Dawn Patrol

Dawn Patrol

1

The light is up
Gray light of
Normal dawn
It’s pretty much a wash
Just now
Though I think there is a promise
Of more colors
Like crayons
Beneath the single tone
Which I guess is a crayon color
Too
And hip
Gray trends
After all
Though I prefer the brown tones
Then add in some orange
Then the rest

The dawn
It will have these
But also start
With pink
And be a marvel

Sunrise
On Earth
A rival experience
In the Solar System
Because we also rise
With air
And with water
And with fertile ground
Sometimes planted
Sometimes fallow
In relationship
So that life
Might be obviously abundant
While we guess about the others
Out there
Here

2

The gray is lighter
Now
And there is more
The movie’s almost over
And I’d like to think
Maybe I could sleep at last
And
For a while

I don’t know
I guess I could let you know
Though you have troubles
Of your own
Of course
I know

C L Couch


Photo by Matias Luge on Unsplash

A Quiet and Unquiet Day

A Quiet and Unquiet Day
(rest and restive?)

Have an especially good
Day
You need one
And you deserve one

You’ve been working hard
And putting up with
Things
You need some rest from everything

That presses
Lift those burdens
For a while

Recline your mind
Loosen the strings we say
We have
Inside our hearts
Or over them
As if the organ were a base
For a lute
A frame
For a harp

Drink something you know
You enjoy
As it courses through you
And then eat something
Pleasant
Slightly indulging
Though without doubt
For nourishment
As an objective

And now companionships
Do you want any
Or is it quiet
In the day
That you prefer
That
Maybe you’ve been craving
Without knowing
‘Til you have it
For some hours

If so
Then treat yourself after
The surprise
Reading something
Writing something
Or have a day
With nothing
For a stimulus
Beyond
Mere ingestion
While you ruminate
Or not
On what’s at hand

It could be taking stock
Only if you wish
Or must
Have a need
As in counting inventory
Gauging quality
Of what is stored
By its effect
On mind or heart
Or overall condition of
Everything internal
And to an extent
External
As in
Image and perception

Whom we cast
To the world
And who we want
To play for
Real

What is real
Take a day to figure out
Think on good things
On what among them you might have
On what you need
You might already have
For another surprise
Or what you need
That’s calling
Through its absence

So maybe take the day
And let it have its
Serious parts as well
And sorry

Wake up a little after resting
Think of something
Think on good things
What you have
As well as what is good
You need
And should have
And can get

Keeping in spirit
And in mind
That love does not exist in isolation
That there is good love to keep close
And problematic love
You might need
Well
Frankly
To cut off
To free yourself
Free someone else
Liberty
At last
Which is the truth
As well as
The law of liberty
And love

And so have the day
Both
Restful
And momentous
If you will
And if God listens
When you say
Hear me
I send my words with
Thoughts
The kind that
Heaven-go

C L Couch


(3.3.98)

Photo by Sneha Chandrashekar on Unsplash 

troubadour

troubadour

the scribe would write
holy
the troubadour
should
sing
everything
and should they be the same

they never were

so who wrote the epics
in between
that sometimes sound like holy wit
for
wisdom
and for warning

and come across for pleasure
in
the meeting place

long house
or
fires outside
in each season
when
and where
words shall save
for
entertainment
frankly
plus in telling
or implying
our own gospel

and will you come again
tomorrow
I must be on the way
to the next
place

where is the next place

stay for one more night so
we may sadly
tell you
the next morning

you are kind
for an audience
I shall stay
and gladly so

and so
the word got out through these
the news
rumors of news
what
to be ready for
at home
because of what’s developing
out there

and then
a song with verse
that has no meaning

and then
a song with verse
that has

a good night
for all our sakes
into
our heaven
hope for heaven
wills
tomorrow

by your leave
and mine
and God’s own

c l couch


photo by zibik on Unsplash 

Gall

Gall

Oh
I feel bitter
And there is no sense in it
Because
There is no end
But more

And gall
Who wants
To drink that
Anyway

Drink fit for a cross
It seems
And only when a savior
Suffers there
Who can’t be receiving
Anything approvable
Anything
With savor
Lest
It’s awful

