Advent 4

(x = space)

x

x

Advent 4

(in pandemic time)

x

The test was negative

An early Christmas present

So I’m sick with something else

A strain of flu the shot

Could not take cover of,

A cold that has

Gone deep

x

A sliced-up immune system

Trauma, medication

Treatments, operations

But I’m here

And should be

For Christmas day

x

And, yes, I’m thankful

I’d rather be

Knit together better

But I’m here

Have all appendages

Insides busted up, here and there

While finding aging

To be a cranky business

‘Tis the season

x

‘Tis the season

The wreath is almost done

The Hanukkah lights

Have been done for days

The early miracle

The rituals continue

Lights and green and red and gold

And have I finished all the gathering

For the holiday?

You know, I think I could say

“Stop” and “ready”

Anytime

x

I hope the world

Beyond sectarian

Has a fine Christmas time

The solstice will happen soon

With tiny increments toward

Spring

Cold weather

Hot toward the south

Until it chills again

But Christmastide all over

All kinds of holidays

With expectations

x

Maybe we may take

Some freer, fuller breaths

Because much of the world

Is slowing down

And ceasing for a time

And, if not,

We can imagine

x

Fill the time

With something good

With something stopped

With easy joy

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Grant Whitty on Unsplash

x

The O in Omicron

(x = space)

x

x

The O in Omicron

x

Omicron

Is impressive

Like the o in omega,

I guess

Something surprising

Something final

The end is a beginning

First cases reported

How will we get sick?

How will our vaccines withstand?

The title shouldn’t be

A headline,

Something instead to tell us

It ain’t over

All of this

Be careful

And take care

Of each other

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash

x

FOMO LOL

(x = space)

x

x

FOMO  LOL

x

Well, the pandemic

Screwed it up

Reminded us that we don’t need

Everything right away

Or the same thing, either

x

All the sequels stopped

Prevention, lockdown

Chain of supply

Forbidding the arrivals

That we’re used to

x

We’ve had

To improvise,

To deal with scotched plans

And ruined routines

Dealing with

The products we can find

While keeping calm

Keeping the calm that others

Might be losing

x

All the while

The greater part is raging on

Those who catch the disease,

Suffer, and then die

x

In the millions

Now

I know, it’s hard to keep perspective

But there it is

x

C L Couch

x

x

Coronavirus Cases:

252,967,467

view by country

Deaths:

5,099,784

Recovered:

228,800,363

x

Last updated: November 12, 2021, 17:48 GMT

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

x

Downer Theatre “Temporarily Closed Due to Corona. Stay Safe.” This theatre is one of many in Milwaukee, Wi closed because of the pandemic.

Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash

Milwaukee, WI, USA

x

A Village Takes It

(x = space)

x

x

A Village Takes It

x

Schools in session

Offices are open

Stores

Factories are functioning

All in the time of cholera

x

We have solutions

We blame the leadership,

So-called,

Whose message has been

Me first

Never you

x

We can only hope

Diffusion brings

Immunity

Enough to keep a planet

Going

As after any plague

x

And by the way

This is not

A Republican thing

Or a Democrat thing

Or any party

In the Italian assembly

And despots

Will be despots

Since it means

Healthcare for

Supposed elites

Never mind

The rest of us

x

For the rest of us

There are risks

There were risks

When we swallowed

The polio vaccine

x

In fact,

There are risks all

Around

More so for the rest of us

Who are the billions

Who inhabit Earth

And should inherit

x

It’s a human thing,

You know,

Starting out microbial

Affecting animals

And now us (more)

There will be a cure

Enough

x

Requiring

Behavior, practice

And that thing

You know,

Community

x

C L Couch

x

x

A woman sits with her pet in a village in Madhya Pradesh, India .

