lush life
everything is green
too green
we’ll be rescinding
the extreme
as
colors change
finally
to black and white of winter
but for now
driving by
walking by with
care
and certainly to guide the harvesting
it’s all wonder
green
and
if
too green
to love full
by what
we shall forget
c l couch
photo by henry perks on Unsplash
[by the photographer] Corn growing in the field. I was attracted by the shape of the fresh leaf growth and the silhouette against the sky.
a weather and a faith report (2 poems)
weatherized
so the snow falls
or something
falls
sometimes it’s hard to tell
and so to turn
the street is sounding
well
squishy outside
and all the shapes are white
though I can’t
tell
for sure
which means sleet
I guess
or freezing rain and I’m not sure
the difference
contrary weather so far
this winter
as I think
sleet
(or freezing rain)
is rain or snow that will not
make up its mind
which is
all right except a kind
of misery to be out
in
Saturday if church
we believe
we don’t believe
sometimes in the same person
often
in the same
in fact
I could say me
I could say
you
not
to judge or estimate
except to claim humanity
faithful
faithless
in each of us
temptations
evil as in the prayer
flaws as will worked out
or not
in Eden
a choice
then maybe an affiliation
lightly or heavily
to wear
and yet perhaps
not so much
a burden
as to worry through the seasons
we’re all right
with
the pleasure of peace
in life
also the joy
of
fun that God has made
we well
and heavenward we
Amish-like hope that we
move in
even assured
in faith
errors
are not sins
unless they are designed as
such
but sins we make
and
do not have to mean the end
but like mis-steps we
somehow mean
and can get over
can get up
can get help to lift
resume
the road again
pleasure
peace
joy
fun
resume again as they should
forgiven
redeemed
having gone first
admittedly
so we believe
we don’t believe
but
it ain’t over
Mister Berra
‘til it’s
over
and if gain
and re-gain the faith
it ain’t never over
c l couch
photo by Jodie Walton on Unsplash
Whether Report
(3 November)
Early dusk
Because the hour changed
And did I have the hour
Last night
I couldn’t say
For lack of sleep
Regardless
An hour more
Of lack of sleep
That
Is falling back
The sky is pale
But then
I’m looking north
Little doubt
There’s yellow to the west
And lines of who knows what
More like autumn
Color
Maybe
It’s turning colder
We inside
Have been told
C L Couch
Photo by Mateusz Butkiewicz on Unsplash
Blameless Solstice
Sun
With clouds
And lightning
Animate the forecast map
At noon
And I’m thinking
On line
These are the days
Of our lives
To come
Starting
Tomorrow
While today is
Simply hot
Well
“Steamy”
In the Southern
Or the tropical
Way
That is the grid
For the next week
Or so
We’re sliding
Into summer
So we might
Wonder
What is next
In our
Region
Relative
To the world
C L Couch
Photo by USGS on Unsplash
Maur Adrar Desert
(we might become a colorful desert, too)
written on the occasion of--well, yes--the heat but also a local town that declared a drought emergency today; what's ironic to me is that the town is set where a wide creek pours into a wide river (always strikes me odd when that happens)
ain’t together
(roaming like clouds or cellphone signals, I apologize)
anticipation
like the ketchup
rain
should come
at any moment
through
the unrelenting gray
to the west
and south
severer things have happened
and
I think
we
shall get the dregs
of it
flooding tempests
and tornados
well
it’s windy
now
though I don’t think
shelter-driven
though
of course
I could be wrong
and I’ll
be looking for
a doorframe
after all
and you be safe
unless
you be
stormchasers
then
I don’t what
to say
how about
God speed with you
and make wings
ahead
blow you the other way
when exigent
need be
coda
I’m sorry
we aren’t going through
what you go through
in Ukraine
or in Gaza
or
in parts where the same things
happen
and we don’t hear about
so much
I’m not talking about
bullets
killing or
explosions
the terror
then the thirst
and hunger
after
the infections
and the awful
draining
fear
for families
and I’m not in Philadelphia
where someone had to shoot
at Muslims
having Eid al-Fetr
