The Dragon Year
Would you like
To make friends with a dragon?
Flying with it
Perched somehow
Between its wings?
The thing is
Well,
The thing is
It’s a dragon
It’s big
It’s long
It has scales
It’s powerful
With wings
And claws
And when it chooses
Exhaling fire
An aircraft carrier
In the ocean
Between islands
Might let
The dragon land
While sailors worry about
This temporary
Guest
And those in planes
Might worry,
Too,
About what’s flying
Next to them
That waves with wings
While the sun
Blinks off its armor
And its talons
But mostly
It is a matter of
What’s really inside
The dragon
As in
What are its intentions?
What is it plan?
Dragons are powerful
But it’s the good
Or bad
We might have
To know
Before deciding
How close
And is it possible
To be a friend with it
Maybe if it’s lying down,
You could move
Closer to its head
To talk
Maybe to have
Its name
And give it yours
And ask,
Well,
What are its plans?
Maybe it’s here
For a year on Earth
Before
Going on to other worlds
Maybe some
That are replete with flying serpents
Maybe one world that is
Its first home
Maybe
While it’s here
It will
Teach us about power
That it is neither
Good
Nor
Bad
But we must make it so
We must decide
And it will not make us choose
But sort of
Sit and stand
And fly, of course,
To show that power
Is immense
Sometimes
And sometimes
It will be there
Sitting
Standing
Flying
Ready for us
To be good
Or bad
With it
So that
Enormous questions
For the answers
Might be ours
As in
What are our intentions?
What are our plans?
And so we have this dragon
To consider
Maybe
Maybe to ride upon
As well
If we can negotiate
The wonder
And also,
Well,
To think about the dragons
We have made:
Our larger things
And all
That we can do
With these
While we have this special year
With our magic,
Divine
Visitor
That might protect
Even defend us
Should we learn the language
And the manner
In dealing with dragons
Like this dragons
Or the dragons
We must own
Now and
Once it’s left us for
Another year
And more,
That is,
Eleven more
During which with
All the more enormous
Creatures
Of our own
We’ll be creaturing
C L Couch
Photo by Michael Buillerey on Unsplash
Binondo, Manila, Philippines
let’s say a year
a year
let’s say a year
a year of peace on Earth
to try
then come back
in a year
to talk about
how it went
how it goes
we might learn
say
that war
is bad for the economy
though the bullet-
and missile-
manufacturers
might disagree
we mean learn
that keeping up
our homes
is better
when our homes
are actually
up
we might enjoy
green spaces
beneath unimpeded
blue
or we might
work so very hard
on the other things
that worry
us
(like wool)
and sometimes destroy us
parts of us
all of us
we might make safer airplanes
and what goes
on the road
we might go
on the roads ourselves
to seek a peaceful journey
match the tone
of the time
set down what we
hear and see and smell and taste
and touch
set something down
to share
via the summit
later
we might learn
that we like this state
and that we like
this place
this way
we might go for
another year
or let explode
all things behind the barriers
that could explode
explode
and go to war
in small
destroying ways
like infiltrating
toadstools
or have an armageddon
between nations
letting in
militias
and weaponed gangs
as well
and fight officially
or with a sense
of random
‘til it all be done
except
it’s never done
or
as was said
we could go for
a second year
of peace
and in that time
upbuild
the rest
but for now
how about
a year
let’s go for a year
c l couch
photo by Pascal Bernardon on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Merry Whichever
(greeting)
x
Merry Whichever
Happy New Year to your calendar
And all your months,
However they are named
May each day be ingested
With wisdom and
Delight,
Wisdom for the ages,
Delight in the pleasures
Of the day
x
May you know love
More than in the abstract
Some good learning beforehand
Wouldn’t hurt;
Might you have peace,
If the worlds great and small
Agree
x
Most of all, may
All of you
And any
Know the presence
Over us
So great,
So small as to be
Working inside
Our capillaries
x
Call it God
Or the Spirit
Or the impulse of the ages
The human push
Toward improvement
And a symphony of
Maybe out-of-tune,
Asynchronous
Possibility
x
May the one
Or many there
Protect you
And keep you
In each other
x
C L Couch
x
x
Part of the painting “my take on an ion.”