Photo by Srimathi Jayaprakash on Unsplash

Ranipur, Madhya Pradesh, India

x

seven at a blow

(x = space)

x

x

seven at a blow

x

99,000

new cases here

on Friday

don’t know how it is

where you are

here we’re still denying

we want to go to bars

though barkeeps

are smart

and want to know

how safe

each patron is

x

we want it to be over

so much so

some say

it never happened

it’s not happening

but for the family

the friends

we’ll never see again

this side,

what are we to say

x

that

the multi-million deaths

from the same thing

was not

is not

it isn’t happening?

what kind of remembrance

x

it’s nice

that we don’t want

to hear about it

and it’s cruel

x

we could apologize

the COVID series doesn’t care

numbers on the news

numbers in my family

and yours

x

I don’t know

where it started

I heard a bat

and I like bats

for all they consume that

I’d rather not have

around

in numbers

x

China?

sure

made up maybe

in a lab,

who’s to know?

I don’t know

I’ll care later

x

for now,

I want you to be safe

I want us all

to move on to health

then I’ll gladly buy

the next round

x

oh, there is a story

about numbers

seven at a blow

to keep us

frosty

to keep us

skeptical

x

and, hey,

I want you to be well

x

c l couch

x

x

Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash

Published on March 22, 2020

x

But If the Numbers Lie

(x = space)

x

x

But If the Numbers Lie

(they don’t)

x

We thought we’d wait a year

Though we did it badly

We’d rather believe conspiracies

That allow us to travel

Go to bars

And live virtuously

In neighborhoods

x

We didn’t take the year

In fact

And now numbers are increasing

There should be little wonder

Undeserved curiosity

About the sick and dying

x

So back up now

Go the other way

We know the options for belief

But by now we know the dead

And could take a chance

On caution

And on care

x

C L Couch

x

Are there choices in belief?  Absolutely.  And options for our actions.  And I wonder if we might love our neighbor, then we could side with caution and prevention and, yes, inconvenience.  For now, I think it must be an inconvenient world.

x

x

Photo by Alexander Grigoryev on Unsplash

x

La Bohème

(x = space)

x

x

La Bohème

x

We cannot tell the good

From black or white

That’s clothing

Or how the clouds come at us

From the sky

Or day or night

Night or day

The priority is

Having clothes to wear

To feel secure

Safe from certain elements

That challenge us throughout the day

x

And we need air and food

A way to get around

Space for living and for working

For a Bohemian

The garret’s all the same

And prophesies pandemics

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Kinga Cichewicz on Unsplash

x

x

Sun on Sunday

(x = space)

x

x

Sun on Sunday

x

It’s dim outside

And raining

I hear wet tires

x

A gloomy day

I do not mind

The Addams genes at play,

I suppose,

The kind that make

A lark of dark days

x

I’m a day into

The new shot

Feels like the flu shot

And every vaccine that

I’ve had since

Childhood

The site is sore

x

I don’t mean to comment

I want to respect

The courtesies of others

That are challenged

Only in

Contagious situations,

Where they make

The issues grim

x

Like guns, I guess

We know what we know

And I might be wrong

x

But let’s not make it politics

But practicalities

There is an epidemic

I’ve lost people to it,

Which gives me added rights

To nothing

But my sadness

X

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

x

Mything Thursday

(x = space)

x

x

Mything Thursday

(in pandemic time)

x

There are few untouched

Places on Earth

For when we see the,

We have touched them

They are changed

x

I wonder if the virus

Might be made of plastic,

A natural invention

And response to our touch

We needed plastic

In the war,

Then its convenience took over

Making things

And we blew it into the sky

From our factories

We could wish for coal

And dirt and rust and oil

In the air

Though they have needed

Cleaning, too

x

To places needing cleaning,

There seem to be two

Options: clean them

Or ignore them

Throw a carpet over it

Go to another room

And finally another place

x

Or do a half-done job

A sloppy job

Of making do

Because there is no profit in

Cleaning up

Except for cleaning companies

x

So let’s have cleaning companies!

People who know how

To fix a world

Rearrange it, replace broken

Parts, dust everything

So we might move again

Into timeworn places

Inhabitable again

x

Know how to rebuild

And build new

So we don’t poison ourselves

So much, again

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Antoine GIRET on Unsplash

Albanie

Mountain of rubbish and garbage on the beach by the sea[.]

x