war

Emergency Calls

(remembering 9/11 in the USA)

Today in my part

We are remembering

A horrific attack on innocents

By crazy people

This kind of murder happens

Elsewhere

My country is not the battleground

So often

Syria, Yemen, Colombia, Myanmar

The Philippines, Somalia

Sudan

We’ve sometimes had a hand in these

That might have made the crazy

People crazier

Enacting their cause here

On this day, we remember here

Where death came to passengers,

Firefighters, office people, and

The rest

Companies of normal people

Noncombatants, we would say

If this were anything like war

Between fair nations

I suppose on planet Earth

Wars and war-like actions must

Happen in someone’s yard

The playing fields, business places

Farm, and town

We have few dedicated battle zones

The DMZ, maybe ocean surfaces

And depths

Air and now we think to weaponize

Space, above and beyond

So war must happen close to home

Inside

And things warlike, if not war

Which then we call killing

We call it murder

And I suppose on someone’s ugly surface

There is a plan to do it again

Pray that we stop it

And praise those who do

But as we honor peace

So may we honor them:

The victims, those who ran toward

The concussions of air and sound

And matter

Turned into explosion and horror

Metal, blood, and bone

All those who died first

First helpers

And the many who were saved

Who are with us, still

We are here

Remember

Celebrate

Pray for cessation

Pray for profusion

The horror gone

And peace prevail

C L Couch

By United States v. Zacarias MoussaouiCriminal No. 01-455-AProsecution Trial ExhibitsExhibit Number P200066Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by User:Russavia using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15252009

Lysistrata Vote

Lysistrata Vote

(USA, elsewhere)

A comedy by Aristophanes

And a Spanish film

From 2002

(Thanks, Wiki-P)

The Lysistrata woman

Wages sex against men who

Rather

Want to go to war

She wins, averting

Armageddon

Between Sparta and Athens

And, as in all good comedies

(Classic, say),

The community is better,

Stronger for it

For her

Now

For all shes who must be obeyed,

Time for another laugh like this?

October 2, 2016

Our Many Faces

Our Many Faces

Aleppo, yes, I know

Sounds like a sixth

Marx brother from

Post-Vaudevillian

Capers

But children die there

From what war takes

Which is all right

Since we don’t value

Children, anyway:

If we did, we’d see

They were not shot

And killed, they never

Suffered in want

Of food or a good

School

We’d value them like

Prizes won in the

Most precious bingo

Game or ski-ball

We’d sit with them,

We’d watch them eat,

See that they are

Clean inside and out

And have temerity

To ask for help when

Needed

We’d celebrate the

Family that we are

Part of, even if we’re

Not their parents

Because in the most

Worldly way we are

We’d say, it’s for the

Children; and we’d

Mean it

We’d change

Everything to have

Them safe and well

And jiggly playful at

Home

We’d do the world

Right this time

C L Couch

September 18, 2016 9

Chlorine

Chlorine

It kills our people

We cannot breathe

And when we do

Oxygen is poison

We are Aleppo

Please save us from

Your warring efforts

To bring peace by

Delivering to us the

Gas bombs first

Mustard gas from the First World War. Dissolving lung tissue. There are reasons—compelling decent reasons—for not using these. When we do, we surrender all humanity. Starting with ours.

September 7, 2016 5

haiku and prose(story)-poem

haiku and prose(story)-poem

There is no war here

For those who warred have fallen

Heaven realm’s justice

The war in heaven is long. This is a surprise. It is a surprise to feel that way. How can one feel something’s long in an eternal place? Michael looks up, feeling tired and never feeling tired. Michael knows those fallen to either side. Michael knows them all. Michael has known all the host for an ageless time. Gabriel will be the one to tell, as Gabriel before and every time tells everything to all who hear. War outside of Eden rages, though who wins is understood. The end of war is known.

April 3, 2016 6