(x = space)
x
x
haiku (3) after Hallowtide
x
x
seasons ending in
new seasons beginning to
take hold then let go
x
x
red leaves like children
bright and shiny always changing
into something else
x
x
evergreen until
needles wither due to lack
of water and air
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Red of Fall
Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Art Show
x
My goodness,
It’s brilliant outside
The green has changed to red
Lit by the angles of
The sun’s afternoon
x
The larger trunks
Are tubes of transit
Moving our eyes
To the show
For which there’s no ticket
But the chilly air
(also a transiting device)
x
What is blue is blue
In the moment
Looking out and up
There is no impedance
From a cloud
Or interruption
Of a contrail
x
If there were
It would be a
Recipe’s ingredient:
Another element in
A complex design
x
It’s quiet through the window
There could be movement
But there isn’t any
Maybe to stay the moment
We may look longer
Let the silence
Stun the colors
x
Have this
As a MidAtlantic gift
Before a winter’s
Bareness calls,
Giving notice to
Another kind
Of traveling exhibit
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Quiet Victory
x
There is yellow sunlight
On things this morning
Or is it gold
Or is it wishful thinking?
Church is going on
I’m trying to listen
The advantage and the irony
Of virtual
If I’m distracted
If I distract myself
It sticks
(the distraction)
x
(Saint) Paul is confessional
I think that’s good
I was thinking yesterday
Of (Saint) Peter
And his qualities to lead
That are pretty awful
He leads anyway
Jesus said so
Called him foundational
To a new movement,
A new church
x
We are flawed
And at our best
We do not deny our flaws
Because that is honest
Because vanity
And ego
Won’t win anything
The battle
Or the day
Or the age
Or the world
Or the cosmos
Better to be the silent planet
As Lewis has created
Until we speak in power
Due to love
And lead the battle
And the world
And the age
In love
x
C L Couch
x
x
Solar Eclipse
Photo by Obed Hernández on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Autumn Liturgy
(layperson’s)
x
Just a little gray
Is creeping in;
It might turn into
Another color
Later on
x
I may say
The point of dawn
Is nearing
Just after the moment
When night and day
Are shared first time
Then several
Hours later
x
The week has passed
Its sharing time
As well,
Being Thursday
Counting Sunday
As the first day
x
Maybe because
It’s autumn season
There is more
Preoccupation
Over what has passed
Than what is coming
x
Summer’s over
Growing’s done
Up here;
We count the harvest
And rely on it
To nourish us through
Winter
When dark is even more pronounced
In shorter daylight days
And longer nights
Even a solstice
For beseeching
Everything we lost
To return again
x
It’s all right
To think on loss
Not fun but necessary
So many things are shed,
Leaves off trees
And skin cells
Off our bodies
We lose things
Too many things, we think,
On the course of normalcy
x
And yet there is
The lesson of the harvest,
The gaining of so much
To see us through
x
The bears do this, of course:
We’ve had fat-week
Pageantry for them
Seeking winners among
The ursae
Who will be readier
For winter rest
Under their stars
Beneath the paler sun
x
We need our things
And we should have them;
Things are lost,
And often we must let
Them go
x
Gain and lose that is
The way of things
(we gain, we lose);
It has to be all right,
And it is
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
Rhapsody on Umber
x
Orange
Nothing rhymes with it
(I’ll try syringe
sometime,
hydrangea-a?)
Who cares
In the better way
It’s wonderful
And add a little brown and yellow
Is that burnt umber
The lost crayon?
x
But it’s just
Right for fall
Add red on its own
For leaves
And all the shades
For possibilities
Cast them under clouds
On a cool day
When walking
In the countryside
Is right
A quiet celebration
A season in the season
If you live around
Here
If not,
In the mind then
Or online
x
It’s fall
The very best Pooh weather
There should be
Tea and honey
For Christopher and friends
The roly bear
The donkey with the usually tail
Mama kangaroo and child
Tiger with springs
An owl of storied wisdom
As far as a child’s genius go
Long-suffering rabbit
And the pig
Small
Always counted on
Like needful stories
To be there
x
thanks for A. A. Milne and to my mom who really liked the stories
x
C(hristopher Robin) L Couch
x
x
Photo by Valentina Ivanova on Unsplash
Ukrainian Village, Чикаго, Иллинойс, США
Published on October 19, 2021
x
(x = space)
x
x
Nearing Full
x
The moon is yellow
The sky is blue
The clouds are silver
The stars are white
The branches have no color
Except the color
Of porch lights
x
It’s late again
The air is cool
Maybe in the fifties
Maybe forties,
Which is not so special
As a sign of autumn
In October
In these parts
But the days and nights
Have been too warm
Now the season
Is announced
x
We’ll have the chilly fall
And with the drop
To cold
At a propitious time
Beautiful leaf colors,
True
Autumn review
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Eleanor Brooke on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Sleeper Awake
x
It’s 69 degrees
(Fahrenheit)
At (twelve-oh-five, we say)
12:05
x
Fall arrives
And hobbits,
The birthdays
Of the Bagginses
x
New season
With an equinox
Autumnal
To complement
The vernal
By a half,
Half a year,
Half a world
x
We tilt into another
And existentially
A new one
x
We have not had
Today
Or this changing
Of the Earth
Around 11
Post-meridian
x
Here is the same season
As a new one,
New seconds
Newly breathed
Into hours
And an age
Collectively
x
Spring to the south,
Autumn
To the north where
Where there
Might be dragons
In their lairs.
Then
We bring in cold air
And awaken them
x
We think fall
Might be the readiness
For freezing,
Sleeping winter;
And yet
(like new school years
for young ones
and for teachers)
Here and now
The adventure,
The quest
Might begin
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Hans Isaacson on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Mortal Timing
x
It’s cool today
Thank goodness
I am thankful
I guess I can’t haiku this
No artful three-line
Praise
Or only observation
Out of nature
Yet nature should be thanked
We are lucky in this hemisphere
Just now
North enough
And south enough
(ecumenically)
Praise fall’s invocation
Of bright colors
Praise the God
Who shows us grace
With autumn
x
Someday
The seasons mesh
Their virtues celebrating
All together
How trees will bear fall colors
While serving new life below
As spring
And summer
Under winter’s cover
We don’t know
(maybe there will be quarters of
seasons’ perfection)
But it is heaven
And new Earth
And these miracles will work
Like clear gold
In the streets of
New Jerusalem
x
C L Couch
x
x
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
Revelation 21:21
x
Photo by Steven Cordes on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
This Autumn Morning
x
Gray with
A patch
Of red
Inside black
Branches
Red leaves
Attached
Maybe until
A winter wind
Comes to
Take them
Through the
Air until the
Breath’s expired
Then gravity
Must have
Its way and
Like the roots
We can see
And-or touch
Must lie upon the
Earth
And inside
For a while
x
C L Couch
x
x
Joshua Tree National Park
Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash
x
clcouch123 
Recent Comments