Sleeper Awake

(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

Missing Magic

(x = space)

x

x

Missing Magic

x

Well, that was a clutter

Messages, groceries by the door

Coffeemaker, toaster

Mail

And nearly all of it

I slept through

Catching the final beep

From the phone

Signaling that

So many things had happened

In my Prufrock world

I don’t have a peach

And the part is in the middle

I’ve only heard the mermaid sing

In the Disney movie

But there is color outside

And cool air to breathe

x

And I shall go

Not

To strive or find

Yes, not

To yield

I doubt there will be a grail,

Either

Or a dragon

And if a dragon, we should

Become acquainted

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Artiom Vallat on Unsplash

x

No Tricks

(x = space)

x

x

No Tricks

x

God help us

God will help us

If we ask

x

Though God is not a raven

Or a spider

Or a god who wants

To play immortal pranks

In Asgard

x

God is closer to a dragon:

Power contained,

Always ready for release

Of power

Or of learning

Then

Reveal

x

Guardian of treasures,

Keeper of wisdom

x

What do we want—

What do we want of God?

God is curled up to rest

Or stretched

While flying through the sky

And so much higher

Without need for air

x

Would we like to go,

Would we like to ride with God?

x

We might have to go through

A mountain,

First,

Or out until we find

A howling island

x

Or inside

Our capillaries

x

Once there,

Mind your manners

Around dragons

x

C L Couch

x

x

by Battle Brook – File:Valhallas.jpg, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=84903609

Valhallas’ Asgard and Midgard peaks seen from north

x

Page One

Page One

 

Fluff

Good for pillows

Not so good for writing

Aspiring toward substance

Sometimes it’s fluffy

The time, a portion

An interaction

Did I ever have a cat named

Fluffy? I don’t think so

Fluff is not the magic dragon

 

And now I think on it,

Is there any other kind?

Fly, dragon

Take me with you, please

(be courteous to dragons)

Into your magic

 

C L Couch

 

 

MyName (AllenS) – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4021075

Story Book Wall at Alamogordo (New Mexico) Public Library, outside the Children’s Library. Dedicated May 1963. Local schoolchildren drew illustrations for their favorite story books and these were transferred to ceramic tiles and baked on.

 

Prime Meridian

Prime Meridian

 

I doubt we think of

Fighting dragons all that much

If at all

We know a story

Maybe one or two retellings

 

Saint George

Fafnir

Or the dragon who slew Beowulf

Most of these from the west

(as someone has determined)

In the east

The east of east

The dragon is a force as likely

To ally itself

With virtue

And to embody the divine

 

Then there are those between

Those who’d just as soon have peace

To sleep in every now and then

And enjoy late breakfast

 

Who might take an adventure

On, because a spark of virtue

Has ignited

 

Travel somewhere farther out

Not for treasure but for

Keeping all the neighbors

And the neighborhood intact

And then

 

There is the confrontation

And because the sword is rusty

With the faith in fighting

Our hero

Turns to listening

And hears more than the

Dragon’s name

Hears its complaints

 

Beneath the bluster

It is a creature

With a need

It wants to escape the stories

And the derring-do

It has treasure enough

With a collection of knight’s armor

It can’t wear

 

The hero, then, steps forward

Not to raise the sword

That molders in a

Rotted sheath borrowed from

A museum

Not to speak a loaned-out

Incantation

 

But instead to utter

Through the fear of one so grand

And sharp with many razor-points

A greeting that sounds

Civil, if vibrated

 

There’s a wet tear

The first one steaming

Another

Tears from both combatants

They make a friendship flame

To camp

Tea for drink and

Moistening dry food

They talk into the night

 

The town has two heroes, then

One of them will last for ages

The other return

To sunlit life

Late breakfast in

The back garden

 

C L Couch

 

 

By Allie_Caulfield from Germany – 2012-10-10 10-13 Berlin 313 Pergamon Museum, Ischtar Tor, DetailUploaded by FunkMonk, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22769614

The mušḫuššu is a serpentine, dragon-like monster from ancient Mesopotamian mythology with the body and neck of a snake, the forelegs of a lion, and the hind-legs of a bird.^[18] Here it is shown as it appears in the Ishtar Gate from the city of Babylon.^[18]

[18] Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992), Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, The British Museum Press, ISBN 0-7141-1705-6

 

Way

Way

 

if we don’t care when we get there

detours can be interesting

we might not know exactly where we’re going

anymore

and so find ourselves in something

new

and it’s not a jungle

overgrown

we’re still on roads or, if walking, on paths

we’ll still see houses, trees marching

to greet us

maybe around the bend, we’d like to find

a castle in a wild place

a dragon perched atop, looking to tilt

fang against spar not for life but for

local reputation,

bragging rights at the public house

 

the thing about the road less traveled

is that others have traveled it

we can go it alone

singing Sinatra like a mantra

(ouch)

but everything’s been trod, everything’s a trail

explored many times by pilgrims

owning a variety of causes

we go to see what has befallen

to know what has been

known

in new combinations

 

and in company

I believe

Is best

 

C L Couch

 

 

Taiping Mountain Path in Taiwan

Image credit: Justin Jones

https://www.boredpanda.com/path-photography/

 

(going west, going east)

(driving out)

 

Misty Mountains, Pennsylvania

 

I travel west on I-76, and it is there:

The Lonely Mountain

 

Higher and set apart from the ridge

That falls away, behind

 

A dragon set atop, searching for

Prey gone to ground

 

Orcs lurk below, ready to battle

Dwarves who stand ready ‘round

The deep tomb of their king at rest,

Diamond earthstar guard upon

His chest

 

I see these shadowed and

Foreshadowed parts of epic

Because

 

Tolkien, the literary mentor, first

Saw his

 

 

(driving back)

 

Rainbow World

 

I drive east on a four-lane reach

Of road, not an interstate so I

Have concerns to watch out

For local traffic

 

It has been raining, now mostly

Stopped with dark clouds in

The distance

 

Yet there must be a band of

Spectrum light somewhere

Because before me is a rainbow

 

That, against grey background,

Shines with every ordered

Color distinct and bleeding

Into from each other

 

Purple into blue into green

Into yellow in orange into red

From blended shades

Between

 

It arches, and I see both ends

Where it leaves the hillside,

Arcs before my car, lands on

More dimly-toned earth in

My direction

 

Of course, I think of Irish

And of argent pots inside with

Their own hills, sun-colored

Coin

 

And the folk who keep it,

Minding with angry magic any

Interloping