summer

Released

(x = space)

Released

Winter starts tomorrow

Summer to the south

There is no snow forecasted

(in the north)

For a while

Another drier

Warmer

Winter time

Which is all right

For fear of snow

Blizzard and ice

That keep us in

With or without

The victuals we might need

(for all precautions)

But in terms of sleeping ground

The frozen seeds

The insects

Everything that hibernates

The warmth unseasonal

Won’t help

And we’ll awake to spring

Plus winter in the south

That isn’t right

That imbalances

That takes away the timing

That Earth needs

And all upon it

Yes

There’s climate change

And eldritch melting

At the poles

Interesting for observation

And for extracting mammoth bones

Maybe not so promising

For what else

Might be released

Into the air

C L Couch

Photo by yasin hemmati on Unsplash

December 21, 2023 2

Late Human Summer

(x = space)

Late Human Summer

The alphabet of storms

Goes on

Blows on

When the alphabet is done

I wonder

If we add prime marks

To letters

Going back to A again

(with prime)

The sun is out

We’re getting a heatwave

Because we’re bad

Only because

(the only reason is because

though

yes

as a species

we may take blame

for vicissitudes

in climate)

Other things have happened

In the night

The hours between day and day

I enjoyed the company of

Friends

And so was lucky

I was not on either side

Of war

There was no explosion

Not even verbal

‘Cause we like each other

And otherwise would disrupt

The ritual

Like dropping wine

Or leaving bread crumbs out

In Communion

Not that things don’t happen

‘Cause they do

I get The Daily News

And should read to know

Who has killed whom

In shockingly

Petty ways

That had treated victims

As sponges

Softly receiving weapon plunges

Or shots

Sometimes by ghost guns

Now that we have

Ghosts for guns

But I’ve only been up

For a while

And haven’t been in touch

With the world

Which will change soon

Or I could take the day off

From the rest

Of us

Except for you

C L Couch

Photo by Arno Senoner on Unsplash

September 2, 2023 0

Bad Summer

(x = space)

Bad Summer

(sorry)

My summer

Began in surgery

I’ve been trying

To rise

Ever since

Not the first time

Or the last

(I’ll have battery replacements

at the least)

But this was unexpected

I tried to follow

Protocol

A ride in an ambulance

(I’ve received a bill)

And everything

Successful

I suppose

But the days have been heavy

Since

Heat and humidity

And climate change

Of course

(of course, it’s real)

Storms

And word of storms

And everywhere there’s war

Or natural fire

Fire

Flood

Thirst

And disease

I know

I can’t make all burdens

My burden

And I pray for these

And mine

And hope each day

To be a little

Well

Lighter

Lighter steps

Easier breathing

In the practical

And meditative

Way

And now it’s August

Fall is on its way

I hear

C L Couch

Photo by Kelsey He on Unsplash

August 11, 2023 1

who hopes for good days

(haiku)

who hopes for good days

apple blossoms or small fruits

how transitions go

c l couch

Photo by SIMON LEE on Unsplash

August 1, 2023 0

Hellish Season

(x = space)

Hellish Season

It’s summer

And it’s hot

The sky too dense

With particulates

Of fires

And there’s

An irony of floods

And there is war too hot to fight

Yet fought

There

And in

We’ve heard

The war at home

Too much heat

It could seem

For sin

And yet not (yet) hot enough

To forestall

Our trying

And should

The hellish rise

In us

Around us

There might be balm

Valued

And adored

Christ

(of battle

the coming of the Lord)

Spirit

And angels

Come with mercy

Like cool liquid

On fevered heads

Once bodies

Have been taken

From the fray

And then the heat

Might break

A cooling rain

In fact

Begins and lasts

All the next day

Like the fourth day after

Three days

Of terrifying

Awesome

Blooded battle

All battles drawing blood

But this

Specifically at Gettysburg

Four days at Gettysburg

The fourth day for rain

To wash the field

To mist the ignominy

Either of retreat

Or too much victory

C L Couch

(after three days of accidental, built-up, pent-up, exhausting, murderous battle, starting on the first, the battle at Gettysburg was done and on the fourth day there was rain—ironic for the nation, being the Fourth of July, of course our independence day for the USA)

Photo by Henrique Sá on Unsplash

July 30, 2023 2

Passport

(x = space)

Passport

Then

There was the story of

The woman at the grocery’s

Who

Encountered

Someone new

Requesting an I-D

Accompany the check

And she brought out

Her passport

Maybe still

Shiny

With unuse

Except it jostled

‘Round

With all the other things

The purse inside

The purse

You know

Each with jostled things

Bypassing the license

For that

Passport

To indicate

To someone new

She might have been somewhere or will

Be going

Somewhere someday soon

C L Couch

This story did not happen and is based (fictively) on something the mother said in the movie Breaking Away, directed by Peter Yates and written by Steve Tesich. Set in Bloomington, it is a good movie for (about) the summer. The mother is portrayed by Barbara Barrie.

Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

July 4, 2023 1

thank goodness and gravity we don’t feel the spin

(x = space)

thank goodness and gravity we don’t feel the spin

(8:50-something a.m. EDT, USA)

in two hours or so

will be the solstice

if it were dark

I’d set a fire

though I could set a fire

now

well,

no, I can’t

because I don’t have

a place out back

or a permit for a park,

which wouldn’t work

because

there is a burning ban

just now

‘til there be much more rain

than we’ve had

of late

the Earth will turn

and tilt

start to tilt the other way

and in the south

we’ll move from winter

into spring

while up here

it shall

we know

be summer

and then fall

it’s hot and humid now

I once asked a Southerner

From Tennessee

(USA)

how Southerners

(thinking

in my Southernness

I had missed the lesson,

somehow)

how said

Southerners

cope with heat

and humidity

that are year-round

possibilities

said she

one thing,

air-conditioning

happy solstice

relative to the equator

whichever way the Earth

shall tilt

for you

for us

c l couch

photo by scott webb on Unsplash

June 21, 2023 1

haiku (more)

(x = space)

haiku

slow nature inside

plants grow in unsure seasons

ours darkness or light

unsurely outside

winter by a calendar

summer another

creature on a branch

cardinal or squirrel set

then fly or skitter

C L Couch

(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)

Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash

March 2, 2023 0