the USA


a billion's one

cheering up

I’m watching Santa claim that
and then provide
for the children in a town
a neighborhood
where
it’s easy for children to go unnoticed
when grownup heads are set
too high

and there things like gentrifying that
compete with
cheer
and children
until now homegrown

and so problems
and solutions applied
locally

where all ages have lived
and want
to live

and if we say
thee is a holiday spirit
and an intention
for one day

and if
we
mimic
starting in October if
not August

might we not consider genuine
which might sound saccharine
to say
except in addition to old
neighborhoods
to
venerate
there are atrocities to consider
everywhere

have
you read about the killings in Sudan
or
do you know in the USA
how many will go
hungry
tonight

meaning to question whether
nuclears or
profiteering generally
is
all to count worth while

or is each one
viable
not as a cardboard target but
as really what
we’re made
of

we hear of hundreds
that are killed by
nature or
by us
and the tolls go into recent thousands
and by the end of term easily
a million

tracking COVID
say
unless you conveniently misbelieve

do you know how many
are in
needs
try
one

it’s one
all the billions make up one
that we can
know
and be
and help with practicality
and love

c l couch


photo by Efe Yağız Soysal on Unsplash

I look at this and see a big red hat (trimmed white) that’s shaking out snowflakes through a winter sky, while it’s more practically an overhead (drone?) image of a place along a coast in Türkiye.  (Me not the photographer talking.)

Haskell Library
across fair-access borders
‘til government’s ban

c l couch

Built intentionally on the border between Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec, this Victorian landmark stands as a monument to friendship between the United States and Canada. This library is a place where families, neighbors, and students have come together for generations to learn, read, and share a civic life rooted in trust, curiosity, and peace.
That legacy ended this week.

EveryLibrary

I had read a while before about this phenomenon, a community library that traversed borders between the nations. Now the Canadians have been told they may not use the library on the USA side.
And I suppose haiku aren’t for politicking.

photo by Shunya Koide on Unsplash
(and in the back, a person in attendance in the center)

A Sleep of Prisoners

A magnificent exchange
Of prisoners
By politics
Years in the making
Like many
Epics
What details we don’t know
What it
Took
To have this happen
By two countries
Cold with each other
In a world
So much more complex
Than what we knew before
(and how tired
must be
those fingers on the buttons
since the fifties)
It seems we can say fairly
Coming home
In whatever state
Whatever health
Free people
Once again
And may we say
Free
At last

C L Couch

Photo by Mario Scheibl on Unsplash