Juneteenth in Days

(x = space)

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Juneteenth in Days

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Juneteenth

Again

It’s coming

Don’t you like the sound

There might be

A proclamation

Somewhere

But we know how it sounds

It sounds for freedom

Ring a bell

On the day

Those who know

Shall know

And shall proclaim

Inside the heart

That this was a good day

A needful day

Against the tragedy

Of people

Who possess the sin

Believing

We may own another person

Other people

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Treating

Counting them

As assets

Treating them

Like harvest

From the field

Or the factory

While building

Cities

Homely or large

Across the nation

In the heart

Of the land

And air and water

So many things

That should be willing

At no cost

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Burn

Then

For freedom

Have good days

And set

Domestic fires

Carefully

For warmth

And for tomorrow

The twentieth

And then midsummer

And all seasons

To be free

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C L Couch

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Photo by Wolf Zimmermann on Unsplash

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“The Smallest Things,” “Peace Relative”

(x = space)

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The Smallest Things

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It’s cold

There is a blanket

There are enough things

For morning coffee

And toast

For breakfast later on

There is sunlight

So our whole planet

Has another

Day

There is water

I can drink

x

I can wash things

I can

Wash me

x

I have trash

Lined up in bags

Somewhere to take it

I have other piles

(boxes)

By the door

That should I have the

Help

Can go away

Be useful for others who

Might need some things

I had

x

My

Neighbors

Beat the ceiling

But there are no literal explosions

We are lucky

We have things

We can share

When

We want to

We can live in peace relative

To what’s inside

But peace for war

All

The same

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C L Couch

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Peace Relative

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Relative to war

And to shutting doors

To keep things out

As if

We hadn’t seen or heard them

Once before

Or every day

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Relative to shining in

With sunlight

Rather than

Explosives

Something negligent

Or something planned

x

Maybe not peace everywhere

Not yet

And peace organic

Certainly not remaining

Only

Peace from graves

x

Gravesides are pretty

And they’re quiet,

Mostly

We can do so much better

We should

We must

x

We want

To be there

At the end

And how about

A single turning page

Into the story of

Today?

x

Be there for that

Lift each other

The greater adventure

Is not war

Or even matter turned to energy

(it should go

the other way around)

But matters

Of the story

Withheld until we know

We have

Today

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Next chapter

Please God

Please

Each other

Please

Let’s have the next

Have the next

Now

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Now

Now

And now

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C L Couch

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Photo by Nowshad Arefin on Unsplash

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News for the Nichols Family

(x = space)

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News for the Nichols Family

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The attorney is speaking on TV

And no doubt on line

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Programmers await

The bodycam

How shall this be gauged?

How shall the length

Be moderated?

I can go

Back to the local news

While I decide

x

We are happy with

The D.A.’s office

(paraphrasing)

And this becomes our cause

Expedient justice

x

I doubt that Tyre cares

Though his family might be bound:

If I found a lost someone

In my life

To cop violence

What should I do

Inside and outside?

x

This could happen

It’s happening

We shoot each other

Stab each other

Throw other things with edges

Use our vehicles

And we have the officers

Who work out

Whatever working out

With different kinds

Of crimes,

Misdemeanors on

To felonies

x

Our felonious society

There is justice there

There is safety

But in an unjust way

They have become selective

While most of us

Have to hope

Either side

Will not crash into

Our lives

To hurt too much

x

And this might be the best

Not to get hurt so much

And to bear the scars

That might be

A science, too,

Into lives we only hope

Mostly unscathed

Day by day

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Then there’s color

That could be a signal

For delight

But totems pain and shame

Instead

Is there an answer?

Bring us in

Bring it in

All of us

Every one

Bury our dead as if

Each one were a victim

In a campaign

Like a war

Wait for the war to end

And fight unweaponed

Save by principle

And rhetoric,

The discourse and the common

Sense

To have it right

To have the land and air and water

Right

For life

In praise of sentience

And of consciousness

Let freedom ring

We sing

(we wing)

Let each one live

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C L Couch

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This is the noon hour on the day after charges were announced against officers allegedly involved in the death of (Ty-REE) Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee (USA).

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Photo by Mr Cup / Fabien Barral on Unsplash

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Stone of Help

(x = space)

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Stone of Help

(MLK Junior Day)

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MLK Junior

I don’t know much

About the senior

Except he changed the name of junior

On learning about

Reformation

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I have been to the church

As many have

Name from the Bible

Ebenezer

“stone of help”

Set up near Mizpah

(itself a place of blessing)

As a sign

Of victory

And settlement

And a home of peace

For a long while

x

You can look it up

The President spoke yesterday

At the church

There was applause

I’m not sure how many

Contributed to the words

But they spoke to affirmation

And forward-moving

Business

x

The sun shines

Yellow and gold

After a series of gray days

I’m sure that’s good

For sales

x

His actual birthday

Is the fifteenth,

Which was yesterday

You know, the ides

Of January

x

I ramble

But ramble means to walk

And we have

Walking to do

Far to go

And back again

Bearing new days

With less hate

If we must hate at all

Maybe real threats

That never were these

But better still

To respond in love,

The strength and home

In it

x

Build on this

The black day

And the white

And all colors in between

Churches should be safe

They should also be inspiring

For they’re people,

Don’t you know,

Not stone or wood

Or columns,

Even friendly porches

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They’re people

In Atlanta

And in Washington

New York

Paris

Geneva

Cairo

And Jerusalem

Mumbai

And Beijing

Tokyo

x

Capitals

Big cities

And small towns

And not in towns

We can meet on a field

Grasp hands without weapons

Maybe have a picnic

Signs of peace

Mostly of good food

x

And end to hunger

Not of exploration

But of need

The daily kind

For which we pray of bread

And for each other

x

An altar there

In fact,

In every place of peace

Agreed

Maybe stones of help

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C L Couch

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By Southern Arkansas University – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64713156

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devotional rant

(x = space)

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devotional rant

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i hear the cat upstairs

my brother dies from cancer

floods kill people

in the South

the Russian war goes on

and there are fires elsewhere

made by us

weapons

and-or

mania

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there must be reasons for these

and there are

that might be the easy part

will

and stakes for will

this is not for training

this is real

i should say

i don’t know

how all this might apply

to what’s next

what’s coming

x

for now

the harder part

is having what we have

and turning victory

from unshapen shapes

of loss

the lathe of heaven

she writes,

refining all that’s here

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and yet outside the story

(the story teaches)

we have

what we have

and must make do

and should do better

we should win

not over each other

but over demons

on the earth,

ones that are

ones we make

x

we know better

our skill is better

we can help each other

so much better

some do

the rest ought

to do

x

we have the instruments

play on

war on

peace on

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c l couch

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note

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

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Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash

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The Twenty-Sixth

(x = space)

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The Twenty-Sixth

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Now is the time

For peace on Earth

When there is no binding holiday

No slogan

No official reason

We must slosh inside the ordinary

Mind

Hope for the best

With hoping

Because there is a job to do

Gift wrap to amass

Maybe hope

For extended appreciation

Of the gift

x

Here it’s cold

There is no snow

What is a child to do

Outside?

How is it where you are?

Well,

There are screens

And some controls

To occupy

Maybe made up of more

Than metal

And plastic

x

War goes on

That’s literal

And horrible

I don’t think it paused

For the official reason

Yesterday

Aiming for infrastructure

Destroying daily need

Aiming for

The sanctity of home

And then the nation

x

I mean Ukraine

Of course

But ask around

It’s happening elsewhere

x

Maybe it can’t happen

I heard the bells on Christmas day

When the pastor had no hope

Except to write

x

But today

Is the twenty-sixth

Only ordinary reasons

Will compel

Though that’s the only kind of peace

That lasts

The kind beside the holiday,

Lacking cachet

That’s global

Or across the street

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Peace in normal living

Pericardial

Beneath the cranial sutures

Satisfying daily muscles, too

x

Yes, there is a Boxing Day

And turtles doves are due

And Hanukkah

The Festival of Lights

Completes

Its wonder

And bestows

x

And there are other dates

In other places

We don’t know

And they matter

With or without the nations

Knowing

Or the neighborhoods

x

What might be happening

Where you are

As your own

And annual thing?

