(x = space)
x
x
haiku
x
1
slow nature inside
plants grow in unsure seasons
ours darkness or light
x
2
unsurely outside
winter by a calendar
summer another
x
3
creature on a branch
cardinal or squirrel set
then fly or skitter
x
C L Couch
x
x
(like those earlier, these haiku can relate to each other, though I doubt there is a rule about connection; or each haiku may stand alone, which I guess is more traditional)
x
Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Drastic Season
x
Soon it will be Lent
Time to think
Of Jesus
For all the times
Out scatter-gun approach
(sheesh)
Hopes to hit the mark
x
Forty days
With time off
For Sundays
For Communion
For the Catholics,
A churchly kindness
x
Otherwise,
We count
And do not count
For who says
Well, today is Lent 19
When we have it
In a book
If we must know
x
No, the season moves
Slowly
(it’s even in the name)
And we wish
For Easter treats
Especially because
We might give up something
For these days
x
It is tradition
And some choose
Something that it’s
Helpful
(healthy)
To avoid for a time
If not forever
x
Something small
Like caffeine
Something bigger
Like adultery
Or other
Eldritch bond
The priest might say
If saying
That is mortal
Meaning uneternal
For our lives
x
My, that would be a season
Of such change
To right a wrong
And who decides
Not priest
Or even angel on the shoulder
But the motivation
Of one’s own
In time
x
And such a season
Angels would approve
Though the loss
Of what sin brings
Forever
Shall seem to hurt that way
For the while
While things change
For forty days
(now a dreadful count)
And fifty
And beyond
x
As the healthy sun
Lights from far
The mortal planet
That in renewal
Might have something better
In its molecules
And the un-atomed spirits
After judgment
Knowing joy
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Christmas 6
x
Geese
And they are laying
How did you work that out?
At least we could sell the eggs
To service all the critters
By now and forthcoming
x
Geese don’t like us much
They honk when they’re annoyed
And they’re annoyed a lot
So am I with you,
True love,
And this relentless
Stratagem
That somehow you perceive
As courting
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Eric Brehm on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
A Living Season
x
Food and water
Bread and wine
For mass
And other celebrations
After
x
Liturgically,
We note salvation all the time
Symbolism’s good
The real things
Are better
When they meet our needs
To lift the worldwide press
Off a crushing world
(metaphor again
they teach)
Are better
x
Symbolic food
Give actual food
Safe water in the present
Wine to seal the deal
For those who allow
As in that crass (unclassed) and useful way
We might worship
And also act in the world
x
Give money from a distance
Distribute packages
Place clean rims of containers
Upon parched, maybe dying lips
When everything’s all right
We’re fit
To talk about the rest
Negotiate
For healthy people
x
All this would make a season
Health is good for the economy
Living without
The need to bury
‘Til the righteous time
Worked into the primal design
And a pattern
For humanity
x
That make us better
People for the moon and Mars
Keeping us whole
At home
A home to have
And to return to
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Rebecca Matthews on Unsplash
My husband and I have begun a few new ventures after getting back to ‘normal’ from the house fire we suffered in Feb. this year. I now make handcrafted soap, and he bakes bread and cookies. Our new neighbors love us, as they get to enjoy the fruits of our labors!
x
(x = space)
x
x
Three and Isn’t That Enough
x
Today is day 3
Third day of Christmas
The brief season
The song calls for
Three French hen
Whatever a French hen
Might be
In addition to
Being or having been
A hen from France
x
My grandfather
The bird-bander
Might have been
Able to tell me
But I only saw him twice
At two and ten
And heard from him
Infrequently
x
He would send some years
At Christmas time
A box of holly from his
Home in the
Contiguous northwest
I guess that’s where we’re from
On my father’s side
Though I had only been there
Once (that was the time
at two)
He came and stayed with us
For a while
In Pittsburgh (that was ten)
x
He acted kindly
I also wanted
To like him
I have a Polaroid
Of him standing before
The Christmas tree;
He holds a pipe
And I must have moved
Because the lights on the tree
Are curved
And they were not that way
And did I take
Another shot?
x
The men I liked
Or tried to like
Tended to smoke pipes:
My father, grandfather,
J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis,
The chair of my department
In college,
And my first prof
In graduate school
x
Gee,
What do you know
They all have died by now
(except perhaps
the grad-school prof)
As far as I know,
Pipe-smoking was not
(or will not be)
The cause
Though I could be wrong
x
Anyway,
Three French hens
Cook them
Keep them in a cage
As you will
I guess they could be taken
To a petting zoo
x
So far, six animals
That might be enough
But four more tomorrow
Then seven swans
That must be swimming,
Somewhere
x
Then there are things
And the people doing tasks
Easy for them perhaps
And in increasing
Numbers
Sigh
x
If you’ve had enough,
True love
I’m not sure how to let
The giver know
With such a plan
In execution
Good luck with that
Or add some rooms
And build positive relationships
With the staff
Of local parks
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Soroush Karimi on Unsplash
I was really happy when I saw Eiffel tower. Like really really happy. It was rainy and gloomy but perfect.
