Easter Saturday

(x = space)

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Easter Saturday

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I think it might be

Easter Saturday

On someone’s calendar,

The week having begun,

You know,

With Easter Sunday

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But now the bunnies

That lay eggs

Must return to their

Warrens of marvels

While the quotidian battle over

How much chocolate

Resumes

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Many-colored eggshells

Will be swept away

With plastic grass

Found throughout the house

‘Til Christmas

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As for Easter in our hearts

I’m not sure what

To say:

I hope we have it

As a feeling and an impulse

That doesn’t have to be

The Christian way

But simply good

Like contentment sighs

At the end of day

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Before then,

Worn out from trafficking

In virtue—

Yes, I said it

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It exists

In certain texts of the past,

I know

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Better still, inside-outside

Now,

Which works out because

Now is what we have

And all we have

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C L Couch

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Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

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Slowdown Season

(x = space)

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Slowdown Season

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Lent could mean

Anticipation,

If we would allow for that

In the midst of conversations

About sacrifice

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Having given up

On chocolate, we need

Something to talk about

How about why?

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Sacrifice for its own sake

Being good,

Don’t get me wrong

Though we can

Say more

About the season

About church

About reading

About us

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Lent means getting ready

Or it might

Lest we forget

Why we gave up the chocolate

Or the coffee

Or, I don’t know,

What do people give up

Nowadays?

(maybe screen time)

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It seems we give up

Something somewhat bad

Somewhat good

Maybe it’s the excess

We surrender,

Which a good ancient Greek

Will say

Is always good

A lifestyle to adopt

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Well, we’re not here

To parse

We’re here, in fact, because

We’re unified

We want one thing

Even if delivery

Is holiday disarray

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We want a happy Easter

With rabbits

And eggs

(rabbits who lay eggs)

And back to chocolate

Like a former friend

Now reconciled

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There is more

But it’s not mine to say

You must, must not

It is yours to say

To own a resurrection

Shown in nature

Told as story

A question and an answer

Of belief

It’s yours to say

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C L Couch

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Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

Walk the Line

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Chocolate Milk

(x = space)

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Chocolate Milk

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I used to like

To mix in Nestle’s Quik

Sold by a rabbit

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It was powder then,

And I was not good

With the result

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Little globs of wet

Powder on the surface

Of the milk

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But I liked the process,

Spinning the Quik around

Making a maelstrom

In the center of it all

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I don’t know if

I had been in the southern world

Would I have stirred it

The other way

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I’m drinking coffee

From a glass just now

(it’s customized),

And everything is smoother

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I’m grown up

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But the stirring

Just this morning

Reminded me of

Turning galaxies

In my child’s glass

Of milk and Nestle’s Quik

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C L Couch

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Photo by Arnaud Mariat on Unsplash

universe

Far away Andromeda galaxy, or M31, in deep space.

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Bump

(x = space)

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Bump

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In a week is Hallowe’en

Let’s reach up

Take down the ghosts

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Dust the sheets

Sew a few stitches

Here and there

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This is the time

When ghosts of the past

Year-round

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We know the kind

Deserve some sublimation

For the humanly

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Storied things

Chased with chocolate

Chasers

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While fun

Is fright

All pathologies aside

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Mars is not invading

If you think so,

Happy Hallowe’en

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C L Couch

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Photo by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash

San Francisco, CA, USA

San Francisco 2020, after the Labor Day fires.

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