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winter

Weather Permitting

(x = space)

x

x

Weather Permitting

(in pandemic time)

x

The texts say

I have a doctor’s appointment

Tomorrow

A fedora of adventure,

Anymore

I’ll go,

If the car is working well

Enough (been turning

rough, lately)

x

And should there be snow

Or rain or ice,

I’ll go as carefully as I can

If the street is clear enough

And the car isn’t

Covered over

Too much

x

You see, the second

Winter skyfall

Of the season is

Predicted later today

Tonight

Into the morning hours

x

Say I get there

I’ll need marching orders

For masking, distancing

Simply to go inside

x

Then there’s the reason

Hopefully, I’ll have

A list

I’m hoping, really,

That we’re meeting

Over vaccines

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by Jason Jarrach on Unsplash

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2

Wolf Gang

(x = space)

x

x

Wolf Gang

(winter song)

x

Up and down

The streets at night

Back and forth

Across the city

We go for what we want

We don’t care about

The human race

Except as a resource

For the things

We need

x

It’s winter time,

Our favorite time

We take what we need

You could wish

For a gang as this

Keep wishing

x

We owe no one anything

We take what

Evolution dictates

Our strength

Is a number, only

Each of us

Would rather be alone

As our howl sings

At the break of day

x

We are wolves

We are alone

We haunt

The human mind

We break apart

To make each one

A scoundrel of the day

Then we sleep

We sleep long hours

Then when

The weakling day is done

We wake up to

The power of night

And

x

And none of this

Is true

We are families

And our power’s for

Our children

And the pack

x

We mate for life

We do not wander

Unless the food is far away

You might fear us

We need our teeth and jowls

And a howl that sings

We know you’re there

We sing

To each other

x

What we want

Is life together

You ruin all our seasons

In the land

Sometimes

When you can’t hear,

We also cry to Earth

To punish you

And save us

x

C L Couch

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This is a response to a prompt: https://wyrdwordsandeffigies.wordpress.com/2021/01/17/write-yourself-awake-wyrd-creative-writing-prompts/.  Katie writes fantastically about winter and folklore, self-awareness and the growth of self.  The prompt is for the season, and there are many good cues there from which to choose.  An opportunity to express (and thus enhance) creative health in winter.

https://wyrdwordsandeffigies.wordpress.com/

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Photo by Chris Henry on Unsplash

Canada

Please follow me on Instagram! @chrishenry

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7

Inaugurations

(x = space)

x

x

Inaugurations

x

January enters

Like a wet

Dog,

Poor dog

x

Winter is

Allowed

But the ground

In PA is

Spring or

Fall swamp-like

Instead with

Additional on the

Way (which

means more

rain)

x

Four-year change

Is coming, not

A holiday

I wonder

x

But something

In the USA

We do so that

Change

Keeps things

The same

x

Not that we

Are the

Exemplar

We believe we are

Or

Should be

To the world

x

What do you know?

A real dog is

Barking, below

x

Go inside,

Dog,

Go

x

Leave certain

Things

Outside to

The oath-owners

x

C L Couch

x

x

Go, Dog, Go is a story (about dogs) written by P. D. Eastman.

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Photo by Victoria Palacios on Unsplash

Sequoia National Forest, United States

Glory and wonder here on little old earth. This shot is from a particularly magical hike through the Sequoia National Forest. We were so up high in the mountains that the clouds decided to settle around us and create a mystical fog all around us.

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0

On a Colorless Land

(x = space)

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x

On a Colorless Land

x

That’s the problem with winter,

Isn’t it?

Everything is pale, unless

It’s dark with age

Or even death,

Blasted trees and such

x

Snow is romantic

While it’s falling,

But if the temperatures stay low

Then the ground is white snow or,

Well, ground

For a long while

x

There is no solution;

Painting earth won’t help

And what of the limpid winter sky?

Besides, there’s learning here

Via looking out,

Remembering that colors all are

Grand and

We should cherish them and use them

x

I know, pretty straightforward

For a poem;

But I was thinking about

Recessive traits:

I have freckles on pale skin,

Blue eyes,

Left-handedness,

All sorts of other things, I’m sure

x

For these, I don’t think

I’m worthless

Or you for your recessives

Or you for your dominants

x

We can (all) have bold things,

Brings the colors in—

Keep them inside in other ways

Along with textures and

Unearthly sounds

And bell-like laughter

x

The senses are bright

And always so

As we might manage them

x

Taste and see,

Hear and touch,

Smell—and time be released

For these

(from time to time)

x

I don’t know about a wonderful life,

But it can be

And more so

A sensate life

In any season

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

Mixed media painting inspired by Stonehenge.

