the old anthem I can’t find
(but used to sing)
an old anthem
leads from Ecclesiastes
into James
a strange splicing
though it indicates progression
beginning with a celebration
and a caution
for youth to find joy
in being
youth
and also concern
since
one day there is judgment
James
then goes further
asking youth or anyone
really
to consider
the wrong aspects of desire
when we ask
we ask awry and even
kill
thinking to satisfy our wants
yet
there is the claim of the perfect law of liberty
that
whoever lives into this law
shall be blessed
and this law
what shall we say
what it
might be
if more context is required
the commandments
then
those
that Jesus cites
above all
and so a good place to begin
not only a life of faith
but that is satisfied
for through
these we know how to ask
aright and even get what we really
want
since
wanting is fine and it’s the twisting of want
that ruins it and
everything around it
I wish I could find that song
I used to sing it when a youth
and
as an anthem
it was loud
harmonious
and
true
c l couch
Ecclesiastes 11:9
James 1:25
James 2:4
(KJV)
Matthew 22:36-40
photo by Md Mahdi on Unsplash
an invoking
o youth
attend
for time is brief
and you will be surprised sometime
at the passing of the years
attend
because you should keep learning
and applying
principles to causes
that are good
that are healthy
and that serve
attend
to love
of yourself
though especially to others
to those you know
of course
and sometimes to the stranger
given it is a time of tissued trust
and you thicker
senses and responsibilities
attend
to share what’s good
to keep
to give
to hold something in reserve
in case the war goes on
with greed
even with evil
(other evils)
o youth
attend
and live
please live
c l couch
photo by Rebecca Peterson-Hall on Unsplash
Candles in October
(my paraphrase)
Actual
(to youth)
What kind of world
Should we leave you
Not the world we’re leaving you
Some say to move back in time
To former greatness
Such greatness not existing
Not in hindsight’s
Either
And
Anyway
Who has a time
Machine
Because the river has moved on
And we can’t wade
In the water
That was
I think the world as is
Is what you’ll get
And everyone in charge now
And everyone who’s silent over it
Should
Apologize
Even
Try to get as many things right
Before it’s fully yours
Though in part
Already
Naturally
It’s yours
If we can do this
Make a few things better
Not by war
Not by pollution
Desecration
Death of character
If we can change things
In a peaceful
And productive
Way
Even a loving way
The real way of love
The strong way
Well
That would be something
Not nearly enough
For letting things get this bad
Already
But something
Something of a better place
To leave you
C L Couch
Photo by Lil Mayer on Unsplash
"What are we going to do with all this future?" [for translation programs]
(x = space)
x
x
How Are You
x
We have shot four youth
This week
In the USA
One young person’s dead
All were hit
Wounded first
One died
Three are treated
One hopefully recovers if, oh,
So slowly
x
None can be the same
In Earth
Or heaven
(our daily petitions
for)
x
Now we pray
We shouldn’t have to
We should be
Praying for
Their joy
In youthful living
Not in
Struggling
To live
At all
x
Cheerleaders,
For goodness sake
Honor students
Good people, all
The kind you’d like
To get
To know
x
And if not our cup of tea,
We don’t shoot
At them
For that(,
crazy people)
x
And now
Their lives are changed
For the worse
Forever
x
We shoot our children
We can say
We are afraid
We are threatened by
The unfamiliar,
Anymore
x
But really, now,
We shoot children
Because
We can
The shooters being with us,
After all,
These locked in due process
And shall be heard
x
The victims cannot speak
Nearly so well
At all
And had no plans
Before
Except to live
You know, to adolesce
To grow
To live
And be alive
x
That’s over now
If they live,
They’re grown up now
We grew them
When we shot them
This week
In the USA
Our nation of
Domestic
Intimate
Gunplay
x
n. b.
x
Yes, without guns
We’d say
We’d use knives and sticks—well,
Okay
x
C L Couch
x
x
In Six Days, Four Young Americans Have Been Shot after …
1 day ago · KANSAS CITY, Missouri. In the span of six days, four young people across the U.S. have been shot — one fatally — for making one of the most ordinary and …
Nobody Is Talking about the Four Black Students Shot in …
February 17, 2023 · It’s hard to believe, for instance, that had four teenagers been shot leaving school in one of Pittsburgh’s wealthier, whiter suburbs — say Mount Lebanon, a borough …
x
Photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash
x
(well, there’s Pogo who observed that we have met the enemy and it is us)
x
(x = space)
x
x
two poems for young people
x
x
Youth
x
They (you) look so young
Not like those near altars
Of antiquity
Who are forever beautiful
But cannot move
x
These might be cared for carefully
That youth might be preserved
Youth cannot be preserved
x
Youth might invest their own
(your own)
So that the coming days
Are rich
With age and wisdom,
Maybe things put by
x
But (you) run without avarice
Or even long ambition
Become parts of a transitory mural
That is bright
All colors
Shapes
At least three dimensions,
Which will have no museum
Save in memory
x
x
Locksmithing
x
Who holds the keys?
Why are there keys?
Why are their locks?
What is kept?
What must be freed
Up with which
From being locked?
x
Behind the door
Once opened
Nothing might be withheld
But secrets of the arrogance
The avarice in
Withholding
Private parties
Boring,
Frightening without joy
From the absconded powerful
x
There might be secrets
For the young to own
(they, you
should have mentors)
If taught or teach themselves
(yourselves)
How to
Break out
x
This is the story
Of the end of age’s
Generation
The beginning of another
An ownership
That could calcify
So-called in privilege
Or turn around
Turn everything around
Toward all the growth
In revelation
And unwithheld resources
For life
With invention
Food, that is, and challenge
x
Keeping democracy
(boo say some, but)
We need it
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Burned Out at the Salton Sea
Photo by Tina Rataj-Berard on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Do Not Be Kept by Flowered Fields
(from a teacher)
x
Hump day, Amanda
Be nice, learners
Work and play with
Discipline and health
Do not rush to poppies
Or what might become
Another monument
We need you,
The young,
So much
On Wednesday
And for all the other days
You are so much more important
Than entities named
For exhausted gods
Than entities
At all
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Malik Skydsgaard on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
A Child Doesn’t Have to Lead Them
x
When children have food
And people to talk with
Of a variety of ages
When their dreams aren’t stanched
And they have a chance
To grow into who they are
Then any child can make it
x
I know this: I see and hear it happen
On TV all the time
In scripted shows
x
C L Couch
x
x
Children are amazing. And there are amazing young people who are leading in the areas of racism, sexism, and climate change (climate crisis). The only fault in this arrangements is not with the youth but with adults. Adults should be leading for the youth.
x
Photo by Foroozan Faraji on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
These are haiku. I understand that haiku go untitled. Maybe the series itself could be considered “The Modern Theban Riddle.”
x
x
[haiku on old]
x
I rock without a
chair and dream of golden age
when I’m nearing done
x
x
[haiku on youth]
x
I am new to Earth
and of my own volition
prizes on the way
x
x
[haiku on middle age]
x
they are on either
side, and I don’t know my own
inside anymore
x
x
c l couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
Me before You
(for youth)
x
Peace in our time,
Which implied more strongly
Than the message
That there would be no peace
In their time,
The coming generation’s
x
We bargain with our children’s
Lives and should
Know better,
Abrogating wisdom
And the sacrifice of us
So that they have a world
Better than we found it
x
There used to be a message,
Parents investing
So that children should have
Better lives than theirs,
A message that had stopped
Variably in the seventies
And eighties,
Not to mention attitudes
Toward annihilation
From the war that was so cold
x
Sorry about all that,
All this
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash
Freedom
x
clcouch123 
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