely
(we’re supposed
to let them fall off
naturally)
sometimes the skin
is broken
where they were
upon our foreheads
anyway
we’re in Lent now
the long season
named for the lengthening
of days
it is the Italian word
that also comes to mind
lento
meaning slow
play the music here
with ease
taking your time
while attending to
the baton
ahead of everything
the instruments
and guiding
interpretation
the Buddhists say
go slowly
they’re on to something
especially
for these days
in which the days grow
gradually longer
in assurance of spring
the green season
on its way
and we hope it will arrive
with nutrients enough
in soil
and rain enough
from above
and our good choices what
to plant
so that at long last
there might be abundance
though we’ll need the right amounts
of rain and sun
from above
a spiritual collaboration
we might believe
and hope for
even plan for
in these lengthening
of days
we make time now
to file away
what we know
and don’t know yet
eat less now
think more
lay a new foundation
for prayer
more solid convictions
and intentions
on which the frenzy
soon enough
will build
time now
maybe for dreams as well
to have them
talk about them
with the Lord
and with each other
on the plane of Earth
C L Couch
Photo by Praveen kumar Mathivanan on Unsplash
here is a chapbooklet, as it were (and to have made up the word), a small series of poems it won’t take long to read or, please and naturally, read how much however, whenever
From Psalm 51
It’s past the sabbath time
And the spirit
Of the Lord
Stays with us
Create in me a clean heart
O God
And renew a right spirit
Within me
My favorite psalm
And it’s a good one
Anyway
Because there is a promise
It can happen
Like the washed sins
Becoming like the snow
Though I like
The sense of plea
In this one
We reach out
To God
Invoke God
And ask for God’s involvement
We may ask for this
Each time we read
And think on it
(words with thoughts, Claudius)
Though
The Lord might say
I’ve done it
Clean heart
Right spirit
All is well
Be at peace
And the Lord
Will listen to our plea
All our pleas
Time and again
As much as need
To send over to
The perfect listening
Of the Lord
God Hears Us
Should I shout to God
Or splutter words
Between sobs
Or ask
While sitting on a chair
Before a meeting
Or whisper
God hears me
Every time
God can do that
And hear the prayers
Of everyone
Who speaks
Or thinks
Into that extraordinary network
Where angels might be working
Fast
At fever pitch
We could think
Though they must be even-handed
Being willed to perfection
But beyond fancy
Really
Or what really happens
We don’t know
God hears us
And responds
With reason
And attentiveness
Yes
With a modicum
Of mystery
God’s timing is not ours
More so the wisdom
As we are heard
And loved
Each time
Re-Tool
I wish the news were better
Stabbings in New York
After guns
We’ll have to outlaw knives
Stabbings in many places
I guess they are
Cheap guns
The wars go on
And now
We missile Houthis
And I can’t say
We shouldn’t
Though we have a State Department
That’s pretty big
And pretty busy
I think on the tall trees
And want them to remain
Or to be moved
With the kind of skill
We have
In such things
Rather than topple
Cut down
And cut apart
For tables
Spoons
And toothpicks
And so go our forests
And our oxygen
For ages
Though we might find it hard to breathe
Today
There are wonders
In the woods
And in the animals
No matter where
But so many things that live
And maybe nearly all
Have pain centers
And something for a thought
If only impulse
In something
Like a mind
We could try to relate
Before the slaughter
I really think
We could
I know it would harm industry
Though industry’s
Industrious
And should find something else
As it has
At least when successful
As it can be
Re-think
Re-tool
Re-train
Get governments
Communities
To help
While we get
To keep a world
With more
Positive prosperity
That might engender
More
Good feeling
So we keep
Our knives in drawers
From Out of Town
I am a visitor
More spectator
Than participant
These folk
Know their world
And I am visiting
Without a ticket
Except for love
Saturated
In the invitation
C L Couch
Photo by Jigar Panchal on Unsplash
We Want to Make This Classic
Two years
Plus three months
Two wars
The ones we know about
Who are the combatants
How much material
Is left
To each side
How much longer
Even supplied
By the bigger thugs outside
Who claim
Defense defending
How much robbing
Peter
To pay Paul
And then Paul
Demands more and more
Of Peter
And it’s us
Is the idea
All us
We lose
We run down
We run out
We manufacture more
To say
It’s good for the economy
While the vaults in
Hell
Or waiting by the river Styx
Are the only things
That are full
And this become our legacy
We lose
Things from the Earth
That cannot be restored
Life in which
We had only given
Love
And there is less
The surplus population
Whom did we not need
And did we push them
Toward the front
Uriah-like
Of course
We wish it over
We wish them done
So we could walk across the fields
And say
This happened here
But statues
And they are meaningful
Fly flags
The same
By force
A fallow field
Unchanneled water
And who knows what
Congeals inside
Our natural
And plastic substances
To raise
Hate
Or something else we hide
Ongoing tries
For greed
Until we say
There
Someone made money
Out of this
Someone got a bit of power
Well
The illusion of it
Anyway
But that’s the best we have
In shadowlands
Expanse
There is the sun
At last
It will rise into the clouds
Maybe into a day
That’s only gray
Until the setting hour
When all these lines of yellow
Turn toward red
Then blue
Then black of night
It happens all the time
And is not
What’s happening
There are orbits
There are rings
Of different shapes and sizes
There are fields of gravity
There is magnetism
We try
To ken it all
To suss the meaning
In the measure
Or get a damn fine story
Out of it
Feature
Human interest
Sci-fi tome
That tells us where we’ve been
And where fancifully
We might be going
Out of these rounded places
Into an
Unbounded expanse
With only our imagination
For a shield
C L Couch
Photo by Krisztian Matyas on Unsplash
so this becomes a song
so this is new year’s
and what have you
hung over?
