names
Our Lady has a day
Juan Diego anglo named
she gave him roses
(12 December, Our Lady of Guadalupe)
I am Christopher
bearer of Christ and walking
hundred-acre woods
your name is your name
assigned you for a reason
there is a story
c l couch
(a series, I suppose, though I think each poem stands on its own)
there are good stories [a line while drafting that I thought I’d let stay on the page]
photo by Aida Batres on Unsplash
a visit from Mister Poe
who knows
and
what if everyone should know
I’ve only confessed to God
and so might not bear
the forgiveness
from people
and should they bear scorn in their eyes
and
their subtle rejections
even as detectives
met
happily
while the perpetrator of the crime
heard his own heart
though was
certain it beat from his victim
within the floorboards
beneath them all
and could he not bear a moment longer
unopened in himself
and so cried
confessing
all by terror as the means
rather
than a priestly person
so the ghost of the one he killed
pressed on him
worse than a would-be pardoner’s
supplication
or the black
cat
who wailed behind the wall
in this case
supplanting by revealing
sin
and murder
and so these stories go
of exposure should
the sinner
try to hide
from the world whose implication
must
be to expose
c l couch
for Hallowe’en and other Gothic times
photo by Sonny Mauricio on Unsplash
uncommon unsense
the prophet helps
a widow
and
when the prophet needs
ravens helps with food
making up for that business
with the ark
all the people needed food
and so food
fell
needed water
too
which poured for them
from barren places
and so
wandering the wilderness
still cannot
be comfortable
but
at least keep folk alive
meanwhile
by
basics
David thinks he needs Bathsheba
though that is
another kind of interest
not
like food and water
whatever the king might feel
he needs
as he wants
food and
drink
from her
blind
needing sight
the lame to walk
the awful sick to have some healing
that
provides a reason
there are stories
too
of prodigals repenting and returning home
of
good Samaritans while
Samaritans are not credited
so much
of parents withholding stones from children
so that giving
bread
has fulsome space as
well as love
need
and response
and
I suppose when honest
still the answer might be
no
or no
for now
frustrating how the interactions
go
in our relationship with divine
whose terms are
to
keep the evidence
of such
unseen or
otherwise unsensed
c l couch
photo by Vadym on Unsplash
brass buttons
(like other tokens by good stories)
I think Peter Rabbit
as well as
Bilbo Baggins had them
as
I think both beings
lost their own
one set to a fenced farmer
while
the other
to the great door
of a goblin
lair
brass buttons
then
might be a trinket and
a trophy
in addition to staid usefulness
to fasten
but the brightness of small things
to have
to lose
by farmers and by goblins
and other
taller foes in the world
and shall
new
gilded circles be given
or
otherwise arranged
so that vests and coats might be
fastened
against the cold and rain
or other depredations caused
by
great and closed cropper fences
or
Orc doors
as also shining things for
pleasures
be
restored
maybe to the reader
to match with likened
tokens
treasures
too
and
hey
even with their
losses
the rabbit and the hobbit
respectively
escaped from
their foes
c l couch
(Peter, whose jacket is classically depicted with bright buttons, actually loses the whole jacket plus his shoes in escaping from McGregor; Bilbo loses his brass buttons squeezing through the back door of the goblins’ mountain)
photo by Tyler Lastovich on Unsplash
(pretend the door is green, which, in fact, it is)
Books of Numbers
1
Twenty-six
For those who count
This way
And just into
New
Seasons
Eight days
For Hannukah
Twelve for Christmas
Until
Epiphany
The world shall have its
New year
For the parties
And
The cheers
There shall be the new
Asian year
Then
Too
And Muslims start
The specific year
As well
And other calendars
No calendars
Hold sway
By group
And ways to count for time
Or not
To count at all
2
When were you born
I was told
That I was born
When it had rained
Days
Straight
And the valley flooded
The people had to climb
And my mother gave
Birth
To me
From a high place
Which has affected
My name
C L Couch
Photo by Paul R Design on Unsplash
cooking lessons
the patterns in
the sky
the stories
and the messages
Orion hunts
forever
while
the Pleiades escape
forever
that do not
change
that do
but we don’t notice
any more than
noticing
the hands upon the clock
on the wall
or by the bed
or in
the kitchen while
we cook
thinking on results
though maybe
all the stories
that
returns us here
this day
stories in the sky
we have to have them
even as
an anonymous umbrella
‘til we’re told
what this group is
and what
it means
though we have
parochial in
the mean time
what the family members
tell us
what the world
teaches us
somehow or
rather through
indifference
told with care
the stories
we might own
that even
heal
maybe with laughter
first
and then
the learning kind
reminding us
that family lore
might matter most
to have us
rising
working
cooking maybe
in the morning
come
the evening
then maybe going for
the holidays
feeding
even more
more
story time
c l couch
photo by Gaku Suyama on Unsplash
(one is looking up at
me
and-or to
the sky)
Starry
I guess I’ll leave the stars up there
and make some new ones here
with glue and glitter,
lots of glitter,
sweeping up
after.
And I’ll find a paper-punch
and string
to set them from below at heights and
up high tape or (more) string or something:
maybe,
you know,
a coat-hanger
and use the hook on top
to have a mobile,
stars of mine
and my own dreams.
And if you ask,
I’ll talk about them—stars
and stories,
you know,
share them.
C L Couch
Photo by Borna Bevanda on Unsplash
I hope you won’t mind a brief note to say that a poem of mine, previously unpublished, is now published. I just got the good news from MasticadoresUSA. The poem is “Necessary Stories” and is at https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/2023/12/30/necessary-stories-by-c-l-couch/.
I know experiences vary, but I worked with Barbara from the site and group, and she was terrific. Yes, because she published my work but more so because she responded constructively, specifically, and positively to what I had submitted for consideration. I’ve rarely experienced the helpful interaction I enjoyed with her. It was substantive and friendly. As an educator and an evaluator of writing (say, that of nervous students), I can say that both aspects are vital.
Anyway, thank you MasticadoresUSA. Thank you, Barbara. Thank you, my readers here.
C L Couch
(Christopher)
I didn’t, by the way, write to a prompt. (Prompts are good.) I was simply writing on the theme of story.
(x = space)
x
x
The Heart
x
I breathe a little
Saturday morning
Last moments
Before noon
When I would be called upon
For chores
Last free moments
Watching another show
As an excuse
Pretending its significance
x
Did I have a heart defect
Back then
We’ll never know
Or was I put to work
Too soon
Or was it the lesson that
Work is bad
And I should only be glad
When it’s done
x
Whichever way
I was a child who
Wanted to
Escape
And on rainy days
I sat in a chair next to a lamp
In the room saved for
Official company
And rather than
All that
I took the quiet
And went into books
With
Stories that saved
x
The mind
The heart
Everything that mattered
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Matt Seymour on Unsplash
x
clcouch123 
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