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4

Tactics

(x = space)

x

x

Tactics

x

It’s not as if we haven’t

Heard of war before

x

It’s all around us, if we look

Around as a world

x

There are civil wars in Yemen

And in Syria;

We have sent weapons to these

For the profit

And the power

x

They fight each other in Lebanon,

In South Sudan

x

Soldiers and often terrorists

In their own uniforms

Barely removed from uniformity

x

And there the war

Of oppression,

Fought inside nations such

As those in Asia

And in the USA—

Call it something better,

If you wish,

If you must

x

It’s not a peaceful world

But know peace:

We’ve heard of it,

We learn it,

And we teach it

x

We negotiate

As if we deal with children

And sometimes with children

x

There is an age

We have an age

When will the prophecy

Be Monday

x

C L Couch

(from the USA)

x

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Photo by Foad Roshan on Unsplash

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3

Heliopolis

(x = space)

x

x

Heliopolis

(for the solstice)

x

The Earth is torn today like

The veil in the temple;

The ground might not move

More than

Mountains explode and

Ice retreats

Anyway,

x

These days

In the climes especially

We are half-making,

Maybe more than half

x

We still don’t have it right

To count,

Though we’ll more or less find

The moment when the Earth

In contract with the sun

Leans the other way

x

We’d do just as well to consult

Ancient sources

x

A new season to begin,

The longer light graduated

Like a cylinder

(remembering the lines

are part of measuring, too)

Or a class of learners

Marked into life

x

We try to know:

Julian and Gregory have tried,

And now the atom

(also split)

And the nanosecond try

x

But we know

There is a cycle,

And it’s always new

x

A new season is born

That will have its dog days,

Some somber days,

Some driven

By some of us on either side

x

There are sides now,

We must admit,

Between the foe of nature

And of us

x

But we know that

There’s a cycle,

And it’s always new

x

C L Couch

x

Photo by Ryuichi Itakura on Unsplash

Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom

Stone Henge

x

1

Introductions

(x = space)

x

x

Introductions

x

Snow on my small town in

The MidAtlantic of

The USA,

Nothing dramatic—

x

It falls and stays

On quiet places

Such as grass

And parked cars,

While on the things that

Sponsor movement

There is only wetness,

Dark and clean:

x

On streets and sidewalks,

Moving cars,

And such

x

From the waist up,

It seems November

x

Today we’re met

With winter

(here and now)

Not in discontent,

A week before it’s due by

The saint’s calendar

x

We should take it

A decency

In an indecent year

x

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Aditya Vyas on Unsplash

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3

Cenobite

(x = space)

x

x

Cenobite

(last ice age or next one)

x

I need food

I need drink

That’s primal

x

Since the world has iced over,

I have nearly nothing now

She should have told the hermits

x

I haven’t seen siblings for days

x

We always pray

But without tools

And a bigger fire,

We shall dry like

Animal meat, which is

All we’ll leave behind

Surrounded by charcoaled pages

As a testament

x

What shall I leave as last words?

That it was too thick,

That I could not break through?

That the storm ruined my fire,

Even inside the cave?

x

That I still believe?

That my supplication

Is to receive my soul?

x

I do believe

Yet wish I had a follower,

Someone come from town

To bring me coals and kindling,

Water and a pike whose metal tip

Could break through ice

To running water far below

Though I haven’t heard it

Seems for an age

x

I might be addled

Or unfaithful,

But I could go for bread and

Cheese as well and wine,

Though I’ve tried to make the

Bitter ale I have last for a while

(nearly gone, now)

x

And candlelight

I miss candlelight

x

My head hurts,

My body weakens

I don’t know if I’ll die

In night or day

x

It’s hard to tell

Anymore

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Shannon McInnes on Unsplash

Northwest Territories, Canada

On an off chance we found ourselves needing to drive from Inuvik to Tuktoyuktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada, which was only accessible by ice road at the time. It took us about three hours driving on the ice to reach Tuktoyuktuk, which sits on the shore of the Arctic Ocean. This is what you see when you step out and look down. Taken during the last weeks of the ice road before it permanently closed. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/arctic-highway-challenges-1.4398726

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There was an ice age in the Middle Ages.  The next one might be caused by global warming.

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0

Thank You Very Much

Thank You Very Much

(a gratitude of winter)

 

I don’t have a winter home

No fireplace to sit by and

Wrap up

Wheel a television set close

By (before the wrapping)

To play an old, old movie

Maybe in black and white

(scandalous! I know)

To have a cup of something hot

A book close by for cheer—well,

These things I could arrange

(book and hot drink, even reading

glasses)

But how to have some company

To share the story of

The story and to

Talk of other things?

 

For the half I do not have,

I have a half of other things

Some of which might do

The book (and reading glasses)

I can heat up something

And I have the time, I believe,

For now

 

For what I have and what I don’t

And what you give me to believe,

For with some snow

And not too much (I hope, I ask)

And for all who are with me

Now and again,

I can say, only and best,

Thank you very much

 

C L Couch

 

This is inspired by a song in a family-favorite movie, Scrooge.

 

 

Photo by Headway on Unsplash

Lake Michigamme, United States

Our nights were filled with conversations by the fire, singing songs, and lots of laughs. It was a great way to unwind and grow together as a crew. See more about our team retreat on our blog. http://headway.io/blog/headway-winter-retreat-2018/

 

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