the hard and easy life
yet
God is not a spoilsport
as Liddell
says
if only in the movie
God likes
say
and when celebrates in muscle
and in mind
and in
fair conviction
soccer
the world’s game
Rook
the card game Southerners allow
the pleasures in a holiday
the love
we bear each other
God is the god of pleasure as well
as meaning
and simply pleasure to own
as
a creation and
pursuit
some
might say incidental or
byproduct
but
we know who created fun
and
yes
the good clean kind
c l couch
(line from Chariots of Fire)
photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
(haiku for fall, starting in a grumpy mood, I guess)
(1)
well that’s enough of
haiku play and fancy with
no work proof for pay
(2)
the hour is done now
leaves have fallen into water
growing into green
(3)
old and new worlds tilt
leaning could be tree-delight
as dancing solstice
(4)
water purify
as on our other planets
with true air command
c l couch
photo by Mathias Reding on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
The Heart
x
I breathe a little
Saturday morning
Last moments
Before noon
When I would be called upon
For chores
Last free moments
Watching another show
As an excuse
Pretending its significance
x
Did I have a heart defect
Back then
We’ll never know
Or was I put to work
Too soon
Or was it the lesson that
Work is bad
And I should only be glad
When it’s done
x
Whichever way
I was a child who
Wanted to
Escape
And on rainy days
I sat in a chair next to a lamp
In the room saved for
Official company
And rather than
All that
I took the quiet
And went into books
With
Stories that saved
x
The mind
The heart
Everything that mattered
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Matt Seymour on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
A Day with Rings
x
How is your day today
I want to know
Did you clean something
Or negotiate
With dust bunnies to
Back away with company
x
It’s the weekend
You might not have the weekend
Expectations change
Deadlines
And work quantities
This could be a day of play
The virtue of busyness
Our construct for a while
Notwithstanding
x
Whatever is involved
Have a good
Deserved day
Please
And thank you
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Giorgi Iremadze on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Sectarian or Secular
x
God
Be good to us
Today
x
Don’t give us mercy
Or distraction
Give us charges without directions
Save what we believe
x
And if without belief
Then with what good we know
Tempered by
Community
Check-and-balance ways
Human and humane
To get things done
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Rowan Simpson on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
monday protest
x
get up
listen to the noise
and go
and this is how it starts
x
a day
in the modern world
x
no,
thank you
iI’ll stay here
in the drab place
and time
x
of dark and cold
of sleep
and safety
well
x
i won’t grow up
not i
x
if you must leave
i’ll stay
x
c l couch
x
photo by eduardo mallmann on unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
August on Deck
(easy greetings)
x
It’s Friday
Anticipate a weekend
Late summer
Final trip before the school year
Work at home
Clean at home
Leave the home
For the park
For stores
For church
Find company
Leave company
Hours on one’s own
The quiet might invite
x
Or out into the world
A different way
A drive, a walk
To nowhere in particular
A new nowhere
Untried
Something heard of
Or an inviting opening
A path into
Some inviting part of the world
Keep safe
Why not
x
After the anthem,
Play ball
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Maksym Tymchyk 🇺🇦 on Unsplash
I look at this
I can smell the stalks, the petals
Memory, I suppose
x
(x = space)
x
x
Shadowlands
x
Plato
C. S. Lewis
My hand by
The computer light
Shadows with shadows,
I suppose
With something firmer
On the other side
That could be relied on
For an eternity
Something waiting
Something inspiring
An ideal
A world of ideals
That’s what we learned
In school
So what have we here?
Which world shimmers
For the other
Though we presume
The other world’s better?
What do we sense here?
What do we make?
What lasts?
We have our treasures
And we try to keep them
We use guards
We have alarms
Things might fade anyway
Or break
And we keep making
Stockpiling art
With care
In both kinds of caves
Like those who aren’t so well-
Obsessed with money
Or better
With a hope for all
The way we might stockpile food
And why not
Against the day
Except for exigent hunger
(there should be enough
for both)
x
Yet if they’re right
We’ll have it all again
Art and food
Anything of profit
By virtue,
Perfect there
And permanent
And with ourselves, perhaps,
Polished and redeemed
As on this side
We sometimes polish
Precious metal with
Satisfaction after
That self-effacing
Might be and become
A shimmering
Evangelism:
Grand art, you see,
And easy,
Arduous science
For both
x
C L Couch
x
x
the verse alludes to Plato’s allegory of the cave
x
the title is a term that is a metaphor for mortal life
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
toward summer sun gods
x
early morning, and
I think
the sun and I
shall track each
other through
the day
x
I slept in fits
and starts but
have blood tests
this morning
(ongoing diagnosis)
and should not
miss them
simply because
I’m tired
x
I’m sure you understand
x
hello, day,
let’s give it a go: a
fourteen-hour
treasure hunt
calling us
toward riding,
running, or pedestrian
pursuits
for pleasure and
for profit
x
then we shall
set
together into night
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by Olya /Voloshka on Unsplash
x
clcouch123 
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