Gospel according to for good or ill ourselves
a summer’s day
what is there for us
now
it is too hot
the rain too helter-skelter
flood or famine
for the ground
the seeds
the shoots
the corn that reaches
in both ways
we are
uncomfortable
the heat
too much
the night whose only solace
is the dark
but not cool temperatures
that are not
happening
hottest on record
set the year before
the year
before
and thank goodness
there’s no climate change
and that it has
(thereby)
nothing to do with us
we’ll keep
burning things
beyond what is
suitable
for Earth
sending ersatz smoke into the sky
and the chemical equivalents
dump in water
chemicals aren’t evil
as we know
they have no moral value
as we know
we do this on our own
discover poison
then we use it
to make products
to make money
for the products
and the jobs
that making all the poison
does provide
we need the jobs
we know this
we could
do something else
I mean both
searchers and
providers
we could
do something else
for Earth
and on our way to other worlds
we could launch
in all directions
a fleet of possibilities
against the poison
in favor or
the sanctity of everything
organic
and how about
ourselves
bless the Earth
and pray for it
we humans can
and ask the help of heaven
should that be
our wont
and bless each other
too
as far as humans may
without the sponsorship
indeed the surrogacy
from the Lord
who blesses first
and blest
and should bless or curse
our efforts
as they are
and
(Quijote)
as they should be
it isn’t hard
and it’s hard
goodness
we know it’s hard
to change a world
and severer
in a subatomic way
to change ourselves
the knights are out
(they’re Artemis
and Ares)
while corsairs with full sails
assail the edge of us
while we are sieged
from monsters in the hall
that came
from deeper parts
the deepest parts
of us
yet deeper still
there are solutions
like a treasure
to unearth
and bring to the Earth
starting with the skin
of us
and all our will beneath
new will
(if we will)
not
to recall the knights
but let them quest beyond
to share
their discoveries
there
while we hobbit-heroes
have our work
to do
and bless the work
in turn
O Earth
and Earth’s lord
that has been waiting for us
blessing only in small ways
while waiting for
the rise
of each of us
our families
and the world of us
quietly
yet firmly to say
we know at last
whose house this is
and whom
to serve
which is
the layers of creation
so serve the core
the mantle
and the surface
all the water
all the land
all the creeping
and the soaring things
that we may use
(with water
land
and air)
with apology
(both kinds)
in order to explain
excuse
and also
to define
and thrive
the Earth
is not one
and doesn’t have to be
so many parts
to allow
expressed
yet from the outside
(and the inside
on occasion)
see compressed
as of a jewel
in and of
the cosmos
joining with other lights
both
light and dark
that make the sky
and give us all we need
to dance
beneath
c l couch
photo by Man from Forest on Unsplash
Birch Grove on a Summer Day
Blameless Solstice
Sun
With clouds
And lightning
Animate the forecast map
At noon
And I’m thinking
On line
These are the days
Of our lives
To come
Starting
Tomorrow
While today is
Simply hot
Well
“Steamy”
In the Southern
Or the tropical
Way
That is the grid
For the next week
Or so
We’re sliding
Into summer
So we might
Wonder
What is next
In our
Region
Relative
To the world
C L Couch
Photo by USGS on Unsplash
Maur Adrar Desert
(we might become a colorful desert, too)
written on the occasion of--well, yes--the heat but also a local town that declared a drought emergency today; what's ironic to me is that the town is set where a wide creek pours into a wide river (always strikes me odd when that happens)
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
Released
x
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
x
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
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by yasin hemmati on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Late Human Summer
x
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)
x
The sun is out
We’re getting a heatwave
Because we’re bad
No
Only because
(the only reason is because
though
yes
as a species
we may take blame
for vicissitudes
in climate)
x
Other things have happened
In the night
The hours between day and day
I enjoyed the company of
Friends
And so was lucky
x
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
x
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
x
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
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Arno Senoner on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Bad Summer
(sorry)
x
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
x
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
x
And now it’s August
Fall is on its way
I hear
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Kelsey He on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Hellish Season
x
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
x
Too much heat
It could seem
For sin
And yet not (yet) hot enough
To forestall
Our trying
x
And should
The hellish rise
In us
Around us
There might be balm
Valued
And adored
x
Christ
(of battle
of
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
x
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
x
Four days at Gettysburg
The fourth day for rain
To wash the field
To mist the ignominy
Either of retreat
Or too much victory
x
C L Couch
x
x
(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)
x
Photo by Henrique Sá on Unsplash
x
clcouch123 
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