'round
I have to leave today
if only
for a while
like
his mother leaving for a walk
around the Hundred Acre Wood
and he asking before
would you like
me
to go with you with her replying
no
but when I return
greet me as if
I had been away
a long time
no mother or
another
to whom to say
that
to
or hear that from
though
needing to leave
also
to return
in a later hour
of this day
having gone around
c(hristopher robin) l couch
Christopher Milne tells the story of the walk and the question in The Enchanted Places. This Christopher better known as Christopher Robin. (And I nearly forgot mentioning that his name was how I got my own. Christopher, not Robin but for him, anyway, my mom really liking the stories.)
photograph by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash
Confession on the Edge of Something
I want
To know you
Walk with you
I want
To hear you
Though I guess
I want
To hear you my way
In a gentle conversation
Though we could
Talk
Of anything
Not the stentorian
Some are sure you are
Your voice
Must be
Your posture in
The cosmos
Leaning over planets
You have made
Course-correcting
Comets
For the timing of foreboding
Forestalling barbarians
At the gate
Maybe for a time
And I
And mine
Only a step above
Because
Well
How many of us
Feared for Y2K
And should we listen
Should we read judiciously
Of nature
And the pages
Of our own
The stories that like pillows
We might stitch across
The centers
So to say
Here is something
Please hear it
We might understand
The tones of God
Of you
Early morning
By the heat of day
Or when it’s freezing
In the evening when
We celebrate
Or come to rest
And could hear
If we wanted
Still
Small voices
If like the peace
That has gone by understanding
Like the hare
We could catch up
With you
Not by racing
But by stopping
Now and then
An easy SVE
And have a thought or two
For where we are
To find out
We surpass the hare
Expenditure
Or tangled in something
It could not be free of
By the road
Distraction
I guess
Of many something shiny
So we win
The course
By persisting
Simply moving on
Then stopping
When we need to
To hear
To look
To touch
To smell
To taste
Trying the sense of time
As well
That the world waits
Not waiting
And how about
That spiritual sense
Of things
The thing inside
The presence
The thing outside
Another kind
Of presence
Bidding come inside
The invitation
Made
The knock is given
And shall we open
Shall I open
To have you come inside
To talk with me
In chairs
With drinks
And over time
To stay
So that I wonder whose is whose
And make mistakes through
Fear of that
While you wait
Wherever inside
I let you
Until you have free reign
(I wonder where that came from)
Over everything inside
Even through my senses
Even through my
Will
That seems to be the challenge
The big deal
Enough to have
Broke Eden
Enough to make me tussle with my own
The wrestling with desire
And the fear
Of desire
‘Til I might get that right with you
By you
As well
And all be well
(dear Julian
with cat)
Though there’s that peace
That goes ahead
Of all the understanding
All the limits by
Mortal conveyance
Lest we sit with you
And listen
Also speak
Of truth
And also love
So many things to get right
Even in
A final hour
Thank you for responding
To my invitation
Poor for time and talking space
Only my own
And rudely certainly
Against worldly or heavenly
Refinement
That you know
But we could
If we may
If rather shapelessly
In words
And plans
Get things started
For good faith
And living
Anyway
C L Couch
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
Jurassic Pet
Mom
I’ve got
To walk
The dinosaur
She’s not hungry
Anymore
(don’t look for the
other pets)
And she drank a lot
Too
(mess on the kitchen floor
sorry)
I think I’ll name
Her Lovey
Like another castaway
On
Repeat TV
See you later
Mom
Because
I think she’s walking
Me
Mom
(from inside)
Wait
Take your father
(from inside)
What
C L Couch
based on Melissa Lemay’s photo prompt at https://melissalemay.wordpress.com/2024/04/29/melissas-fandango-flash-fiction-challenge-266/, more specifically on reading Grace’s response at https://graceofthesun.com/unusual-companion/
Photo [on this page] by Samuel Scrimshaw on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Form
x
God
I love you
Even though
I’m unsure of the terms
Or attitude
How to be both
Obeisant and
Democratic
x
See
You’re a monarch
Absolute ruler
Of the universe
(more than He-Man
or She-Ra)
While for now
To mortal lives
You’re also
Frankly
Invisible
x
I may say
You’re in the wind
Your fingerprints the bark
On trees
And all the patterns
Helix
Hexagons
The nautilus
In nature
x
We may say there’s evidence
I may say
And I believe
The wonder inside everything
Indicating
A wonder-maker
x
And there are words for you
As you speak
To Adam
Eve
And prophets
Though you tend so speak
Through agencies
Especially after Eden
Still
We say your words
Which is all right
For me
x
You are layered
Through the books
And we must read
And listen
Let it sink
Through layers
Into our own deep places
Reemerging
Into peace
And promise
x
We are surprised by joy
x
But who are you
And how are you
An image
In what ways
x
And how are you
Today
x
How is it to know you
And to live with you
Really
We wake to a clock
And then what
Should happen
x
There are domestic
Possibilities
When Jesus says
To wash and comb
x
When mourning
To offer in the temple
Our poorer
Open selves
Then give
What for each of us
Corresponds to the
Widow’s mite
x
We know you count the hair
Track the falling sparrow
Offer bread
When sinners offer stones
Plus you prodigally receive
Whenever we return
From profligacy
Spending our inheritance
The gifts you gave
And what we have
From the world
All gone
And only we are left
As shells
Needing frankly
Food and water
x
And then you give us
Feasts
While the righteous and the stern
Glower
While serving
x
There is that stream
Of course
We wander by
So I guess you somehow do that
And in some form
So we might walk
Together
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Luke Ellis-Craven on Unsplash
x
Moonwalk
I’d like to walk
Along an empty shore
It’s been a while
The matter of
The ocean and me
There might be a ship out
Toward the horizon
It could be morning or afternoon
At night would be okay
Though on this side
The Atlantic’s glory is in morning
The sun rising behind
A water world
The ocean owning everything
The land a sprit behind me
Now is everything
Remade with primordial clarity
The best that it can offer
Or maybe in my eyes
Creation’s lines are blurred
That’s all
C L Couch
Photo by Yuriy MLCN on Unsplash
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