x

But with all lack of ritual

We have

There were storms

Taking lives

In New York

And in the South

There is the danger in

Deep, freezing temperatures

x

And that’s here:

What’s happening with you?

x

Lights are on in capital cities

Not lit for holidays

x

There is no peace on Earth

The pastor said

And then the bells were heard

Through winter windows

x

Bells can ring a lot

As angels can call

Inside desert skies

It doesn’t have to take a day

Or twelve days

Or their nights

x

Listen

In undesignated times

x

Through the daily and dark glass

We must

Practice

Belief in clarity

There is real peace

In store

Even after falling

(after Eden)

Perfection not required

No more than fancy dress

To come inside

To keep the outside, too

x

Let’s have peace

Beyond the demons

Even the Skeksis

You might know

That’s also black

And brown and gray

With splashes of

Bright colors

That mean promise

x

Inside our kitchens

And our resting places

x

Where we study

Where our children play

Where we have our jobs

For pay

x

Cessation

Then a waging peace

Everywhere that’s

Unextraordinary

x

We may claim a season still

Or simply have the one

We have

Without an ego calling

x

Ordinary peace, of course

Start with restraint

Then offer simply

Globally

On many worlds

With all groups

All numbers of inhabitants

x

The words of love

Then actions

That profit nothing

Like the world

But keep the world

x

Practices

That work in capitals

And under smaller domes

Homely contentment

In the happiness in others

Yes, that prosaic

x

Don’t worry

If you must worry

The effect

Without expectation

Cross lines

Or move in shapelessness

Of time and place

Over, inside the world

And on all worlds

Like the song

Great and small

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C L Couch

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CNN

“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”

The Dark Crystal

“All Things Bright and Beautiful”

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Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

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Christmas 1

(x = space)

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Christmas 1

x

It’s Christmas day

What shall we say

But that the world

Is old and tired

And ornery

And peace taken

For an illusion

Some might enjoy

Invented

Only on the inside

Then a webinar

With fees

x

Here,

The sun is out

The temperature has climbed

Into two digits

There are icicles on the screen

Outside the casement

Of the window

Church is on line

Not only hundreds of miles away

But the consequence of heart disease

Is to stay

When the weather is extreme

Either way

And to deal with low energy

As in

It takes me forever

To do anything

x

And did Christ come today

Christ comes

Every day

x

And in a good way

I don’t care if

It was December 25

Or the ides of March

Something happened

The child of God was born

The child is also God

Was born

x

Is there meaning

In the other ways?

Of course,

There is

These seek the truth as well

And we should

Be

Should be

With them

x

Christmas is cultural

I’m at church

Hearing the songs

Hearing about the welcome

Of Ukrainians

Here

And I am glad

x

It isn’t peace on Earth

Only in

Such a small portion

Of the whole

x

And shall we say

Jesus was born?

I think we should

It’s history

x

Then in a supernal way

Maybe the spirit’s born again

In loving refugees

And loving refugees

Maybe there were times

When mortal Jesus

Felt outcast

Alone on Earth

As and why he walked away

From time to time,

Once

Prayed in the garden

x

You know,

We may take up

Exegesis

And

Evangelism

Later

And may I pause midstream

Like the saint to say

To the child Jesus

(I to you

and I a mortal child),

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Merry Christmas

And for twelve days

That make

This varied

Still hopeful

Hopeful, still

Yes, brief

Season

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C L Couch

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Photo by Robert Kalinagil on Unsplash

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The Day before Tomorrow

(x = space)

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The Day before Tomorrow

x

Last day in Advent

Made it

Whew

Rain, snow

Overwhelming cold

We should be postal carriers

To endure

It all

Strange meeting place

This junction of

The Northeast, MidAtlantic

The weather comes

From north or south

Or east or west

I’m trying

To get used to that

It’s only taken

Twenty years so far

There are forecasts

But better to wait

To know what happens

Though encounter

x

How to plan a picnic

Must be an undertaking,

Strategy

Requiring options

(bring the ants)

