the week
a new week to you
and should you have it
maybe with
some hours yet unplanned
though
expectations beckon
some time wrangled as this
might need wrangling
for
oneself
and for them
each kind
and for each one
and there should be peace in that
and if none
then a chiming and a watchword
to design
and re-design
time
and intent
work with play
to find and have and live the loves that
make the rest
foundation with resources
added
new expectations maybe
balance
margin
whatever called or used
to impose the human
and approving the divine and in
a partnership
to live
and move
and have our being
have time and let the time be normal
for you
and for them
and don’t parse this
rather
you
and them
and maybe for an errant word from
me
or the peer community
peace to you this
week
if it may
with pleasure
and accomplishment
and love as a thread through
all
the fabric to the edges of the loom
and then
tucked under
and
if possible
if and when it’s healthy
live
and work in partnership
c l couch
I hope it’s been a good Father’s Day; yesterday (I didn’t note), was Flag Day in the USA and Mitzi’s birthday, everywhere
Acts 17:28 (referenced)
photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
something stronger
tea
as
or something stronger
through stronger
is
what the refreshment
means
in that we sit
like rest
and how are you
today
and I hope
well
though if not then
not
and I’d like to meet you
anyway
of course
and if we could have tea
in a room by
Beatrice
or
by Bilbo
I’d so much like to hear
your story
up to now and then
a little
speculation toward
the future
yours
and with a taste of the last
lukewarm sip
might stand
a guess
toward
the future of us both
and by extension
all
though it’s our time
as is this
time
with minutes only for
each other
and
I shall hear you better than
the rest that is
the ministry
of tea or something like
and
listening
for which there’s nothing
like
c l couch
photo by Colin Roe on Unsplash
Kermitage
I’d like my alone place
To have
Green
I’d like to sing
And ride a bicycle
And live
Some parts of animated
Miracles
I’d like some time to contemplate
And then I’d like my green self
To find
Company with others
Maybe on a sunlit street
Or on a grander set
Or if a pond
A pond
That might be a homecoming
Anyway
Some place small or large
With people small
And large
Who look like me
Or never shall
And so be wonder to me
Maybe to
All
All the time
Green
And otherwise
My being green
At
Least in part
Forever
C L Couch
on Palm Sunday
Photo by Jack Shen on Unsplash
Long Earth
Thinking
About day and night
In the spring surprise of
Noting
Blue light persisting
Layered
And
Dissolving in to dark
And yet the longer time
As Earth considers turning
Back
Leaning to favor
Days of planting in the northern
Half
While the southern part
Has winter
A cycle of
Waking
Hibernation
Still for a billion years
Two billions or so
Until a final pressing
To go away
To land upon another world
With the surprise
Discovery
Of its own planetary cycles
And its seasons become
Our own
C L Couch
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
time and not again
a breath into the weekend
I am thinking
for those approximate
to 9 to 5
Monday
through Friday
too
or are you one of those
who does not stop
either by
someone else’s will
or
your own compelling
which
is not
to say you’re wrong
we do
have work
to do
and I served in this way
too
until the first
of heart attacks
then tried to do things differently
and
my supervisor didn’t like it
so I left
and found
the world isn’t ready
for slower people
any
sort
I’m afraid
which is
too bad
because
24
4
365
(366)
is what we get
on Earth
and for our
earthly lives
and how these change so much
through circumstances
though not
to lengthen measures
but
sadly
to truncate
and only in that way
does mortal time
change
sigh
life on Mars
might go differently
or
more likely
could we go like Albert Einstein
over the bridge
FTL-fashion then
return
to find the world futurely changed
and yet again
as the travelers our time
has not
changed a
classic jot
so time is time
and how
to spend it
inside
human parameters
and not that
everything’s our choice
though it is in
our given
nature
and maybe we can or may
choose the time
or even
how to spend it
c l couch
photo by Oliver Hale on Unsplash
Painless
(for patient patients)
I need my pain
The captain
Said
And I suppose
The captain’s
Right
Worse the luck
For all
The pain
That is
In the world
My portion
In
My body
At the moment
And for hours
And for
Days
Treatments
Notwithstanding
(they help for
a while
sometimes
but
might not resolve)
I complain
It’s inconvenient
And
Might be a sign
Of
Something worse
Inside where
I can’t see
Of
Course
And maybe a medico
Or a machine
Will tell
It is a signal
That something
Is wrong
And as
A constant
Thing
Might mean
There’s always
Something
Wrong
Which could be a
Signal
Even
Of mortality
To bear
There’s pain
And there is pain
‘Cause
There are kinds
And painless be
The world
In
The future
On
The other side
Apocalyptic
When joy
Shall go unmingled
And
Can we
Imagine
Such a thing
A time
(timeless)
And place
(not
placeless)
And new condition
While
We carry what
We carry
And regarding
Hurt
We try and
Others try
To fix us
For forbearance
And for health
Here
And now
(not timeless)
C L Couch
Captain Kirk is quoted
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
In the Day of the Lord
Well
God
What shall you give
Today
There is the day
There will be daylight
Well-
Insinuated
In an hour or so
There will be more
Time
In hours
Time to choose
For those
Who may choose
Who aren’t
Conscripted otherwise
Drafting
Oneself
For cause
But then
The cause
Might be a wonder
How about family
About
The partner
Who works out
In
Intimacy
As well as
What is profound
When about one’s nation
Call it people
Call it country
Group
Tribe
State
Region
Everything that has a name
Maybe a living
Constitution
For a document
For walks
The simple
And sublime
Which faces our distraction
And decisions
All the time
And certainly
Today
And God
There is more than patriotism
There is the reason for it
And the rest
That is
Well
You
And what you say
You make
What you say and make
That is creation
Whose pages form
A scripture
Every day
And then the book itself
Shelved
We take down
Perhaps
We hear someone else
Reading
And from which
Some teaching
Though the hour
Is a sermon
Too
This hour
Then the next
Should we have the next
Odds say
We’ll have
Inside our complex bodies
Have a day that’s plain
Landing here or there
Pleine aire
Or chez lui
And should one
Ask oneself
About salvation
Or get the question
From another
Answer
We hope so
C L Couch
Photo by Alex Guillaume on Unsplash
[photographer’s caption] In New York, in a little shop, those watches where there, hanging in front of me!
