disseasonability
an easy winter
brutal summer
heat
in exchange for
the snow
fair exchange?
there is romance
in the snow
yes
and peril, too
but do we forget
(speaking in January)
that
there is danger
in the high heat,
too
not to mention
polar ice shelves
sliding into
sea
exposing land
which is interesting
though
in fact
we are losing our cool
so to say
and for real
the Earth is heating
and we need
the heat
and shall we forget
we need the cold
as well
sorry
we’re not halfway
keep talking winter
in the northern world
at least
and maybe ask
down south
how the summer’s
doing
c l couch
photo by Liana S on Unsplash
(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
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
Normal Prophecy
x
And shall we live today
In late fall
To the north
With spring away
Beyond the line
And before the others that
Define our place
For seasons
Though in the middle
I suppose
There must seasons
Too
x
And shall we have our fall
And then our winter
Not discontent
On sledding hills
And over frozen ponds
Our temperate zones
Replete with
Different-feeling times of year
Weather for planting
And for harvesting
As well
The mere tilting of the Earth
And shall Goldilocks
Be tilting
Too
Elsewhere
x
The seasons to survive
With food
And beauty
Too
Both for our survival
In a changing world
Until the day
We walk through the valleys
In all zones
And in all zones
We walk in peace
x
C L Couch
x
x
“We Shall Walk through the Valley” is a hymn and anthem and is referenced here.
x
Photo by Robert V. Ruggiero on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Rising Seasons
x
I wasn’t counting
But there are vehicles that do
And they and their movers are
Confident
It will be another
Weekend of rain
Eighth in a row
Tomorrow
Saturday
And Sunday
And certainly
The sky just outside now
Is gray
The leaves are wet upon the ground
This time of day
It’s fall
x
It’s fall
We should expect some damp
Maybe in all seasons
But this is chill
Descends with leaves
Dissembling
That is
Dissolving
That we’d rather drive through
In sunlight
Brilliant light
And also dry
To pass through
All the colors
Dryly
Reclining
Divinely resting
Into winter
x
Our weekend sights
Set
For somewhere in New England
x
We want what we can’t have
Enough rain
To build the tables up
Again
Dry days and dry roads
For touring
And school
And time off
Simultaneously satisfied
As well
x
Well
Why not want things
There are always ponchos
And we need the rain
And schools have holidays
Sometimes
Sometimes that work
x
Then
Elsewhere
South of here
Or west
Or in another region
Of America
All Americas
Or in Africa
Or Europe
Far-flung Asia
The Pacific Rim
Or an extremity
Of white bears
Or the other
Where the penguins
In the photographs
Line civilly
Awaiting who is next
To slide into
Salt water
x
For you
In any of these regions
It must be so different
So wonderful and different
Where you are
And now
x
And maybe you will share
The weather and the climate
With those of us
Not there
But here
x
Meaning in the MidAtlantic
The Northeast
The Midwest
The Northwest
The northern South
And wide parts
Of Canada as well
x
Dry or damp
Let’s move
Adroitly on
All and any
All the pathways
That we have
Any of which
In any part
We hope
Might lead toward peace
x
As any of us might
Might wander
There and figure
In the sunshine
Or the rainshine
Depending on an attitude
A tolerance
Endurance
For the weather
Errant sunlight
Or the shade
For the interests they support
And for our own
About peacemaking
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Daniel Frank on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Seedling Truth
x
Tuesday
Time for devotion
Because there’s no
Holy reason telling us
To do so
x
We heard
And we hear
Sermons to the birds
And they rejoin
x
Bible studies
With the ocean
Ascensions at the mountain top
And then come down
To the veiled valley
Below
Most of us inhabit
x
Where we must live
Until our gospel says
It’s time
x
Our seasons tell us
Heat gives way to color
Then succumbing cool
To cold
x
We rest
And now it’s time
To rest
Until we all come back
Green blades
Rising
Songs’ abiding promises
To spring
Remaining
Up here
Circling
Until your gospel says
Forever
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Steven Van Elk on Unsplash
x
(e.g.) https://www.learnreligions.com/saint-francis-assisi-sermon-to-birds-124321
x
(x = space)
x
x
haiku
x
1
slow nature inside
plants grow in unsure seasons
ours darkness or light
x
2
unsurely outside
winter by a calendar
summer another
x
3
creature on a branch
cardinal or squirrel set
then fly or skitter
x
C L Couch
x
x
(like those earlier, these haiku can relate to each other, though I doubt there is a rule about connection; or each haiku may stand alone, which I guess is more traditional)
x
Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
the winter of our contretemps
x
hello winter you are
welcome on a sunny day
in a few weeks
maybe not so much
when the cold has settled in
for a while
x
but then
the torrid in the summer
has its problems too
and we are headed there
and then when there
we shall return
by nature
x
a cycle
a circle
the top of an ellipse
and do the arches rise
with ages of experience
x
we seem to be stuck
in consideration
of annihilation
as the theme
and hidden ways
to prosper anyway
is it the zenith
or the nadir
how far do we have to go
to either
are we the zenith
or the nadir
x
we have this season
and the end of one
hello
goodbye
a cosmogony
fit for captain spaulding
because
hello we must be going
x
winter season
winter spices
wintry mix
(wintry salad)
wintry is the word
a descriptor for
three months to start
to tilt the other way
x
enjoy skiing
and snow people
and all the things we make
with what is
temporary
‘til the sun returns
or with time
the wind passes over
x
pleasure below freezing
snow angels
snow ice cream until
chemistry
became
our condensation nuclei
x
white on white
and satin dark
the stars will blink
though it’s our atmosphere
winter in our breathing
the steam we make
the challenge
of the next breath
go inside
make sure
for everyone
there are insides
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by kristaps ungurs on unsplash
x
some of the connection
has returned (c.f. my last note, prior entry)
how much
and how much will last?
the new part has not arrived
and will it fix
the device and the process?
I’ll be
of course
letting you know
thank you
happy winter
x
(x = space)
x
x
Rhapsody on Umber
x
Orange
Nothing rhymes with it
(I’ll try syringe
sometime,
hydrangea-a?)
Who cares
In the better way
It’s wonderful
And add a little brown and yellow
Is that burnt umber
The lost crayon?
x
But it’s just
Right for fall
Add red on its own
For leaves
And all the shades
For possibilities
Cast them under clouds
On a cool day
When walking
In the countryside
Is right
A quiet celebration
A season in the season
If you live around
Here
If not,
In the mind then
Or online
x
It’s fall
The very best Pooh weather
There should be
Tea and honey
For Christopher and friends
The roly bear
The donkey with the usually tail
Mama kangaroo and child
Tiger with springs
An owl of storied wisdom
As far as a child’s genius go
Long-suffering rabbit
And the pig
Small
Always counted on
Like needful stories
To be there
x
thanks for A. A. Milne and to my mom who really liked the stories
x
C(hristopher Robin) L Couch
x
x
Photo by Valentina Ivanova on Unsplash
Ukrainian Village, Чикаго, Иллинойс, США
Published on October 19, 2021
x
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