usa

bridge collapses into water in the night


bridge collapses into water in the night


the Key bridge collapses

I don’t like
heights
and this is not about me

a big ship struck the tall bridge
in the night
and the bridge fell into
deep and
dark water

the vehicles upon
the bridge
with
all the people inside
those on the ship as well

there is a “debris field”
that we can see
on the news

an iron wreck upon the water
stone pillars standing
monsters folded
cringing
on the water
and to either side
as if
wishing for the comfort
of the shore
and land

the rescuiers
look for vehicles
in water
and those we must call victims
inside cars
or trucks
underneath

it is a tall bridge
the Chesapeake’s involved
subservient
to ocean tides
that complicate
the work

collision
fire

rescues
officially from agencies
many groups
to save
or simply find
whose jobs are tested now
as if they faced
and go inside
the water as a maw
the bridge the broken teeth
inside the mouth
of Neptune
or of hell

the official word
stay out of Baltimore
today

bridge named
we know
for the writer of our freedom song
the one so difficult
to sing
at ball games

caught in the throat today
while half-
formed prayers try
to work their way
out into the darkness
‘til the sun start rising
over Baltimore

as is happening
outside my window
to the north

it’s important
like the Whitman
like
the Verrazzano
an artery not unlike
the Golden Gate
and we may suppose
precipitously
suppose
it shall be raised again
the Key
like the ensign of the nation
flew at sunrise
over the fort
in the first verse

but the wreck is hours’
old just now
and they are looking
and withdrawing from the water
who
and what might be found
by sonar and
all the limbs
so many arms and legs
reaching down
to grasp
flesh and metal
what is left of life
to retrieve

while the rest of us are learning
via screens
with views
of people ‘round a central
microphone
telling what they can tell

processing
feeling
there they deal with trauma
on the scene
over the widening scene
and radiating outward
over hours
over time as it works its way
in rings throughout the region
and the world
so fast things move
and we react

trauma works its way
requiring
dealing
everything we feel
and can’t let go of
and for now
we shouldn’t

we’ll bury
we’ll blame
we’ll fix
it will get better
while some things will always
remain broken
over water
underneath
inside the blood
so many hurt
from this
so many watching
hearing

and this is rough
learning
for it’s new
and awful
what has happened
and how it matters to us
with all the rest
that’s happening

it matters greatly
because something great
is lost for now
in tragedy
so many lives affected
wounds throughout mortality
in its time
the hope
to heal


c l couch


An image of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Taken in Fort Armistead Park.
Patorjk - own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41035194

March 26, 2024 6

(haiku)

(x = space)

new breast cancer bills

pink flow’rs on a living tree

nature yeas the text

c l couch

today in Pennsylvania, a bipartisan passing of two bills that support research as well as life with breast cancer; I guess haikus are not supposed to serve as news reporters; but on hearing this report at noon, three lines came to mind

photo by Susan G. Komen 3-Day on Unsplash

April 26, 2023 2

How Are You

(x = space)

How Are You

We have shot four youth

This week

In the USA

One young person’s dead

All were hit

Wounded first

One died

Three are treated

One hopefully recovers if, oh,

So slowly

None can be the same

In Earth

Or heaven

(our daily petitions

for)

Now we pray

We shouldn’t have to

We should be

Praying for

Their joy

In youthful living

Not in

Struggling

To live

At all

Cheerleaders,

For goodness sake

Honor students

Good people, all

The kind you’d like

To get

To know

And if not our cup of tea,

We don’t shoot

At them

For that(,

crazy people)

And now

Their lives are changed

For the worse

Forever

We shoot our children

We can say

We are afraid

We are threatened by

The unfamiliar,

Anymore

But really, now,

We shoot children

Because

We can

The shooters being with us,

After all,

These locked in due process

And shall be heard

The victims cannot speak

Nearly so well

At all

And had no plans

Before

Except to live

You know, to adolesce

To grow

To live

And be alive

That’s over now

If they live,

They’re grown up now

We grew them

When we shot them

This week

In the USA

Our nation of

Domestic

Intimate

Gunplay

n. b.

Yes, without guns

We’d say

We’d use knives and sticks—well,

Okay

C L Couch

In Six Days, Four Young Americans Have Been Shot after …

1 day ago · KANSAS CITY, Missouri. In the span of six days, four young people across the U.S. have been shot — one fatally — for making one of the most ordinary and …

Nobody Is Talking about the Four Black Students Shot in …

February 17, 2023 · It’s hard to believe, for instance, that had four teenagers been shot leaving school in one of Pittsburgh’s wealthier, whiter suburbs — say Mount Lebanon, a borough …

Photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash

(well, there’s Pogo who observed that we have met the enemy and it is us)

April 21, 2023 2

Narrative for Veteran’s Day

(x = space)

Narrative for Veteran’s Day

I hope the veterans

Have a good day today

They served

Time to be serving them

Certain restaurants

Will do that literally

(track the ads)

There was a draft

I was in school

A war for oil fomenting

As if primordial

Muck were heating

In the gulf

(not that war

in the gulf

or the next one)

There was an energy crisis

Hiding profits

I didn’t want to fight

For companies’ oil

But when on the application

I was asked

If there were anything I would fight for

I had to answer yes

And so ruin the deal for c-o

And the draft board changed

My status

(they won’t admit to punishment)

From 1-H to 1-A

Well, that war didn’t start

There were numbers

But no draft

I finished school

And then the next one

And with Watergate

Had reasons to feel bitter

Toward my government,

Which since then

Has become increasingly

Stupid and useless

But love of country

All the stickers

All the posters

The Bicentennial

If we forget who is in charge

There are superlative reasons

To be serving

And they have served

Time to be serving them

My brother

And my father

And my grandfathers

Came back

My friend Patricia

Returned, retired

A full colonel

There are those

The many, many those

Who did not return

And have their days

And who cannot remember them?

Anytime and every time

We should?

Red poppies will festoon

And sides of buildings carry

Words of verses

“In Flanders Fields”

And that is London today

Here there will be flowers, too,

And flags

And I hope everywhere

That she has served

And he

And they

And all the fields

Nourished by remembrance

With all the hopes

And wishful strategies

To change

C L Couch

carrying the burden of a nation

Photo by Joel Rivera-Camacho on Unsplash

U.S. Marines with Combat Logistics Regiment 17, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, conduct vehicle recovery drills on Camp Pendleton, California, Apr. 6, 2021.The Marines of Motor Transportation Platoon pride themselves not only on their vehicles, but on each Marines’ hard work, dedication, and drive to excel in all they do.

Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Fallbrook, United States

November 11, 2022 1