Photo by Jené Stephaniuk on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Favor Hesiod
(writer of Theogony)
x
Remember
Myths aren’t lies
That’s for conversation
x
Fables are
For teaching, which means
They are
For learning
x
The more fantastic
Stretches
With gods and
Agencies for gods
And such
Are a try
At understanding
Truth to questions
Without
Conversation’s answers
x
What is time?
Why are their seasons?
Why is this
A good year?
What about
The next one?
What happens after
Death? What is our
Purpose while we’re here?
How might we live
With passion?
Why do we have it
In the first place?
x
Not lies
But tries at truth
Without the words
Or understanding
Motivations of
Forces outside
Ourselves and
Ourselves
x
What happens when
Someone climbs
Parnassus or Olympus
Has a reason, too,
And a story
x
For all we’re told
And tell ourselves
Old stories are foolish
If not stupid,
We still ask questions,
Same questions
x
Some answers
Will be chemical
Now,
But elements
Persist above
The table in a
Ring of sky
(or under
Earth)
That we cannot find
For all our wishing
All our striving
All our talking
For a purpose
x
So we return to stories
And make new ones
x
C L Couch
x
x
Theogony, myths about gods, creation, and more
x
A Rendition of Life on Planet Earth
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6638499
x
(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
x
The Year When We Do Nothing
(pandemic time)
This should have been
The year when we do nothing
When we live with fear and boredom
And are resolute
When we soberly keep up with the news
And mourn the passing of so many
When we sing from window to window
As was done in Italy
Finding all the gestures that we can
Safely to say we’re here
We’re counting
We weep
And we maintain hope as bravely as we can
A year when we remember
Prioritize
Keep perspective
Love each other, those who are leaving us,
All who remain
As carefully as possible
In a year, we can have expectations
We’ll be smarter, then
About how to live
C L Couch
Photo by Artur Aldyrkhanov on Unsplash
Bokeh in Lavender
Day 181
It’s Friday afternoon
Day 180’s passing
And so the children should be
Out of school for summer
Last rides in yellow buses
For a while
They can populate the stores
For a time
And visit in each residence
Pets should be happier
For the company
And lemonade or something like
Becomes a commodity
I don’t mean to say
It’s all sugary
Some will need work,
Too many will go hungry
There will be
Pain from separations of all kinds
But some will take trips
They will enjoy
And though not expressed,
Wear a new kind of gratitude
As a child,
My summers weren’t idyllic
But I couldn’t help from time to time
First relief, then
Reveling in freedom
C L Couch
Photo by Luiz Guimaraes on Unsplash
El Año Pasado
(20 Septiembre 2018)
It’s a year since Maria
Wrecked into Puerto Rico
I don’t know what to say
Since I don’t make policy, and
No one has dropped funds on
Me to make things better
My widow’s mite went to Ciencia PR
A group of scientists and learners
That persists
They love discovery and invention
And are of many kinds and ages
Affirming the timelessness of
Method, observation, and synthetic
(in terms of reasoning)
Progress
Someday someone here might save us
I shouldn’t be surprised
Though I wonder how they were ignored
In their hours
Might be subsumed by the privileged
Who will all of a sudden say
We’ve been behind these saviors
All the way
(and how far behind is that?)
Well, I can still remit my pittances
And pray for everyone bilingually
I studied that much in school
And feel ashamed for mine who
Will do nothing
Believing the corrupted lie
That all is well
Look at us
We are so good
Perdónanos
Nuestros pecados
Y en olvidarse
Ustedes
Su vida y su esperanza
Hope or expectation
C L Couch
note
(don’t worry, it’s only college Spanish;
I’m sure I made many mistakes)
Perdóname para estos)
facebook.com/cienciapr/
A.D. 623
(I was looking up the area code)
a princess died
which sounds saddest of all
though loss through war should matter
more
but there’s a story here
to push my human heart
to wonder
and to wander through
the leaves to find the source
and grow a memory
for you
C L Couch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/623
clcouch123 
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