at the end
of Ramadan
and I’m not everywhere
where white folk
hate the Jews
or anyone who’s not
so white
(I guess I mean
pure
ethnic white
whatever hell that means
as a thought
or an
agenda)
anyone
that is
whom we’re afraid of
as the next
majority
in number or
otherwise in power
well
I merely
started talking
about
weather
and by
implication
climate change
but
maybe
everything’s extreme
anymore
and the peace of moderation
sometimes called
the swing vote
might be desired
more than
ever
or I’ll only speak
for me
from a kind of centered place
that I hope is not
the hurricane’s
but God’s
eye
c l couch
photo by Clay LeConey on Unsplash
with at the start a reference to a TV commercial from the '70s
(x = space)
x
x
Take It Outside
x
Here it’s raining
There might be
Snow and sleet around
This is a strange place
For weather
x
I’m used to weather
From the west
Occasionally, from north
Or south
Because Canada or the tropics
Has something to say
To us
x
Here and now
It comes from all directions
I mean it
All the winds
In all their courses
Everything that’s brought with them
Or left here in stillness
When they’ve gone
Or turned away
As if we could conjure
As is conjured, somehow
Rain from anywhere
The denseness in the air
Anything
The comes
And we oblige
By working through it
Who can change it?
Well, I think we better
Not this
From all directions
In our days
Eccentric seasons
But overall
x
Experts
Not deny-ers
Who have no expertise
But go for easy
Ignorance
But experts say
The world has changed
And so has living here
Everywhere
For all
x
Don’t trust science?
Go outside
And move around
Through currents
In the water
Overland
And in the air
See broken ice
Too much
And drowning islands
New channels
We have lived without
x
Take back the Northwest Passage
Keep it blocked
With righteous cold
x
Right now feel the heat
You can
It should be cool
Where is the cool?
Maybe the ozone hole
Is taking it
x
But if it’s not conspiracy
It isn’t
Not this way
Then we may say
That we have done this
And should fix it
Which doesn’t have to be extraordinary
Not perforce
And unsure seeding clouds
Or oceans
Or burning what
We don’t like
(also bears a chance)
Or firing beams
Or changing the base chemistry
Of anything
x
We simply stop
Doing certain things
And use what we know
What Earth has taught us
To fix things
Replant, feed again
In everything
Let it grow
Let Earth grow
The goodness in four elements
And if there’s
A fifth element
(you know)
Maybe it’s
Our exchange
Stupidity for sense
The right to cool
Our rightly angered children
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Javier Miranda on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
We Prayed Today
x
“Today is a privilege” she said she’d
Embroider on a pillow
And on the other side, “I’m still
Breathing”
Because for all the despondence,
The despair we take to prayer
In our group,
There is beauty and joy
And so much to love
In fact, it’s what we love that turns
That often
Leads us to prayer
Compels us
We pray for the good things, too,
Wanting the goodness
We pray over cherishing the messed-up
World we have
And the messed-up lives we care for
And our own
We say amen
Knowing it’s never
The end
And we say thank you
With intention
We mean it
We are grateful
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by KARTIK GADA on Unsplash
x
Whether
It was gray and drizzly
Now the sun is coming out
(working on it)
The gray was fine
But the pale blue and brighter green
Well, it’s refreshing
It’s midday in a small town in the USA
I wonder how it is where you are
Maybe
We should start a weather club
Share the narratives
My mood isn’t determined
By the weather, though when I was teaching
My students were glad to show me
Otherwise
Except for fearful when it’s bad
I like the changes in the sky
And the ground as it responds
Give and take
Take and take
Give and give
It works out
Storms are raging in the heartland
On the noon news
From my safe place for now,
Be safe
And welcome home
Welcome here
The victims
C L Couch
John Constable – The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=149413
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