yesterday

have or have not

yesterday we have
in pieces
today is a whole thing
from now to now
confusion
when we’re tired
or bemused
notwithstanding

leaving the partial thing
like yesterday
tomorrow
also
in pieces of
guesswork
and expectation

well
the wind outside
is blowing thoroughly
on the branches
and I’m pretty sure
it’s cold
from the time
and the narrative
of
the season

what we have
is what we have
and what we know
we know

and I’m thinking that
control
profit
agendas
that are hidden
really don’t help this moment
that we have
and to expect
though it’s honestly a mystery regarding
next

but mysteries
have joys
if we allow
and maybe disallow
the heavy things
that
keep the letting go
down
and
down
as if
to Goblin-Town

or worse
only shadowy things for real
we think
we have to own
and wield
to own

c l couch

title swiped from Hemingway—an homage of, I mean—who might have swiped it—been inspired—from Ecclesiastes, Donne, or a sociologist

[sociology about the haves and have-nots]

yesterday’s image was of a bridge at or in New Orleans, picked because of the city and the recent tragedy occurring there (plus bridge as a metaphor)

photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash
“Hand holding keys to a new house. Real estate residential.”

(x = space)

Tune in Tomorrow

I’m not smart;

I don’t have a smart phone

Or a smart house

Or a smart life

I use the ticking of a clock,

Not an association,

Other wind-up ways

And, yes, electron ways

To note

Time passing

As it does

In society

My books do not have faces

(not meaning the clock)

Though they do have bindings

For clarity

In anticipation

They have tropes and memes,

I’m sure

This will be changing

Naturally,

Technologically, enough

My cars have had computers

For a while

And I still like the lure

Of robots’ walking service

And companionship,

Of a jetpack set upon my back

So I may fly over

Land and water

And through clouds

Of other worlds

Childhood’s end,

Mister Clarke,

And childhood’s dreaming

With all the songs

I used to listen to

That would resonate

With or without volume

Later on

Things change

Some things fall apart,

Sometimes the center:

The poem and

The novel know this,

Through our

Participation

Some remains

(some remains)

On the edge

Like samples in a centrifuge

Or in the washer after

Machinic wringing

As a body might wring something

Autonomically

(or for the therapist to say)

Memories,

Some items

Metaphors

And totems

Worn wires

And connectors

Old, most likely small

Machines

Storied threads

Kept in shadowed places

Until the knob is turned,

The door opened

The wires, threads, and all

Intertwine

In our own alchemy

Into today

With new things,

Many things

Applied

All mix

Then when done

Can sough and sigh

Into the future

Terms and

Formal understandings

Are better for tomorrow;

Today is for the

Result of threading

Into compromise,

Often astounding,

Of things good,

Some bad

Things tested,

Some waiting to be tried in

The world

Or safe at home

I’ll tell you things

And will you tell me, please?

That will be star-stuff

Mister Sagan,

Ms Druyan

On Earth

More locally for now

A charm, token, song today, tomorrow–

Story-stuff

C L Couch

Photo by Alberto Bobbera on Unsplash

Reading the Next Day

Going back to reading what

Was written

Sometimes there’s little sense

Like looking back on doodles

Or freewriting

Looking back on other things

That’s harder

Talking with fewer people in old age

Means less chance for faux pas

Or maybe it’s reclusion

Only

I don’t need a bigger pile

Piling in the in-box

Who does?

I go back to what I read

Having picked it up in the middle of the night

Because I wasn’t sleeping yet

And a story called

(I’m not sure who was more at fault)

When I return

Will I be welcome?

Will I be welcomed again?

I mean, yes, I bought the thing

But there’s more

An invitation

Riding like the girl who

Delivered most of the news

From Paul Revere

The book is here:

Will I take the message?

Will I accept responsibility for

Interpretation, then dissemination

Throughout the land?

You see, clearly there are questions

And there’s pressure

A lady or a tiger

Re-reading yesterday’s

New pages

In new hours

And then there’s what I’ve written

C L Couch

Photo by Prasanna Kumar on Unsplash

Besant nagar beach, Chennai, India

Books, most loyal friends.

If true, Ludington’s story puts Revere’s to shame, writes Valerie DeBenedette for Mental Floss. She “rode twice as far as Revere did, by herself, over bad roads and in an area roamed by outlaws, to raise Patriot troops to fight in the Battle of Danbury and the Battle of Ridgefield in Connecticut,” DeBenedette writes. “And did we mention it was raining?”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonianmag/was-there-really-teenage-female-paul-revere-180962993/