shall we have
pork and sauerkraut?
a pretzel
or a pickle?
this is new year’s
and what we done?
it’s only been a day
we protest
not even that
but some of you are there
helping others
serving food
an arm around a shoulder
sending vibes of love
because it’s really love
we can do that
now
no waiting
no line
and if a line
(you know air travel,
certain movie tickets)
then
loving in line,
a happy
if not always chortling
new year
C L Couch
(a hangover is referenced, which may not translate well; a hangover is a state of drunkenness, especially in the morning after too much drinking of alcoholic drinks during the night before)
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
huevos nuevos
it's next year here and there
already
have a happy
to say
knowing that the challenges
also here and there
are many
deep
and difficult
but find a way
we shall
or can
by saying to ourselves
to this at that
or to someone else
I need your help
a new year
(in solar terms)
try it
love it
have it
clc
(Title—sorry, it’s a silly pun that, once I found and it held on, I or it could not escape. Happy New Eggs, everyone!)
(x = space)
x
x
some poems for you today
(some poems of the day)
x
x
night will come on
x
second full day of winter
a thoughtful day
perhaps
x
day before the night
before the day
still a blue or purple day
white or gold
in the offing
x
another yet another
gray day outside
to look at it
to feel it
too
there’s something of a chill
x
maybe it’s three ghosts
warming up
in an ethereal bullpen
before descending upon London
or wherever
whoever Scrooge
might try to sleep
inside posts of tarnished gold
having eaten
unappreciated food
and nothing for the child
Want or Ignorance
not yet
x
we can await
transition
transformation
of a night
in a great story
sometimes on Earth
the real Earth
to know
x
x
the allusion is, of course, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, often published with other Christmas stories
x
x
multiplicity
x
sigh
a great God
comes to Earth
having been here already
shooed us from the
garden
set an angel with a sword
to keep us out
should we find it
however accidently
once again
x
a God
who’s always here
already
thus begging a confusion
since we make a deal
of God arriving
though God is here
x
well
the ancients
didn’t have that problem
paradox in time
like characters
from Bible stories
costumed as one’s own
also
in Old English
for example
without a future tense
x
so that
every time is now
and the next thing
and the thing
that was
no worries
x
God is always here
always arriving
too
everything a kind of participle
or a gerund
the subject in or as
a tense
that is all timelines
all the time
x
confused mortality
perhaps
yet replicating
meter of a chaosed clock
that has numbers
that
for the sake of our philosophy
are movable
forgettable
in the exigencies
of moments’
having
and remembering
also anticipating
x
always the birth
always the apocalypse
as well
meaning that
time and meaning
have all seeds
and growth
and harvest
with all accounts
as with all stories
every gospel
all the same
with kairos room for change
here and now
and then
and what’s to come
all the same
here
and in a kind of ancient
(that means contemporary
too)
crazy and amenable
as now
x
was
is
will
as now
x
bless our ancients
for knowing something
of
the ways things magically
and really are
today
from yesterday
into divine best-guessing
for tomorrow
x
x
servile
x
what shall we say
that’s permanent
except that God is love
God is a spirit
plus all better metaphors
a rock
a lion
x
who has an investment
in every good
and reasoned thing
in need
for us to call it miracle
x
water from
desert stone
food in ravens’ mouths
that they abey
until
delivery
x
God strives
to keep the prophets
whole
for the rest of us to
hear
and to absorb
the entire
story
letting
the wisdom
and the warnings
to soak in
through all
our cells
supernal messages
easier metaphors
for meaning
x
no riddles
save for fun
sometimes erudition
(though the simple ones
are better
aren’t they
Bilbo)
no requirements
beyond a willing
and created nature
x
there being
no stars for gain
(there are no Sneetches
and there is no
McBean)
no refectories
with sainted machines
dispensing
when the answer
or indulgence
might be right
that is
Earthly correct
x
rather leave
our kitchens
for serving
real food
for need
and in a turn
for pleasure
since there’s no reason
service should not be
pleasant
as well as exigent
with even
seasons to remember
the life outside
inside
x
the gospel within
food
perhaps
though better
after
so that we might be
sated twice
with victuals
and nourishment
from stories
forgetting not
our own
x
x
the clock that smiles
x
tomorrow go to church
or last night
this evening
later the next day
until the sun
decides
to set
and an indulgent clock
must by the maker
say
it’s had enough
x
there is this morning
too
there is right now
and shall we worship
God
inside a heartbeat
savoring the next
secured
inside
the believing beat
of now
x
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by Dominic Tham on Unsplash
x
x
God bless
our in-between days
x
(x = space)
x
x
two more brief poems today
x
x
Black Branches
x
The squirrel ran criss-cross
Up the branches
x
Zig-zag ladder
I certainly had not noticed
Upon
Looking out
Into the dark-grey day
x
The squirrel’s smart
Good legs
The tail helps
x
And the creature’s
Totally
Impulsively involved with nature
To be so in tune
With all vibrations
x
Must be astounding
To have so much
Ordinary
Magic
x
x
8 to try
x
Hanukkah tonight
starts
8 days for a miracle
x
what if
we try this for our
universal selves
x
8 days for peace
before they arrive
that is
something
outside ourselves
to judge
x
pretend
there is a deadline
x
find out
how far we get
then let it stay
for real
beyond 8
you know
as long as we can
or may
x
8 and more
as if the world
were at stake
which
you know
it is
x
x
Photo by Mila Tovar on Unsplash
x
x
C L Couch
x
clcouch123 
Recent Comments