(x = space)
x
x
3 poems, when you have time (one poem about observation, one about reading, one about war taking all)
x
x
Observe and Report
x
For preamble
Nothing like
The burdens of a people
Upon Joshua
Or Caleb
x
What’s petty
What is meaningful
Too often
I don’t know
I pick up a stone
It’s not a park
There are no regulations
I take the thing with me
Becomes an artifact
At home
x
I am reminded
Of the Earth
We are set on
So many layers
To the center
Countless to go out
Again
To try to count
x
Clueless
It and I
While it’s supposed to be
And I think I should know something
About the atoms
The formation
Its place
Near my fingers
When I found it
When I take it up
Look upon it
Now
x
x
Read Me
x
Not unlike the words
Commanding
Alice
To forward
Her adventure
x
Words
Well
Words have
Such value
So the lines are short
While
Reading slowly is advised
Going slowly
Generally
x
Yours should be read
This way
As well
x
Time is a treasure
Though we should parse it out
Surrender it in particles
x
Not worrying so much
About the measure
Since the bill
Of sale
Is not our own
But investment the creator made
Inside creation
x
So let’s take our time
As said
Although again
It’s not our own
But lent
At best
And for our use
Simply
As use
x
Please take time to read me
I’ll take time
Reading
You
And then there’s
The needful time
For vital
As in lively
Response
x
x
War and After, After
x
The wars go on
Again
I can’t imagine
The explosions
The dust
The rubble
And the blood
Beneath
x
And the things of blood
Of bodies
That once held the lives
Of souls
While here on Earth
x
Now stolen
As if by gods
Self-styled
With machines
Black and pretty
Smithed
In hell
x
And this is metaphor
Impressions
The real thing
For those alive
Is all about
The running
Avoidance of more anything
Like that
Again
x
And then it happens
There is more
It’s worse
Nothing inside ourselves
Ever
Really
Gets used to it
x
And then
Maybe there’s a moment when
The silence rings
Notes of nothing
Anymore
While looking
Touching
For flesh containing life
We might embrace
To take
And to offer
What we have
x
And there might be people
Come from
Too short a way
To find us
For ourselves
To treat us
Representing
Something clean
And institutional
Away
x
We might be taken there
Where
Objectless walls
Close in
With noises in the distance
Or have we brought them with us
And is it noise
That closes in
The distance
x
We need medication
Sedative
To leave all this
Except for bodies
That have names
xxxxxWe cherish both
xxxxxWe want them
xxxxxHave to search for them
xxxxxTo know them
xxxxxAnd to have them
xxxxxOnce again
x
Though we might have to settle
In without response
While life is measured
Sometimes
Without
The power to the building
And their efforts
And the dust
And rubble
That came in with us
x
The war
The damning war
The reason we say bloody
For the worst
Things we can think of
x
Fleshly containers
Holding flesh
Until they must
Let go
x
Who are they
What are their names
Who are we
Where are we going
x
War take all
Peace for the remnant
The ghostly revenant
Left over
The dust
Of everything that’s taken
For what’s left over
To remain
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Ansia Lasa on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
As It Is on Earth
x
I don’t know what I have
If I have
Anything
For me
And then for you
x
You might be first
But something about me must
Be satisfied
Or nothing travels
x
Something that could sound
Like a song
But must have sound
Regardless
In a shape that serves
And something of the world
Inside
The world and the inside
Where we live
x
Forgive me
Then
The lateness in the hour
Or anything that’s late
In getting to you
Though we have no schedule
I know
We know
And do our best
To post in blogs
Like bags of mail for ponies
Or task the runner
As at Marathon
x
We send
Receive
Respond
Then send again
It’s all a process
It’s a circle
Sacred
Called by some
And why not
Our gods as known
Believed
Walking like the
Lord
Or maybe
Gasp
Tash
Arrived
x
And in the interaction
All of us
In equal space
If not location
And for accountability
Well
Something holy happens
That is human
Set aside
As well as visitors
To take part
And approve
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Willian Justen de Vasconcellos on Unsplash
x
The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis is referenced.
x
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