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]
(x = space)
x
x
Lean To
x
Tomorrow is the solstice
Light a fire
At least inside
To illuminate
The difference should
We notice
The Earth
Starting to lean
The other way
x
Toward spring
But through the winter
First
At least in this
Our half the sphere
With summer
To the south
Where
Who might also wonder
What we’re doing
Upside-down
x
A fire
To light up
To redefine the shadows
Make them sharper
And more welcoming
For shadow-beings
And the
Shadow parts of us
x
The Earth should turn
All worlds should turn
Since
In turning
There is gravity
And life
And with so many
Moving
Lights
Boundaried by dark
So that both
May show the way
x
Through the seasons
Of the cosmos
Back to our minds
For reasoning
And imagining
Our place
Ringed inside everything
And the part
We cannot contain
Even inside ourselves
Because the abstract
Hook
Containers
With the infinite
For reason
And imagination
x
Rendering all borders
Malleable
If not changeable
The way the seasons
Change
Yet look
To stay the same
x
We are changeable
Unchangeable
Like Earth
And everything we lean on
While it leans
Like an invitation
To try something
Maybe straight
Like equinoxes
Maybe bent
Like the invitation
In the solstices
And all the life
Moving foundation
As it were
For the inventing
Co-creation
Inside
In between
All the round
Seasons
Leaned into
Also
Broken
Wondrously by
New days
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Sarah Tona on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
ring
x
God is here
thank goodness
God is there
in Ukraine
in war
and Morocco
split earth
many lives taken
x
in the hundred-plus
degree days
in Texas
for those
trying to live there
and before the hurricane
call one Lee
while we are in ships
on land
securing
waiting
knowing there will be destruction
during
and after
re-life-building
keening
grieving
for the loss of us
anywhere
x
we still wait for freedom
God approves
and works resistance
and diplomacy
risks offense
Jesus was offensive
and still turns
the heads of certain people
x
souls
and daily lives
devotion on a string
that breaks
that someone cuts
to ruin
or to barricade
x
God persists
in presence
in numbers
yes
God has the Earth
all given satellites
and other worlds
but take it one by one
even
with respect
and certainly with truth
the kind a Pilate
may not know
or want to know
x
debate
sure
work your fallacies
and jaw agendas
or shut up
shut down
look at the world
with any
and all senses
in all seasons
x
God is there
you won’t believe
and it’s a place to start
like rain
to put out our fires
snow to cool the deserts
or fire
parametered
to thaw the frozen
x
listen
talk
give up
what must be given up
yes
me
too
x
enough grammar to share
and all civility
that’s dignified
respectful
God will take us there
as in the wilderness
the chaos
we can no longer
count
because the crazy overwhelms
sometimes
x
God is here
sorry
we can go rounds on this
or leave it go
experience it
or not
we could step over this
to save in our ways
that are constructive
building up
that is
tearing down what only
tears down
x
love and live the rest
even God might say
that is enough
for now
stepping around
certain stanzas
that divide
unusefully
not for distinction
or thick conformity
x
rather the unique
formal
free
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Empathic
x
How pleasant
To talk like Gollum
Without the throat-call
But to say eggses
And even Baggins,
We hates it
Forever
x
It don’t know,
It is a menace
And a villain
But all the buzzing
All the hissing
Like bees and snakes
x
They fuss
They sting
There is a threat
To suffocate and kill
They are all villains
Without sympathy
And yet they call for sympathy
The sounds
The creature
Of their origin
And all origins
Of s sounds
Of sympathy
And of pain
x
C L Couch
x
x
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien wrote in a room in their house. At his feet, there was an electric heater, the kind with a plastic face that looks like flames. He loved languages (I hope) and with his words created the epic Lord of the Rings.
x
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 to others.
Photo by John Peters on Unsplash
x
The Return of the Ring
(Easter 2020)
1
When the ring is cast into
Mount Doom, however
Accidentally, and the designs
Of the Dark Lord are done
(however accidentally),
Then everything on Middle-
Earth is turned over—for the
Better, to be sure
But how many things will
Need to be remade? Certain
Friends are gone, too many
Heroes will rule now from afar
Those in homes not made
Of stone will have to rebuild
And refugees will need
To find their way
New associations will be needed
New rings of friends, and in
The rings will go perforce new
Ways of thinking that should
Go in more easily, from then on
2
It’s a day like any other
Above my head the sky is pale,
The sun trying to shine more
Beatifically
We make this day
In remembrance, celebration
Like a birthday
Or the celebration at the end of Ramadan
Is the Earth newly invested?
Is it cleaner, less hollowed-out by
Profiteering?—well, maybe a little or some
Today, when and where it’s been made
A holiday from
Such occupations along with the more
Mundane, acceptable kinds
Also on holiday
There is still blood on the cross,
However; no time or age
Can wash it clean
There is a chamber, carved out for
A tomb and used by someone else,
Which will never be emptier
Than when the stone was rolled
Away, than now
Yes, some things are supernal
Maybe there’s greater quiet on the land
Jews, Hindus, and Muslims might
Enjoy it as provided by their
Christian neighbors, friend or foe
3
So it is a day forever
And it’s only today
With the merging of the ordinary into
Realities ineffable
The pope will preach at vigil’s end
This year to an empty room
But not an empty planet
There will be an audience
(popes always have audiences),
This one planetary-wide
With who knows listening from another
Cosmic ring
The Baptists will get in on this
Even the chilly Presbyterians, boot-
Strapped by their own order
Methodists will have the
Chance,
Deserving if for no other reason than
Having saved my mother
After the regulars and the Anabaptists
(who are not normal in pacificity,
n’est-ce pas?),
All the other groups
All groups chime in,
For it is a time of chimes
The way Italians serenade each other
From the open edge of windows
And of balconies
With the signs that DIY-ers have assembled
And displayed in honor of
First-responders
Ring out Easter day
There is news
That’s always new
There is hope in the world and
All worlds
If you believe—
No pixie dust required—then
Jesus Christ has risen today
For you
For us
For all
Belief is not incumbent on the fact
Of resurrection
In irascible loving, starting somehow
In the garden,
It’s up to each of us
But believe or not, salvation’s
At your home
Regardless (sorry, I won’t be
presuming),
Here is a day
The one we have
If and as possible,
As decided,
To let pass or
To cry, to laugh, to sing, to mourn
Ordinary living, extraordinarily
C L Couch
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
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