And I can’t
Go that far
You know I can’t
Because there’s only one
Who could
And that is done
And there is
Triumph now

And it’s not
The bitter kind
But is for friendship
From a god
To the rest of us
Done
For companionship
In fact
So heaven won’t be lonely
Anymore

And so where is gall
It isn’t mine
Even though the world
Tries to recreate
The vintage
From blood violently spilled
And from
More corruption

And yet
It stands there
Wasted
On the ground
No need for the symbol
Except to be reminded
(that can be done
with two dimensions
only)
Anymore

C L Couch


Photo by James Garman on Unsplash 

Brave Peace

Brave Peace

It’s Friday
I don’t want
To talk about the war

Ain’t gonna study war no more

Especially
The war inside
That causes all the troubles
On
The outside

We let the inside
Get away
With so much
Nonsense that is
Nonsense
That gets
To destroy so much
That we were counting on
The way
We count on
Things
Such as air
And sometimes
Heaven help us
Boredom

Why do we let
Invisible
Get away with so much
To say
There’s a war on
And it means so much
Because
A life is gone
And then another

In a heartbeat
Save there is
No more
A heartbeat

And everything’s in pieces
Gruesome pieces
(if you are not
there
but have read All Quiet
on the Western
Front then
you know something)
And also
Walls
Machine parts
That we counted on
Like air

And I guess
That is the thing
There’s no more breathing
Or there’s
Barely breathing
While the world after
Might remain
Quiet
For a half an hour
Or so

And then resume
A way to war
(to study war)
Or maybe
With diplomacy
Or blooded on
The face
eventuality

A way
To rebuild
After war

Though too often
Then
To knock it down
Again
As if hell’s game
Should never end

Except
In final judgment
When the children
(of all ages)
Of beatitude
Shall own
Peace-making again
Outside
The sermon

For the fact
Of sight and sound
Of war
And having chosen
Anyway

The one
Not taken
As the narrow way

And shall there be an echo
For an echo
Inside heaven
And on
New Earth

I don’t know
Here’s one
I note
And now another
To be counting
Or
Not counting
Might be overwhelming
All the believing gates
Regardless

C L Couch


Photo by Shamoil on Unsplash

the promises

the promises

I will not die
and in faith
not have that the ending

I guess that’s the biggest one
promise
of promises

there are others
more earthbound
the oaths

we take as families
and citizens
before the flag in school

the vows
that in infant baptism
the parents with the church say for us

and we break these
even with guns sometimes
to emphasize

the bloodiness
in going rogue
against what had been promised first

thank goodness for
that first one and
we need it

a promise of a heaven
when the world has failed us
as it is bound to

and what we resort
to but remembrance of
that first thing

that was its claim
that became its oath
it’s good

the one from the beginning
slipped inside our code to be opened
at the last

I’m not sure there’s more to say
hang on
when it’s impossible

to change
yet work at change
there’s a promise in working today

that’s not so bad
for we are
loved from here into the next

c l couch


photo by Prashant on Unsplash

An Alligator on the Runway

An Alligator on the Runway

And how shall the pilots
Deal with that

Instinctively, they might say
Into headsets

There’s an alligator on the runaway
Ten-four (or whatever)

Please advise, perhaps
Then waiting for an answer

There are rules,
After all

About animals on runways
Regulations

And what are they
Now?

