warm


2 poems kind of about brokenness (sorry)


When the Circle’s Not Unbroken

The Lord
Invites us
To the circle
Or the square
Or something oblong
Maybe
Rhomboid

To something
Maybe broken
For design
Or due to
Some experience
That seems
To break up everything

Fear
And anger
Breaking out
Without
The lines
To keep it in
To keep what might be loved
Therein

Though love remains
In the fragments
The Lord
Cares for us in these

And if the situation
Backs in
From extreme
The parts
Maybe come together
In a new shape
If partial
While we gesture
Talk
And work on fixing
For a while

Call it prayer
Call it Bible study
Call it therapy
Or medication

Every means
That helps
In measured
Dosage
And discretion

‘Til something like
Our circle
Even as
Something else
Shall come together

Maybe with a new
Amen


March on Two Left Feet
(or right)

The fifth already
Seems like
March is
The right name

The lion hasn’t really
Come
Though are there hints
Of lambs
Is a fair question

It’s in-between
A kind of academic
Purgatory
While the sky
And Earth
Decide
To fix the things
From winter
Into spring

We hope
The flowers undeceived
The planting happen
In its own
Good timing
That might have to change
Or not
Should good-guessing be required
By planters
Of all kinds

Who typically
Are breathing through
Northeastern cold
While waiting
For green seasons
To begin


C L Couch

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash