(x = space)

x

x

Three and Isn’t That Enough

x

Today is day 3

Third day of Christmas

The brief season

The song calls for

Three French hen

Whatever a French hen

Might be

In addition to

Being or having been

A hen from France

x

My grandfather

The bird-bander

Might have been

Able to tell me

But I only saw him twice

At two and ten

And heard from him

Infrequently

x

He would send some years

At Christmas time

A box of holly from his

Home in the

Contiguous northwest

I guess that’s where we’re from

On my father’s side

Though I had only been there

Once (that was the time

at two)

He came and stayed with us

For a while

In Pittsburgh (that was ten)

x

He acted kindly

I also wanted

To like him

I have a Polaroid

Of him standing before

The Christmas tree;

He holds a pipe

And I must have moved

Because the lights on the tree

Are curved

And they were not that way

And did I take

Another shot?

x

The men I liked

Or tried to like

Tended to smoke pipes:

My father, grandfather,

J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis,

The chair of my department

In college,

And my first prof

In graduate school

x

Gee,

What do you know

They all have died by now

(except perhaps

the grad-school prof)

As far as I know,

Pipe-smoking was not

(or will not be)

The cause

Though I could be wrong

x

Anyway,

Three French hens

Cook them

Keep them in a cage

As you will

I guess they could be taken

To a petting zoo

x

So far, six animals

That might be enough

But four more tomorrow

Then seven swans

That must be swimming,

Somewhere

x

Then there are things

And the people doing tasks

Easy for them perhaps

And in increasing

Numbers

Sigh

x

If you’ve had enough,

True love

I’m not sure how to let

The giver know

With such a plan

In execution

Good luck with that

Or add some rooms

And build positive relationships

With the staff

Of local parks

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Soroush Karimi on Unsplash

I was really happy when I saw Eiffel tower. Like really really happy. It was rainy and gloomy but perfect.

[photographer’s narrative]

x