Wars that Cannot End All Wars

(x = space)

x

x

Wars that Cannot End All Wars

(on D-Day citing Second, other wars)

x

I can’t imagine

All the dead and dying on

That day

I won’t see or hear

Private Ryan

(or

by the way

Titanic)

I’ve known some injury and

Death

From crashes and

From cancer

The

Suicides

By people I have known

x

Sardined into a craft and then

The craft

By planes above

Or guns on shore

Explodes

On its way

To shore

Or those who leave

The boats

And are cut down

Unused guns

Held

Grenades

At hand

x

By the numbers the

Campaign

Was successful

In that the Allies

Overwhelmed the beaches

Finally

Finally

The parts once come together

A hold by hand

As far as

The living and the dead can

Hold

A military grasp

On the edge of Europe

x

A return

As when

MacArthur would return

An axis away

To the Philippines

x

Military plans

And executions

When it’s

Time

We go

x

Citizen expectations

Change

The accepted loss

In Desert Storm

Was zero

(under two

hundred

died)

Though we lingered

In Afghanistan through

Presidents

The war on terror

By the numbers

And at home

x

These were their homes

The beaches

On into

Farms and towns

War anymore

Is always a home

Matter

Your home

Or mine

x

Imagine that

And live it in

Ukraine

And all the burning places

That could be called

Without PR

Sites

Homes

For war

x

Trenches

Chlorine gas

Same place

Years before

That is

France

Greater numbers next

Nuclear

Numbers

In Japan

Winning

Losing

Graves attest

x

Mostly

We try

Nowadays

To keep all of it conventional

Though there are strategies

And plans

That

We must hope

Stay shelved

Recalling

Greater victory is peace

Living on

These same places

This

Same planet

After

x

C L Couch

x

x

6 June 1944

x

as soon as I realized the date there was a Western (admittedly) instinctive resonance—that something enormous, consequential happened on this date when it was a day a long time ago

x

Photo by Eric HOARAU on Unsplash

Le Tréport, France

x

Many Deaths in India All at Once

(x = space)

x

x

Many Deaths in India All at Once

x

The electric signals

For the trains

Went wrong

Crash

Crash

Crash

Who knows how many times

And many died

And this means hundreds

Hundreds of people died

Because of this

And we who were not there

Will wonder briefly

About trains

Except we’ll keep them

And make more

Like bullets

That carry us

From guns

Which is fine

Trains are better for us

x

Pages and pages

Filled

All the names of the dead

How many names

Did each one carry

I have three

And you

And I’m still here

We are here

I’m dancing ‘round

The tragedy

Because I can’t make the math

Turn into people

x

I saw one photograph

Tracks and smoke

The right side went dark

There were the bodies

I suppose

Parts of trains

Yes

But unmechanical

Blood and organs

Separated flesh

With all the spirits gone

Released by death

In horror

Nothing like timorous gentility

In age or temerity

Of faith

x

What time for prayer

Seconds to turn

And turn

And turn

Challenge to our consciousness

Our bodies thrown

Moments of discomfort

Injury

Where are our own

Then silence

Even while

The fire of earth

Rage on

x

And we shall rage

And wonder

About planners

Admin. Folk

Even inventors

And

Yes

We have logistics

Everything to deal with

After

Which is us

And now

x

We’ll keep ourselves

We’ll try to keep the earth

And these

Close by

Until way over here

By tomorrow

Maybe tomorrow

x

One life

Let’s save one life

Over this

Then do that

Hundreds of times

Everyone

Everywhere

x

C L Couch

x

x

Despair and Anguish Stalk Hospitals as India Reels from Devastating Train Crash

Story by Ivan Watson • 2h ago

(CNN)

x

‘I Am Haunted by It’: Survivors of Deadly Train Crash in India Recount Trauma

by Krutika Pathis and Rish Lekhi

5 June 2023, 6:29 a.m.

(Time)

x

Photo by Ashwini Chaudhary(Monty) on Unsplash

x

first holy saturday

(x = space)

x

x

first holy saturday

x

1

x

it seems there’s nothing

but a void

after which is fear

there could be doubt

but what is left

to believe in

first

x

the body’s cared for

there’s the irony of a guard

to keep things safe

while making sure

we don’t get in

to take him

x

so what is left

but us

and an enormous world

ready to quash us

and to take our air

our allotment of

anything

allowed

x

we have gone too far

they’ll say

but we have killed the head

and now the serpent

body dies

and we shall have it

or leave it

shriveling in the shadows

or bring it to the light

to finish

dessication

and metaphors aside

we mean you

and to have you

x

your paltry movement

and there are many crosses

provided by the Romans

and the Greeks

and Egyptians

before

x

you are done

we shall have you

you are annihilated

not even space on Earth

shall have you

x

we can delight

considering

a line of graves

underneath the field

that we buy

with the silver

Judas has returned

x

well

not well

and so we hide

small care for each other

we dare to send for food

and prepare it

without fire

to share it in the dark

x

these are holy hours

we try

to pay attention

x

some count the hours

most of us

cannot do

something so constructive

x

it is finished

last words

we heard them

so did they

we wait for

we don’t know what

we have forgotten all the miracles

and all of what was said

to go with them

x

we hide

and that’s the hell of it

as it seems

that hell has won

x

2

x

there is the edge

of a hole

through which we see

what we have been taken from

and shall we try

to return

a circle

an eye

we hurt

wait, an eye

who sees

we see

does God look at us

or Rome

or the Sanhedrin

x

how can God look

God died yesterday

we saw

we heard

and it is terrible

but there’s nothing more

even from the cross

were the words

that it is finished

x

we can’t even wait

we can count the hours

but there’s nothing there

there is grief

the rightness of it

rituals

for a while

x

but then there’s nothing left

we are ridiculed

then captured

captured and then ridiculed

when it’s safe

when we are bound

bound perhaps

to crosses of our own

x

why do we even have

this day

it is a holy day

so to say

holy hours

holy minutes

x

if yesterday

had been the day

if the cross beam was

a blooded lintel

then the deadly angel

missed

or misread

and took

the righteous

anyway

against the plan

x

but it’s not fair

to miscast angels

who are commanded

by a God

who let

if not arranged for

all of this

and now has disappeared

gone to Sheol

though how can God

wait for God

x

there are no answers

only rumors

that we cannot hear

the world has closed us off

in here

and we will not snipe

or bear false hope

or cheat

material truth

x

while we are waiting

worse than that

having nothing

to wait for

x

we mourn

we cannot look

or look

taste and see

we miss our God

we were friends of God

for a little while

x

we are lost

after our paroxysms

maybe we

catch our breath a little

and shall we go where

we proclaimed it long ago

that without God

there is nowhere

the nowhere of the Sadducees

maybe

x

but on to night

and after night

not daylight

but a void

judgment perhaps

but what could we have done

when we were told

what we were told

x

friendship for hours only

new love

and now

it’s as if creation

matter

molecules

might as well

have never happened

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Filip Kominik on Unsplash

x

Pointers

(x = space)

x

x

(x = space)

x

x

Pointers

x

What shall we say

That life goes on?

It does

Life goes on

As we say a lot

Without the import

x

Better over there

That is the promise

There are hints over here

Should we see them

Should we not

Or choose not

They are there, anyway

x

Funny thing

About the faith

Almost in anything—

Nothing is presumed

By our believing

If it’s big

And good

If it’s small

And good

It is there, anyway

x

Our choice does not affect

Its existence

Or its offering

Nature still spirals everywhere

And persists

In mysteries of hexagons

x

Nature does not predicate

Or faith in that

From that

Or anything

Or ask for

Our predication,

Either

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Kevin Bergen on Unsplash

x

Five in Five

(x = space)

x

x

Five in Five

(memoriam)

x

Out, out, brief candle! but

A candle isn’t brief

That’s on us for

A metaphor

Sometimes a real one, I guess

Sometimes the candles

In the church

Are pretty short

And thus available

For show

x

But the candle length

Is years,

I guess we know

Three score and ten

In made-up inches

Or in centimeters

Or real ones

(as in church)

To illustrate

x

You see, they are ubiquitous

Both real and imagined

x

The length may vary

By abstraction

Fate

I guess

And relativity

Macbeth’s flame is undone

Too soon by happy counting,

Not as an end

To tyranny,

His tragedy of making

x

But this is not a nation

Or a clan

Though Scots be in it,

Great text

Or a metaphor

(sorry to mention

then dismantle)

Simply a life

As it was

And as it’s gone

Always

Every hour I think on it

Too soon

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Rob Wicks on Unsplash

x

The Mystery of Richard Bruce

(x = space)

x

x

The Mystery of Richard Bruce

x

I think it’s Saturday

The twenty-eighth

I’m

I don’t

Really have to know

The sun is bright

Through filmy

(rented)

Windows

And on the dusty

Hardwood floor

(I can take

care of that)

And, well, he’s gone

Meeting God so closely

In ways we only

Imagine

And how much we do imagine

Is in the books

How much we want

To know

He was suffering

That’s over

I’m glad for that

Though catharsis should not be

The main reward

They know what to do

The professionals

My sister says

They’re really good people

Plus they know their jobs

The government

Has funded a good deal

Of everything that’s happened

Our tax dollars working

Is there one administration

Or another

To approve?