I suppose an airplane
Running over animals

To keep a schedule
Would not go over well

Should anyone besides
Whoever’s in the cabin

In the tower
On the field

Should be watching
And there’s the clean-up, after

Poor alligator
Poor airplane workers

Poor plane
Poor schedule

We’ll all have to wait
While the wildlife authorities

And referees
Are contacted

And they come with easy loops
Which with to catch the alligator

Then to take it home
And the schedule

All our lives
Resume

And now we’ll have to wait
On their waiting

‘Til it’s shared
What happened

After all
Since I only saw the headline

afterward

Well, they arrived
And wrestled, so to say

Then the beast (the alligator)
Was taken to a river

Then all procedures, even the gator’s,
Resumed

C L Couch


USA Today via MSN (headline teased to start the day)

Photo by Shelly Collins on Unsplash 

We’ll Need New Articles for Einstein, Too

We’ll Need New Articles for Einstein, Too
(23 April 2024)

Is it
Today
That’s Shakespeare’s birthday
That is
The christening day
By record of
The fact of birth

And if a construct
Then a construct with some very good
Actual
Details

A birthplace
A church
Parents
All the poetry
For
A first reputation

And some munificence
With which
To fund
Some future
With
Plays
Also a theatre
That burned
Down
And that they could
Build a stage again

A favorite of the queen
And then the king
Respected
No doubt also scorned
For envy
By
Peers of verse
Especially
Also of drama

A family
And a burial
Back
At the church
Near the altar
As a deal

And after checking
Mini-eons later
To find the skull
That held
The face
The
Mind
Like Yorick
Isn’t there

(proving something
proving nothing
Macbeth-
like
sound and fury)

Maybe to be set aside
Become
Einstein
Someone whom
We’ll argue for
In the same way
For
For future
Academics’ sakes

C L Couch


n.b. (I think well)

My christening
By the way
Waited a year and
A half

Oh
No
Grist for more
Speculation


Photo by Dalton Smith on Unsplash

23 April 1564
(looked it up—twenty-three score years ago)

The Passing Over

The Passing Over

Passover
The saddest of all miracles
And by the evidence
The history
Something that was absolutely
Called for
By the Lord
Against
The forces of the world
Extant in Pharaoh

We think it
Antique now
Perhaps
Since Egyptian is a style
And a history
To follow
With romance in thought
And purchasing

But it happened
Slavery had happened
The people lived
But poorly
The struggle for identity
After basic needs
The worst of all

And one of Egypt
Then of Midian
Was called
And did not want to come
But with his brother
And his sister
Called to lead
At least to take
The people
Out of there

No longer straws for bricks
Requiring miracle
To build

A miracle
So many miracles
To have a leader
To being
A prophet
Holding and excoriating
The court of many kings who
Also thought
In the lack of perspective
Once it had grown
They might as well be gods
And rule
Like their
Personalities
With their
Agendas

So there plagues
And again
We style these
And our imagination
Counts them
And the reason for their order
Is guessed at
But Moses said
There is only one reason
One plan
At work
As we sing
Today
To let the people go

Brutality
Built on
Presumptions to power
As well as
Divinity
The plagues persisted
(COVID is like these)
Until one last
Wave of pestilence
Invited
Unless Pharoah
With a practical heart
Against the magic
As they called it should
Let the people
Go

And it did not
The power could not relinquish
All it meant
To lose these people
Scared of them
For all their number
And maybe
Of their God
Unless
Unbelieving
Simply considered all of them
Moses
Who had been one of theirs
Another slave
Who had tasted of the best parts
Of the fertile land
Appearing by the Nile

And now that
Was a miracle
The gods who favored us
Each year
And there was back when
We don’t remember
The one who was
One of them
Whom we brought
To our side
Having predicted famine
And their God
Become one
Among our gods
To save us

So who is this person
Now
Whom we receive
Who would break free
And leading
All the others
And their God
Break free as well
And so lessen
Our treasuries
And pantheons

I will not release
I am Pharaoh
I am god
It cannot happen

And so the Passover
The first
And awful Passover
The angel pestilence
Save for protecting blood
Above the door
While the blood ceased in the firstborn
In every other house
And in the court
‘Til Pharoah
In new and tragic
Loneliness
Relented

And there was release
For who knows how many
(yes
God knows)
And then
Commemoration
As we have
With an empty chair
Should another prophet come

C L Couch


Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash