Fifth Day

(x = space)

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Fifth Day

x

It’s Friday

And we face the weekend

An invention that started with

Reform laws

For factories

I hope you have a grand time:

Play

Find a moment in which

To be grateful

For reformers

x

If you are having fall

I hope it is the right kind for you

Colors

A degree of chill,

Wind that speaks

And, when not speaking,

Sings;

If it is spring for you

I hope you find new life

The right intensities

Of green and blue

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If there is a sabbath service for you

I hope you find God at home

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C L Couch

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Photo by Oliver Hihn on Unsplash

Germany

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A Village Takes It

(x = space)

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x

A Village Takes It

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Schools in session

Offices are open

Stores

Factories are functioning

All in the time of cholera

x

We have solutions

We blame the leadership,

So-called,

Whose message has been

Me first

Never you

x

We can only hope

Diffusion brings

Immunity

Enough to keep a planet

Going

As after any plague

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And by the way

This is not

A Republican thing

Or a Democrat thing

Or any party

In the Italian assembly

And despots

Will be despots

Since it means

Healthcare for

Supposed elites

Never mind

The rest of us

x

For the rest of us

There are risks

There were risks

When we swallowed

The polio vaccine

x

In fact,

There are risks all

Around

More so for the rest of us

Who are the billions

Who inhabit Earth

And should inherit

x

It’s a human thing,

You know,

Starting out microbial

Affecting animals

And now us (more)

There will be a cure

Enough

x

Requiring

Behavior, practice

And that thing

You know,

Community

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C L Couch

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A woman sits with her pet in a village in Madhya Pradesh, India .

Photo by Srimathi Jayaprakash on Unsplash

Ranipur, Madhya Pradesh, India

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Loving Cup

(x = space)

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x

Loving Cup

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There is a couple

One has cancer

They bake cookies for

First-responders

Many, many cookies

For over a year

Notes of love accompany

But the real notes

Are in the discs of dough

With chocolate or

Peanut-butter chips

Or maybe raisins

Add staffs and they

Would be

Notes of love to make a song

Bless them

Bless you

x

C L Couch

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This story was featured on the noon news today (17 August 2021), ABC-27, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (USA).

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Lovely Wall

Photo by mohammed alherz on Unsplash

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seven at a blow

(x = space)

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x

seven at a blow

x

99,000

new cases here

on Friday

don’t know how it is

where you are

here we’re still denying

we want to go to bars

though barkeeps

are smart

and want to know

how safe

each patron is

x

we want it to be over

so much so

some say

it never happened

it’s not happening

but for the family

the friends

we’ll never see again

this side,

what are we to say

x

that

the multi-million deaths

from the same thing

was not

is not

it isn’t happening?

what kind of remembrance

x

it’s nice

that we don’t want

to hear about it

and it’s cruel

x

we could apologize

the COVID series doesn’t care

numbers on the news

numbers in my family

and yours

x

I don’t know

where it started

I heard a bat

and I like bats

for all they consume that

I’d rather not have

around

in numbers

x

China?

sure

made up maybe

in a lab,

who’s to know?

I don’t know

I’ll care later

x

for now,

I want you to be safe

I want us all

to move on to health

then I’ll gladly buy

the next round

x

oh, there is a story

about numbers

seven at a blow

to keep us

frosty

to keep us

skeptical

x

and, hey,

I want you to be well

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c l couch

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Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash

Published on March 22, 2020

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Rain

(x = space)

x

x

Rain

x

Heatwave and thunderstorms

That’s all we got

Church is still on-line,

Though I guess it doesn’t have to be

Watching the delta variant

x

The sermon’s about encouragement

That’s good

Providing it, however, with

Prudence and with wisdom,

Which is better

To say that everyone’s amazing

Overdoes it

In making, it is true

Each life is extraordinary

But for all the lives unmade,

What shall we say?

That there was less extraordinary?

