many hundreds of miles away with cats
(starting at the window)
fall crept in
as if it hadn’t fallen
really
not quite yet
or
it was mischief as from sprites
or maybe the mischief Lads
of
Yule
come down from Icelandic mountains
‘round this
time of year
with the ogress their mother
and sometimes
accompanied by the great black
Yule Cat
of which there is an enormous rendering
in Reykjavik
times the size of us
looking like an omen
in and of
itself
simply beheld
I mean many times the size of us
and warnings of great fire
for eyes
and all these beings
seem
to play a role like Krampus
in the watching
and the punishing of waywardness
though I’m not
sure
the audience for moralizing
children only
or
adolescents
full-on adults
and
might the creatures go to halls o
government as if one
year’s chastising
should be
enough
well
anyway
it’s blue and gray today
not
so far from Gettysburg
and with our own local versions
of
folklore
for seasons
and for planting and for harvest
for
correction though somewhere there should
be
tales of mercy
and good
humoe
don’t you think
and by the way
Icelanders have a true society for taking
care of
cats
The Cats of Reykjavik
friends gave me
a mug
because evidently people care
for cats
at home or should they wonder
elsewhere
be
actively looked after
not as
communal property rather
as
communal treasure
fear of the legends maybe
though
I don’t think so
except
well
there are stories and there
are
stories with one of the true ones
about cats
on board ships and how they kept the plague
away
by hunting rats that carried fleas
that in turn
carried plague
and
Europe would have done
so much better had they not killed cats
as
signs of witchcraft
which brings on two subjects of doubt
that grown-up people
even medieval Christians
say
should have known not
to have excused themselves
for all the local violence that had
the affecting
of wrecking health
and taking so very many
many
lives
and so for this and other real matters
the Icelandic
are
under aegis to be cared for
which
not I think on it
emphasizes civility
in
how we should be civilized
beyond dissolute
even
depraved
resolute
c l couch
(19 December, third week of Advent, fifth day into fifth night of Hanukkah, and there are planned traditional observations—with the solstice in the after the day after this one, whether planned by us or arriving anyway)
I typed “keept” at first for “kept” and rather liking “keept”; and, let me see, I haven’t slept (sleept?) since the night before this last one, and even then briefly (still breathing foul air); and I have a hangnail, which of course is bearable except there is a bandage on it, making typing more of a challenge than is usual—and this is enough if not excessively an apology
photo by Wietse Jongsma on Unsplash
Hallgrímskirkja
Reykjavík, Iceland
pre-season practice
before it’s official
it’s been official
sun
now
but temperatures in teens and singly
and snow on
snow
Wednesday with the solstice Sunday
light now
warmth really
to clean off our cars and such
streets and sidewalks
and
now we’re had rehearsal
practice of real winter
calendared
for
when she comes
daughter of mother Earth
or choose another
folklore
c l couch
photo by Hert Niks on Unsplash
seasoning scene-setting dark gray passed over by the wind that pushes through some texture in the sky the merest hint of blue between uncertain banks of white before the short day leans a near western horizon closer until the solstice fires might invoke or simply ask for change c l couch photo by Vadim Sadovski on Unsplash
dear God about the seasons
I see red back there
the colors turn
I guess
the last spell
coldish
helped
the sky is blue-gray and bright
there are green leaves
in shade
pre-fall then
and beautiful
for
what it is
plus reminding to us all here
up here
what is to come
while in Australia
and
New Zealand
it is
changing
well
symbolically from white
to green
and of these
the season-tones
I have
I
should gift-thank-you
and
I do
while thanking
and
respecting
of the people
way down
south
as I must think of these
down
while I am up
and
it would be just
to have an upside-
down
globe
to have the downside up
and become
the normal
up
regarding our perceptions
let south be north
for a while
c l couch
photo by Faith Lehman on Unsplash
Long Earth
Thinking
About day and night
In the spring surprise of
Noting
Blue light persisting
Layered
And
Dissolving in to dark
And yet the longer time
As Earth considers turning
Back
Leaning to favor
Days of planting in the northern
Half
While the southern part
Has winter
A cycle of
Waking
Hibernation
Still for a billion years
Two billions or so
Until a final pressing
To go away
To land upon another world
With the surprise
Discovery
Of its own planetary cycles
And its seasons become
Our own
C L Couch
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Outlook
It’s
Sun
And yellow on brown
For trees
While the sky is an ashy blue behind
I know it’s Lent
And maybe this is a somber
Spring day
Maybe a calling to
Remember this is what happens
After
Winter
After March’s lion
March’s lamb
Straightforward observations
With ingredients of
Folklore
Added
Even to the speaking of the sun
The day
To us
Unusual
After all
Like a little revolution
A little anthropomorphizing
Is a good thing
Which we’re gonna do
Anyway
Thinking of a sun that smiles
Looking for
The face
In the moon
Tonight
C L Couch
“I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing . . .”—Thomas Jefferson
Photo by JOSHUA COLEMAN on Unsplash
[haiku]
winter skimming late
mysteries in melting ice
slush punctuates
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photo by Matthew Fassnacht on Unsplash
we love like winter
days that underneath the cold
are warm with home
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photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash
evening in February winter
dark gray with even darker gray
above
black branches
Hallowe’en
scene
to look out on this hour
winter gloom
I guess
which is allowed by nature
then
with a sigh
perhaps
acceptable to us
changing seasons
substances
and
shapes
one
big reason that we stay here or move
or then return
some prefer the icy
while the rest
shall
be waiting for the green
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photo by Michaela Murphy on Unsplash
clcouch123 
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