commencement

(x = space)

x

x

commencement

x

the end of someone’s year

not the Jewish

or the Lunar

or the Islamic

the Christian year

began a month ago

there are those who only live by

seasons and experiences

maybe it’s Gregory’s

or the atomic clock’s

maybe it belongs

to Greenwich or to Zulu

the world says

it belongs to us

we celebrate

we cast lights off our bridges

launch them from our islands

we drop or raise

all sorts of things

to say

this is ours

we’ve grown

the new is ours

x

C L Couch

x

x

End of 2018

Photo by Andreas Dress on Unsplash

Sydney, Australia

x

Perpetuity

(x = space)

x

x

Perpetuity

x

God give us

Something that we need

Who knows

‘Cause sometimes we don’t know

Not that random prayer

Is specified

In codicils

Sometimes we are confused

Burgeoning with something

Maybe burdened down

The words are stuck

Specifics unrequested

The angel or the saint

Will have to figure it out

Then convey it

To the proper desk

In heaven’s agencies

So that in-box to out-box

Happens smoothly

The business booming

With clientele

Requests

Resources

And responses

So we may say

Can we get

Amens

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Izabel d on Unsplash [inverted]

x

fit for Eden

(x = space)

x

x

fit for Eden

x

the egret spreads its wings

to the glory of God

its long neck and dagger beak

and claw will hunt

for Jesus’ sake

and in the spirit of the Lord

it will eat without thanks

all organs churning

in a Genesis of calling

and of impulse

the egret is its own sense of wonder

without apology

(either kind)

or gratitude

it because it is

because God made it so

then left it to the sky,

the water, and the land

a true denizen of Earth

the wonder and rightful holder of

first promises

x

C L Couch

x

x

A Great Egret preens its feathers at Freshwater Lake in Cairns Australia.

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Centenary Lakes Nature Play Space, Edge Hill, Australia

x

Tied Backward on the Mare

(x = space)

x

x

Tied Backward on the Mare

x

I had

The worst

Dream last night

Someone

Was insane

Not me

Someone I knew

Worse

I had to watch

Her being

Pushed and pulled

(everyone

was wearing

white)

By men

While

The mother

Watched

It was

Awful, brutal

Intimate

I hope I

Never have

This dream

Or another like it

Ever again

Ever

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by chrissie kremer on Unsplash

x

Cancer Is as Cancer Does

(x = space)

x

x

Cancer Is as Cancer Does

(as we try to do to it)

x

I don’t know what to say

I have bad news

My brother’s not well

That is not news

It’s gotten worse

That is

All who have siblings are aware

There is a care

A worry that each day

Goes well for them,

That overall they’re satisfied

And happy

I am the middle of five

There are larger

There are smaller

If you are there, then you may know

We never know our place,

Exactly

When is deference?

When is dominance?

It goes on

We simply have to stumble

Day by day

Tripping over stones of protocol

Loving all the same

x

We are none of us

Young;

He has completed, just

His three score and ten

Though as we know

Statistics up the number and

The optimism

More

How will he live well

With his time?

What time is his?

I ask questions without

Good answers in this

Mortal place and

Bounded time

The news will be compounded soon

With prognosis and

Prescription and

Choices

x

My words are getting thick

Everything is heavy

For a while

Before the legacy

Of sadness

Is poured out enough

For good choices

And actions

Of my own

Say, a prayer

Say a prayer

That’s invitation

With gratitude expressed

Now

While still beforehand,

Which is to say

Thank you

x

x

for Rick

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Vaccine-Based Immunotherapy from Novel Nanoparticle Systems. Researchers at the Texas Center for Cancer Nanomedicine (TCCN) are creating particle-based vaccines for cancer therapy. The particles carry molecules that stimulate immune cells and cancer antigens (proteins) that direct the immune response.

x

Majesty

(x = space)

x

x

Majesty

x

Born a king

Because he was male

Had he been a girl

Born a queen

Like Esther

x

A monarch for salvation

Of the world,

Which grinds against our notions

Of democracy

How can we kneel to a ruler—the

Words don’t really mean that,

Do they?

x

And they do

Words surrounding words

Of majesty

Omnipotence

And glory

x

Such that we’d be glad

To bow before the one,

To lie on the floor

If that were called for

x

A birth into the ages

Love coursing through

The blood, the

Organs,

And first breaths

x

Born into prophecy

Surrounding prophecy

With grace for that

And will

To make mountain

And the sky above

And stars so far

Beyond our reach,

Though we reach for them

x

How will it be

To meet the creator

And the sovereign of the

Earth and skies?

Wake up each day,

Face the sun

And do not stare

Meeting God

Is like that

x

C L Couch

x

x

for the birth of God, the next day, and for our days

x

A corona mass ejection erupts from our sun on August 31, 2012.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

x

Christmas Tomorrow

(x = space)

x

x

Christmas Tomorrow

x

Christmas is

As Christmas does,

Which makes little sense

To say

x

I must watching and listening to

Doctor Who messing about

With time and space

And tense

x

Then, again, why not

Do Christmas, the

Way some of us

Do lunch?

Or, better yet,

Lunch can be a verb

Without

An object’s help, as in

I lunched

With so-and-so today

x

Christmas as a verb,

An action that helps people

In a newborn way

Maybe toward reconciliation,

Maybe simply

Opening a gift of

Time, of small materials,

Of love

x

To Christmas every day–

Merry Christmas Boxing Day

And Merry Christmas New Year’s Day

And Groundhog’s Day

And equinox

The other solstice

Then the first one

Again

x

And, more importantly,

Merry Christmas in

Our ordinary time

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Valentin Antonini on Unsplash

x

The Drive to Church on Christmas Eve

(x = space)

x

x

The Drive to Church on Christmas Eve

x

What shall we say

On this night

There might be stars

There might be clouds

There might be snow

(depending upon

temperature,

elevation, and

the axis tilt)

I know there were

Christmas Eves

When it rained

They come to mind

Evoked by

Memory

Bright lights in dots

Upon the windshield

I am on the way

To church,

A child myself

On the way

To meet another

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Zach Lucero on Unsplash

x

Snow Bunnies

(x = space)

x

x

Snow Bunnies

x

And on a wintry day

Dust bunnies come to play

They like the extra morning

Light

That shows the dust to play in,

Right

And should a human passing by

They know where to fly

For them, the winter is THE season

We have to clean—they

Have no reason!

x

C L Couch

x

another entry in the dust bunny saga

x

x

Camouflage

Photo by Atharva Tulsi on Unsplash

North Dakota, United States

x