[photographer’s narrative]
x
(x = space)
x
x
the winter of our contretemps
x
hello winter you are
welcome on a sunny day
in a few weeks
maybe not so much
when the cold has settled in
for a while
x
but then
the torrid in the summer
has its problems too
and we are headed there
and then when there
we shall return
by nature
x
a cycle
a circle
the top of an ellipse
and do the arches rise
with ages of experience
x
we seem to be stuck
in consideration
of annihilation
as the theme
and hidden ways
to prosper anyway
is it the zenith
or the nadir
how far do we have to go
to either
are we the zenith
or the nadir
x
we have this season
and the end of one
hello
goodbye
a cosmogony
fit for captain spaulding
because
hello we must be going
x
winter season
winter spices
wintry mix
(wintry salad)
wintry is the word
a descriptor for
three months to start
to tilt the other way
x
enjoy skiing
and snow people
and all the things we make
with what is
temporary
‘til the sun returns
or with time
the wind passes over
x
pleasure below freezing
snow angels
snow ice cream until
chemistry
became
our condensation nuclei
x
white on white
and satin dark
the stars will blink
though it’s our atmosphere
winter in our breathing
the steam we make
the challenge
of the next breath
go inside
make sure
for everyone
there are insides
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by kristaps ungurs on unsplash
x
some of the connection
has returned (c.f. my last note, prior entry)
how much
and how much will last?
the new part has not arrived
and will it fix
the device and the process?
I’ll be
of course
letting you know
thank you
happy winter
x
(x = space)
x
x
Advent a Season
x
It begins tomorrow
It’s coming
That’s what Advent means
Open the paper doors
Read the message
Take the chocolate,
Mentally take a
Count of twenty-four
In a corner of
The counting mind
x
So much to do
We say
And, yes, we do
x
Too much?
I don’t know
That is another calculation
Achievement, disappointment
Satisfaction
The remainder
In the quotient
Both the object and the function
Of investment
x
And can there
Be joy?
Yes, there can be
x
Mute the commercials
And the other things
There are moments
In the darkness
There’s pain
And also promise
The prophets
Of so many traditions
Say so
Generally
And now
x
Find your way:
There should be stars
Conversing inside
Degrees of brightness
While clouds and moon
Have come to play
As well
x
So listen well
And talk
x
There’s mischief
And there’s pleasure
For days
We might live differently
Then keep that
For a season
And another,
If the difference is good
If it’s made of lights
x
Like in the northern half
Of Earth
The towns and fields there,
Reflections off of snow that
Will be trodden
Blown or melted
But remembered
x
There is a new living
In this count of days
Or lose count
There will be arrival,
Anyway
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Jack Catalano on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
courage
(compash)
x
the brave leaves
are in fact
leaving;
the wind has done its work
there is inescapability
in the season passing
if I wrote useless things
upon electronic leaves
perhaps my season
will be passing, too
x
it is a pledge, I guess
the old word tontine
a formal offering
to work
to put down
to express
to depict
to make my painting here,
unfit for a museum
maybe for local work
the verses in the subway
a slogan on a placard
should I reach
and arrive so far
x
like glory in the sky
parochial sky
parochial of one
should I hear myself
out there
constructively
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by jeremy bishop on unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Rhapsody on Umber
x
Orange
Nothing rhymes with it
(I’ll try syringe
sometime,
hydrangea-a?)
Who cares
In the better way
It’s wonderful
And add a little brown and yellow
Is that burnt umber
The lost crayon?
x
But it’s just
Right for fall
Add red on its own
For leaves
And all the shades
For possibilities
Cast them under clouds
On a cool day
When walking
In the countryside
Is right
A quiet celebration
A season in the season
If you live around
Here
If not,
In the mind then
Or online
x
It’s fall
The very best Pooh weather
There should be
Tea and honey
For Christopher and friends
The roly bear
The donkey with the usually tail
Mama kangaroo and child
Tiger with springs
An owl of storied wisdom
As far as a child’s genius go
Long-suffering rabbit
And the pig
Small
Always counted on
Like needful stories
To be there
x
thanks for A. A. Milne and to my mom who really liked the stories
x
C(hristopher Robin) L Couch
x
x
Photo by Valentina Ivanova on Unsplash
Ukrainian Village, Чикаго, Иллинойс, США
Published on October 19, 2021
x
clcouch123 
Recent Comments