Sometimes the living

Is absurd

If not cartoonish

But these are the days we have

And the environs

Those who stayed

Or passed back through

Appalachia

To stay

x

And all the world has

Its places

Its challenges

Its practices

x

And now (among

the practices)

It’s Christmas Eve

And there are days in Hanukkah

This year correlating

Come

To light our way

The world could breathe easier

Except in Ukraine

In Myanmar and Yemen,

Oppressive parts of China

And of Russia

And in the manipulative

Shadowed corners

Of the USA

All the places where we watch

For detonation

Also the human heart

The battlefield it remains

x

Sin and virtue

Pounding and pushing

Pulling circulation

Strain

(Sturm and Drang),

The devils on the inside

On the outside

Rendering Christmastide

So perilous

x

And yet we sing into

A night

We wish were silent

Save for children’s cries

For all the reasons

Children cry

Among them to receive

First oxygen and hope

Into the world

x

Render the night

Impossible in virtue

We’ll sing it,

Anyway

We’ll kneel

We’ll try to light our way

We’ll quietly acknowledge

Neighbors

Some will party

And some will do nothing,

I suppose

Though the world is affected

By what we do this night

And for a thousand years

And in the time

Remember birth and

Death

And everything

That circulates a world

Keeps it moving

In the spirit

In the flesh

x

Though maybe for an hour

Let all mortal flesh

Keep silent

And in fear and trembling

Stand

To receive

To hope for blessing

In the night

x

Let fighter planes

Fly so carefully

Perforce keep watch

Like shepherds

Over continents

And there might be songs

At crowded borders

And the lines

Kept distant

From welcome

Because mines have barred the way

x

Peace on Earth

The ersatz wish

Some must believe

(yet some must believe),

Withholding war

The practice

That must be enough

For now

x

Into the world

The child comes

The children come

And everyone

And everything

Now have responsibilities

To keep it together,

To throw

And try to seal patches

The worn places

And to keep watch

For the tearing places

On the outside of Earth

And, you know,

On the inside

Heaven

And hell

The human heart

x

Anxieties may end

Because it’s here

Our plans are done

And in place as they are

Out of necessity

Of time

As chronos

So might we have

Christmas

For a day

Twelve years

Perhaps a brief era

If only hours

x

A spiritual time

A cultural invention

Arms reach out for a change

Hand in hand

In brave hope

To sing a silent night

To sing in glory

Once the vigil is completed

And there is indeed

There really is

A dawn of hope

x

Glory and hope

Amazing

Because a child is born

That for a time

Affects the government

In minds

As well as capitals

Until when all time is done

And in a kairos of eternity

It’s Christmas day

And all the other graceful days

Together

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C L Couch

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Photo by Monisha Selvakumar on Unsplash

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La Paz

(x = space)

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La Paz

x

I don’t mean peace

As ideal

We can’t have ideals now

Not on this side of things

x

But we can have a working peace

Something for day to day

For ordinary

Do I mean compromise?

Don’t know—I mean

Talking about it,

Which I imagine will mean

Negotiation form time to time

My nation grows food

Mine has technology

Mine is famous for a labor force

Come on,

Let’s have peace

x

More than a show,

Of course,

And something that admits our flaws

Because we are flawed

And for all we know the world’s flawed

And the cosmos, overall;

And who knows?

We might have had a hand in all that

x

But we’re talking real peace

It must admit virtues and vice

Good days and bad

Rampant egos that on the good days

Know restraint,

While restraint is now the law

There are also mistakes

And errors

These are not sins

Though there are also sins

Deserving of confession

To confessors

And then the fixing-up

x

We can do this:

We can have a real peace

Then everything we grow

Will grow

And each one will have one’s own

(don’t worry about a term for that)

And we can legitimately

Aim for the stars

Worthy of the company

Of all the objects

All the beings

We encounter

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There is more to say about this

More to figure

Maybe I’ll have time

You’ll have time

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C L Couch

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Photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash

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