The family,

We talk with each other

And our friends

There won’t be a service

He made that clear

He approved a wake

An experience of drinking

And appreciation

Since we tend to be

Micks and Scots

And even if we weren’t

This gathering appeals

My sister

And her crew

(my brother-in-law and

nephew)

Had done so much already

The burden for

Being there

I guess I can relate

There was a lease

Apartment filled with furniture

A car

All the bureaucracy

That places our lives

In containment

Then the boxes must be emptied

When it’s time

There should be more

There must be more

There is

There is an end to pain

And remembrance

That’s on us

I’m trying to recall

His sense of humor

It will return

His last days might have

Been sullen

Save for staff

And asserting to my sister

He did not want

To be there

Though there was too much

To do

To allow for decent care

Anywhere else

Too much immobility

Too much medication

There are degrees

I understand

I made such decisions years ago

And do not like it

When there should be more

x

We’re down

To four now

In the immediacy

Of things

The math is weird

The hole

It feels substantial

Holes should have no feelings

Gaps are an absence,

After all

My feelings are dry and sad

Like edging on a desert

Upon waking

Or simply turning around

I want to feel grown-up

And I do

It is the wake that follows

A wave anticipated

Always a surprise

She’ll have the family in

One more burden

Though I think everyone

Will try to behave

(not a pub, you

know,

though even there)

We’ll ponder mysteries

Though I doubt

We’ll talk about them

Memories might be easier

We’ll look for something positive

Or funny

Or strange

He took off once

And I have no idea

What transpired

I was a child

I guess I wasn’t allowed

To know

x

C L Couch

x

x

My older brother Rick died on Thursday night. He died as if he were asleep, and I suppose he was. His last insistances were not to have a service and to have his ashes scattered (not held onto). A wake was approved.

x

Photo by Kamil Feczko on Unsplash

x

Plane Crash in Nepal

(x = space]

x

x

Plane Crash in Nepal

x

preamble

x

And if you think of other planes

Dimensions, even

Torn and torn apart

I think you’re tragically

Correct

x

story

x

If you’ve ever seen

A landing in Nepal

(I saw one, recorded)

Then you saw

How steep

How brief

A perilous experience

Considered normal

Was there sudden wind

Inside the mountains

Of Himalaya?

Was there ennui

Among the pilots

Who got too used to doing this?

Was there worse

Or better

Doesn’t matter

To the loss of life

That’s final on this side

And for us

All the keening

And investigating

A place of peril

On a good day

This was not a good day

It was a horror

Out of normalcy

We like to think plane landings

Are ho-hum

Not a terror

The humdrum fabric

On the loom

Ripped apart

The frames of bodies

Broken

Flung and sung away

For furies

Or other agencies

Who mission is to surprise death

Out of our ordinary

x

This was ordinary

Leisure

Otherwise, uninteresting

Now the count

The cost

The loss

The news

Prayers lining up through ages

A horrible new age

Unending sorry

Ending

Beginning

Some kind of cycle no one

Wants to live through

And live through

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Rahul Lal on Unsplash

The Other Side of Himalays

Pokhara, Nepal

x

Earthquake in Indonesia

(x = space)

x

x

Earthquake in Indonesia

x

Pray for the souls

Of victims

Dead and living

And the

In-between

We don’t understand the hundreds

Because we are not there

We’ve seen pictures

These are not enough

What would we see for real?

What would we smell?

What would we taste?

What would we be allowed

To touch

And whom?

And all the misery

We’d hear

From the keening of the living

And the demons overhead

And underground

That scream a victory

x

Nature is corrupted

We’re claiming the win

x

C L Couch

x

x

Boy, 6, pulled alive from wreckage of Indonesia earthquake

Story by Masrur Jamaluddin • 1h ago

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/boy-6-pulled-alive-from-wreckage-of-indonesia-earthquake/ar-AA14sWsL

x

Photo by Chris Zhang on Unsplash

x

distracted

(x = space)

x

x

distracted

x

in the concluding

of the service

we sang

in the hymn

behold his hands and side

and I stopped following

x

that’s hard

the hands and side were pierced

there was blood

out of its natural place

and it ran away

from the body,

stealing life

and we are to behold all this

x

it happens to others, too,

the bleeding

from a fall

from a blade

(the scalpel blade is good)

or from a bullet

or from shrapnel

or part of a car or truck

or other crash

and we can talk about

what missiles do

x

we release so much blood

and it becomes

the thief of life

x

what was Thomas thinking?

maybe he knew brutal living

and the dying

all too well

and didn’t mind the asking,

blood for proof

or the holes in hands

and mark of the spear

at least

x

was he chagrined?

he knew his master

and the following

restored

for everyone, as far as

Thomas might be concerned

and in euphoria

he might not have cared so much

about the scolding

because blessed are those who

don’t need such evidence

for proof

x

whatever

he was back

he was alive

the gruesome marks

the signs of blood,

blood now thwarted

in thievery

x

the marks he saw—and

did he touch as bid?—either way

concluded,

concluded

everything

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by Allef Vinicius on Unsplash

x

the story of Thomas doubting is in the twentieth chapter of John’s gospel in the Christian New Testament

x