number by Venezuela
numbers rounded
so far
as six thousand five hundred rescued
seventeen thousand wounded
three thousand five hundred have died
yet
they are numbers needed for
aid groups
and to give perspective there while working
there on this
alone
and is there judgment
and
forestall it while
the human toll is taken
and
before and after
count
addressed
and who’s there
and many
and
many will be going
and I don’t be
I have to
say
and from a distance
well
I pray
and have given money toward relief
though I’m old and poor and
my family gives me grief
while I should go
on
and they are giving all the while
and fiscal easier
as well
and there’s material in prayer and that’s the point
and it isn’t
but
to give to help
however that is healthy
honest
toward their lives
and
sanctity
having been made by God and natural indifference
notwithstanding
yet
is the God of love and has directed us
by that aspect
even
alone
or through which to send
everything
we send to these in every status
of
the need and our
response
c l couch
1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
NIV
photo by Derek Lee on Unsplash
Normal Life
I wake up early because I’m stressed
It’s dark, and I can’t tell if it’s
Because the power still is off
I want coffee
We are in a land of coffee, but it’s
Been hard to keep at hand
Bread?—sometimes what we can make,
When we find ingredients
The children might have school today
We never know
Dios mío, I don’t know if we’ll find toilet
Paper—toilet paper!—today
My phone sometimes works;
I’d like to find out how the rest of the
Family is doing
Though if poorly, what can I
Do for them?
I might get some news, but it will be all
Bad
And, you know, I want it to be bad
I don’t want to hear how celebrities are
Living, when we live perilously
Least of all, I don’t want to know of politicians’
Lives: they have failed us,
And until they live like us
I don’t want to know about them
We used to be rich with oil and coffee
Cacao, plátanos, other
Things
The children learn in school
Angel Falls
I’ve never been
Crops, decent houses, and safe cities
Even trying to live outside
Shadows of the carteles
I’m almost sorry I remember all
The good things
But I would go mad without
The hope that something good
Will return or something new will happen
Help from outside is something
We can’t always
Trust
But today I do not care
I want my family to be safe
I want to have food, the plainest kind
And plenty of it
Too much would be a blessing
I want to go to sleep tonight without
Fear from all there is
To fear
I want to know that in the morning
We can have hot water
I can turn on the lights,
The microwave, the computer, or the TV
If I want to
C L Couch
Photo by Jonathan Mendez on Unsplash
Caracas
Venezuela
Who knew
Who pays attention
Largest oil reserve in (within)
The world, and all of it these
Days for less than naught
Oil prices are low, and leaders
Of oil-supply can’t cooperate
So while I pay less to fill my
Car’s tank with gasoline for
Which (I’m sorry) I’m grateful
Those who live in another
Part of America are starved
Out of sugar and flour for
The day and even toilet paper
We can laugh for what we
Throw over trees, which only
Makes a nervous joke out
Of excess
It’s complex, for I need
Cheaper fuel for the car—I
Need cheaper for everything,
Such is the life of the older
And disabled and, at best,
Partially employed
But, generally, I can get sugar
When I need it, and the other
Things
I have access to help
And I am not a nation living
Not Venezuela
Without
clcouch123 
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