Maybe it’s the application

Of the Pickering social theory

In that it’s how we treat

Each other

And each one

If you want to value life,

Then offer drink safely to everyone

Feed everyone

Make and offer shelter

To everyone

Peace for security

The chance for learning

The chance for work

That complements

x

Sometimes saints are martyred

By pagan foes,

Sometimes by the believing

Church itself

Believing more in institution

And a sanctity in politics

Control and profit

Over faith and vision

x

Savor belief instead

Feed the children

And the youth

And the grown-ups

With all things that we need,

And I will hear the nations

And the corporations

Claim

That we care

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C L Couch

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1 Thessalonians 5:11

(Hebrews 10:24)

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Raindrops keep falling on my window pane.

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

London, United Kingdom

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Solstice Properties

(x = space)

x

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Solstice Properties

x

Stonehenge is a solstice

Property,

As is Newgrange,

Machu Pichu,

And anywhere there is

A sacred pointer for

The movement

Of the sun

x

Earth will now start

To tip the other way,

Technically; we enter

The winter-half

Of the year

While officially (as we are

official to ourselves),

Summertime has only

Begun

x

I guess I’ve

Thought about this

Quandary for a while

And wondered about

Other people’s

Calendars—after all,

Shouldn’t this be the

Halfway point of

Summer?  And do we not

In certain ways and places

Call these days

Midsummer?  The mix

Of math and culture in me

Doesn’t understand

x

But it’s official,

And I hope this is a

Pleasant season for you;

We certainly need one

And the next season

Could be pleasant,

Too, for all our weariness,

For those who have

Persevered

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Adrien Aletti on Unsplash

Ottawa, ON, Canada

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Favor Hesiod

(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

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Theogony, myths about gods, creation, and more

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A Rendition of Life on Planet Earth

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6638499

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In Motion and at Rest

(x = space)

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In Motion and at Rest

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I don’t know what to say today

It’s Thursday

Day before Friday

Even though the work week

Has been twisted

Like an anxious piece of paper,

It still imposes

Five days, maybe more

With a weekend in between

x

Our attitudes remain,

Which is important since the work week

And the weekend are not ageless

Inventions but rather modern

And unless we go to four

As in certain nations,

We need to keep the patterns

As decided

By campaigns

x

I guess to say the least

We’ve had time

And we can make it, still

To think about what we’re doing

And shall we continue doing it

Or is it time for change

Because things had changed, anyway

And in the danger

And the dying

And the mourning after

Maybe mortal occurrences

Shall catalyze

x

We might change everything

As we’ve had to change everything

Who are we, what is our

Direction,

What might listening

Teach us about momentum

And arrival

Who shall we be and what shall we do

When we are on the move, again

x

coda

x

It is ideal

Life is not

The world is not

Each one is an organism

With applications, interviews,

Keeping a home

All parts of a cell

We are important

And we are a microcosm

All our organic parts and movements

Make a body,

An inhabited Earth

Moving inside

And as part

Of a community of cosmos

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

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The Lathe of Earth

(x = space)

x

x

The Lathe of Earth

x

We will get used

To being back,

Back from the edge

Of the disease

And into something new,

A new shape to life

Because there is no back

To normal, though

Touchstones of our lives

Might be used again

x

No back to the basics

Only forward to the basics

Forward to new normal,

As is said already

x

We’ll closet all our plague

Paraphernalia,

The way the Swiss

Keep their arms in closets

After military service

Though I think they prefer

Chocolate and negotiation

And so should we

Until and when

The next, dire thing

Should happen

x

coda

x

We’ll bury our dead

As after war

We could deal kindly

With each other,

Though the tone set

In the nation

Went against that

And we have found

That we have

Way too many guns

And, unlike the Swiss,

Don’t know how to use them

x

C L Couch

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The Lathe of Heaven is a novel by Ursula K. Le Guin.

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Photo by Rosie Steggles on Unsplash

Death Valley National Park, United States

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