companion-able
what may I give to you
this day
silence perhaps
a treat
of companionship
I’ll be there
or
nearby
in any of the ways one
might be near
and you shall have some
peace
look up to say something
I’ll be there
c l couch
photograph by Claire Ward at Unsplash
gesture
the sound of one hand clapping
is one hand
near another
without
touching
no sound
no affirmation
it could be mine
it could be yours
it could mean a broken pledge
or something
like air-kissing
that probably means little
(except
preserve the make-up)
but we make the gesture
anyway
c l couch
based on an illustration that was really of something else—I made new gaps then filled them in
photo by Isabel Lee on Unsplash
photograph of one who stands different
(flash fiction challenge--the photograph reacted to is at Melissa's site, link below)
she’d like to talk
I think
she has things to say
and has invested in earth colors
and a visible presence
in a crowd
inside a city
who might keep her from talking?
well
she’s surrounded by black forms
hoods
perhaps hijabs like hers
(though hers is kindly brown)
and on the other side
black uniforms
of police
who also wear
visors hard to see through
and though we cannot see them
there must be weapons
somewhere
she has no actual platform
for her platform
there is a sign close by
she might be holding it
ironically
it says
SILENCE IS VIOLENCE
because
well
it is
silence is violence
if the silence is words
frightened
or (otherwise) brutalized
away from utterance
out of consideration
for fear of weaponry
arrest
and isolation
which would
once again
be silence
and this is a message
to the rest
that keeping silent
is through indifference
or only taciturn
approval
a kind of violence
in and of itself
we let it happen
let the wrong things happen
or keep
the right words
the protest words
the revealing words
get out
it’s like the leave to vote
and then
not bothering
infantilizing values
of democracy
her mouth is covered
I don’t know if
from cultural requirement
protection
from infection
or to illustrate her point
she is not tall
which is to say
everyone is taller
all around her
though she (or whoever)
holds the sign high
higher than everyone
to make her point
and maybe find
an invitation
to speak out
from up higher
sometime
she is not subjugated
yet
she’s there
she’s standing
and the sign is standing
not to mention
that the line
of her suit jacket
sends a message
of some fashion
something lined
through razored words
through silence
after all
the eyes are windows
clearly open
though the message
of a moment
might need more
some exchange
some blinking
we could get
from being there
but she needs to talk
everyone there
everyone here
needs to hear
and heed
what she has to say
the need is ours
outside the frame
to find her
and the source of words
and more
in principle
and action
to take away
C L Couch
(for) Melissa’s Flash Fiction Challenge #249
https://melissalemay.wordpress.com/2024/01/01/melissas-fandango-flash-fiction-challenge-249/
(tag #FFFC)
Photo by Priscilla Gyamfi on Unsplash
Chalk writing on the street near the George Floyd memorial in Minneapolis. "Together we will change the world."
(x = space)
x
x
Eve X
x
I cannot help
But love the evening
Maybe you feel the same
And in the quiet night
A miracle
And it can’t have been quiet
With the mother
And the father
And the animals
And the outside
Night noises
And yet the heart is quiet
Generally
When
There is the birth
To contemplate
In the dark
And after
Maybe
An extraordinary light
That might be candlelight
Or dawn
Or an inside
Sunrise
x
And it could happen
In an hour of
Any Christmas Eve
With apologies to mothers
And to fathers
And to animals
The wilderness
x
But we might need
Silent consideration
Of it all
And then to have a new day
In more silence
Or the noise
Of a wonderful
However illuminated
Day
x
Darkness
And light
Darknesses
And lights
We might need both
To understand
How a birth leads
To eternal life
Because it may
It does
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Remy Gieling on Unsplash
Believer holding candle at evening church ceremony in Paris.
x
(x = space)
x
x
Anchorite Devotion
x
I cherish
Quiet in a cup
To drink
When I need some
Peace on a plate
When a bite is needed
Some silence in the air
But not so much
We cannot hear
The songs
Of earth and sky
The thrumming from beneath
To feel
The sighing from so high
We dare not
On an ordinary day
To try
x
A homespun layer
Maybe two layers
For the day
And through the night
A few words of friendship
And a few more
Then intimate,
Unspoken words
With God
x
There is a book
Of hours and another
Sometimes wisdom’s
In the page
In the part between
The letters
As well the illustrations
The space in which
We first learn
That blank space is the quiet
We may go there
Then to learn
About the mystery
The text
And images support
But can’t fill yet
As if to know the words
To speak with angels
And with animals
And with the air
x
All things the creator makes
To set in humming motion
x
C L Couch
x
x
Statue of Julian of Norwich by David Holgate, west front, Norwich Cathedral.
By Poliphilo – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19972764
x
Hear My Cry
A featureless sky that nonetheless tries to speak of snow
An unremarkable day in which the world
Might be saved through
A sky-sound,
A child’s word, or an animal’s cry
Something to break the kind of silence strangled
From an utterance of need and hope
C L Couch
For the Squeaking Door I Don’t Have
I make noises like a squeaking door
When I get up from sitting cross-legged
On the bed, where I’ve been tapping
On the laptop surface that sits in front
Of me, there
I make the noises verbally, that is—for
Now, my joints are fine
I don’t know, it’s my way to speak into
The silence and the solitude: a way to
Say, I’m here
For all the world to respond to, which,
Of course, it doesn’t
clcouch123 
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