the mouse visiting
hello on field-gray haunches
my cat watched then dozed
c l couch
photo by Sam Maylyn on Unsplash
(clearly, the image is not of a field mouse, though what’s decpicted is kind of nostalgic for me; you’ll have to imagine a field mouse, while I remember the one that came to call as well as the mouse whose house I visited once a week)
(x = space)
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An Angel Visits Francis
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I speak to God today
God is quiet
Not uninvolved
With nothing noisy
To contribute
Beyond the rain outside
The singing tires
The occasional movement
Inside
From a neighbor
Or from me
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I wonder when an angel
Visits Francis
How it goes
No, don’t get up
Relax the hand with the ring
No doubt you lift the office
With an instinct
Anymore
I’m here to rest with you
For a moment
To be still
You know the issues
And the crises in the world
One of us will tell you
When there are
Awful surprises
You are doing well
We are
I am
Sorry when you’re sick
The age and job
Do take it out of you
You could retire
Like your peer
Sometimes I think
He has the better part
But I don’t think you’ll give up
‘Til you have the sense
You’re done
Remember I am here
We are here
We fly around you
Dance with happiness
Or grief
You know we are not
The round things of the Renaissance
But are might beings
Wide in span
And awful
As in full of awe
To know us
And carry power
You know whose
And are ready
Should you wish us to defend
Evil forefend
Should you wish to rest with us around
And when you’re ready
To be escorted
Even carried
Home
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We are will
And we love you
x
Back to me
And God is ready for your voice
When you wish to speak
Or keep it in your mind
The better things
Are in your heart
We’re told,
Which means your spirit
The spirit of the Lord
Is with you, too,
Waking or sleeping
Like the song
Agents of God
Angels and nature
Sing around you
Sometimes difficult
Impossible, it seems,
To hear
But singing nonetheless
The music of the spheres
The song that’s in your sphere
Of hope
And love
To resonate with good things
To navigate the bad
There is help
In that
In both
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C L Couch
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(x = space)
x
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To the Cat Who Called at 3 a.m.
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Caterwauling
(must be how we got the word)
I open the door, look down
Into round eyes,
Fuzzy-looking face, striped fur
You come in
Walk around, inspecting
You like to have me pet your face
And around your ears
I try to pick you up
That does not go well
x
So I leave you to explore
Find all the levels
Try them out
You knock some things over
I sit until you jump on me
Time for more petting
Then we’re tired
‘Cause it was already late
I leave the door ajar
Lie down
I wake up, there you are
Close by
Looking sleepy, too
x
After a while, you leave
You meow some more
But now it’s daytime
Better for meows’ acceptance
x
Later on, it’s quiet
You had made another visit
Here,
Then gone out
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I trust you are back in your place
I hope it’s a good one
Feel free to drop by
Again
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C L Couch
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Photo by Bogdan Farca on Unsplash
not the cat (but looks like)
x
Receipts
I’ll keep these for a time
Since they mark and note
The trip I took not so far
Away or so long ago
Pay slips from the turnpike
To represent my drives
Out and back, a map of
A town back home I found
At a station kiosk—sometimes
These are surprise-filled
Documents, even for a
Place I know
Coffee receipts out, those
For sandwiches on the
Way back in
Business card for a city
Place, the kind of which
We do not have in my
Small town, but at which
I had lunch with my family
Saint Vincent de Paul, whose
Thrift store I visited with my
Sister, where I bought a small
Piece of clear-black glass
An olive oil store—a
Festive, promising
New niche place—I
Got a narrow bottle of
Honey-serrano vinegar
For my brother-in-law
Who cooks a lot
Purchase record for a
Calendar I bought
On sale and then the
Best—a paper testimony
From a local bookstore
How I wish there were
More like this! I had gift
Card, it had the books
There are other neighbor
Places to support—those
Selling food and clothing and
Art-expression pieces from
Those makers starting out
Close by
But these books will do
They were my part in
My going, my time away, and
My returning afterward
My small trip—for
Now, a small-documented
Odyssey
clcouch123 
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