For the People

(x = space)

x

x

For the People

x

We give billions

Might I have a smidgen

Might we all and each

Have a smidgen

Two smidgens, maybe

Our money from our coffers

Save other nations’ people,

Too

It’s mid-month and I’m feeling

Especially impoverished

It’s the thirteenth

On a Friday

And I’m tired of

Anything like

The curse of the day

Or Cain

The penury of Lazarus

Under Dives

I know, L gets to heaven

Where it’s wealthy

Without coin

And through and through

But I’m still here today

And want to be,

Not knowing the other

x

I’d like to have

Some easy days

If possible

Summertime

As Gershwin says

As she sings

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by David Sutton on Unsplash

x

Jazz Mass

Jazz Mass

 

Welcome to this house

Of Monk

Coltrane

And many more

Saintly-celebrating

 

Billie Holiday

Muddy Waters

Buddy Rich who sticks for

Ella

 

Sacred syncopated

Earth and all stars

Their music turns

A service

Into lifetime crazy, holy

Obligation

 

C L Couch

 

 

“Earth and all stars,” the first words of a hymn by Herbert Brokering composed for Saint Olaf College, Minnesota, first published in 1968