Bad Day at Third Rock

(x = space)

x

x

Bad Day at Third Rock

x

Today there is a war

People try to live

Without attention

To or from

The state

x

There is a wildfire

Eruptions from volcanos

Storms rage

Earth splits

As if on revenging

Or indifference

x

There is

Addiction

Other ways we live

As if to self-destruct

Like the tapes

That were for our

Entertainment

About

Impossible missions

x

Jobs are taken out

They were useful

Now they’re gone

We get divorced

From each other

As if the vows

Were not thought out the first time

And now we know

x

And there is everything

We know is inexorable

It comes on

They come on

x

All these things

All these sad things

Most of which

Destroy

And all wound

x

The apologist might be right

To say

We live in land overrun

And occupied by the enemy

x

Princes of this world

Maybe princesses

Though give credit to the

Insight

When some women lead

Thinking of Deborah

And Judith

And the chairs

Of my departments

x

The world must be more

Than all the burning

And explosiveness

Literal to Earth

Or invoked too much by hell

Inside the human heart

x

Live more

Legislate, perhaps

Consider how extreme

The campaigns

Or the intimacy

In destruction

x

Renew

Repair

Like people

Learn to know

How we are likable

‘Cause we are

x

Give Earth a chance

And when it fails

Negotiate

Again

And do the same

For humankind

Fix things

And then

Consider less addition

For the second changes

Barring

You know

Those commandments

And redemption

Even so

Give us a chance

And the cosmos

In turn

Might welcome us

x

C L Couch

x

x

(citations)

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

1 Corinthians 2:6,8

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Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

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sometimes today

(x = space)

x

x

sometimes today

x

and sometimes

sometimes often

should not today

be enough?

with pleasures

maybe with some balance

with joy in our friendships

first our families

when they are friendly, too

the small

quotidian

delights in food

in thankfulness

for the cup of water

we might offer to

each other

x

or in washing

getting dressed

anticipating

what is joyful

to anticipate

and simply have our days

have today

with enough faith and

clasically

anew

the pleasure of your company

under a God

who is not benign

but might not have to press so hard

today

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Hobi industri on Unsplash

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Sectarian or Secular

(x = space)

x

x

Sectarian or Secular

x

God

Be good to us

Today

x

Don’t give us mercy

Or distraction

Give us charges without directions

Save what we believe

x

And if without belief

Then with what good we know

Tempered by

Community

Check-and-balance ways

Human and humane

To get things done

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Rowan Simpson on Unsplash

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Magic Acts

(x = space)

x

x

Magic Acts

x

The day is

Here

And I am glad

And it’s a mess

And I

Am glad

x

Snow would vie with rain

Ice with streets

That are only wet

The wintry mix

They say

That sounds like salad

In a bag

I could select from bags

In the store

x

Thank you for

Messy days

Indeterminate;

I think I see

A patch of yellow and of green

On the tree out back

And now it’s gone,

That is,

The patch of light

And not

The tree

x

Yes, it is

Strange magic

Or I think it is

And I have a movie on

That I barely see or hear

Because

The day itself

Is more compelling,

And I can keep the background

Images

And especially the sounds

For the distraction

Of tinnitus

x

While looking better

At the black and brown

And white

And listening for wind

That pushes everything

x

A moving day outside

With patches

Now and then

Of yellow and of green,

Brighter parts

And shaded

While the sun and moon

Trade places

x

And is that not

(sorry,

kinescope

and nickelodeon)

The more compelling

Magic

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash

x

Salut

(x = space)

x

x

Salut

x

The day has

Gone from blue to gray

And if so

That’s what we’ll have

But still it is the day

And it is ours

Not to possess

But to keep

As in maintain

Improve

In gratitude

x

A paean to the planet

Only gods who are

Not there

Desire;

Praise is fine

But better spent

In care

Like rearing children

Or taking care of grown-ups

In their ages

(maybe six and seven

out of seven)

x

In other words,

Do well by Earth

While it is

Under you and over you

And inside you

For planets

And our home among them

Circling stars

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by redcharlie | @redcharlie1 on Unsplash

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Gospel According to Today

(x = space)

x

x

Gospel According to Today

x

The gospel for today

Is pick something

Choose something like a star

Says Frost

Or enter through time’s wrinkle

Teaches L’Engle

Who taught us to type this way?

They have names

And objects as names

They are the first typewriter

Makers, manufacturers,

And agents

Not bad people

How would we have got this far?

x

Forget them all today

Go outside

And listen for good news

Type it on your minds

Let your tongues be pages

As you tell

Others

What is wonderful

And challenging

And terrible

And potential

In the day

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by alyssa teboda on Unsplash

x

Tune in Tomorrow

(x = space)

x

x

Tune in Tomorrow

x

I’m not smart;

I don’t have a smart phone

Or a smart house

Or a smart life

x

I use the ticking of a clock,

Not an association,

Other wind-up ways

And, yes, electron ways

To note

Time passing

As it does

In society

x

My books do not have faces

(not meaning the clock)

Though they do have bindings

For clarity

In anticipation

x

They have tropes and memes,

I’m sure

x

This will be changing

Naturally,

Technologically, enough

x

My cars have had computers

For a while

And I still like the lure

Of robots’ walking service

And companionship,

Of a jetpack set upon my back

So I may fly over

Land and water

And through clouds

Of other worlds

x

Childhood’s end,

Mister Clarke,

And childhood’s dreaming

With all the songs

I used to listen to

That would resonate

With or without volume

Later on

x

Things change

x

Some things fall apart,

Sometimes the center:

The poem and

The novel know this,

Through our

Participation

x

Some remains

(some remains)

On the edge

Like samples in a centrifuge

Or in the washer after

Machinic wringing

As a body might wring something

Autonomically

(or for the therapist to say)

x

Memories,

Some items

Metaphors

And totems

x

Worn wires

And connectors

Old, most likely small

Machines

x

Storied threads

Kept in shadowed places

Until the knob is turned,

The door opened

x

The wires, threads, and all

Intertwine

In our own alchemy

Into today

With new things,

Many things

Applied

x

All mix

Then when done

Can sough and sigh

Into the future

x

Terms and

Formal understandings

Are better for tomorrow;

Today is for the

Result of threading

Into compromise,

Often astounding,

Of things good,

Some bad

Things tested,

Some waiting to be tried in

The world

Or safe at home

x

I’ll tell you things

And will you tell me, please?

That will be star-stuff

Mister Sagan,

Ms Druyan

x

On Earth

More locally for now

A charm, token, song today, tomorrow–

Story-stuff

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Alberto Bobbera on Unsplash

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Native American Heritage Day

(x = space)

x

x

Native American Heritage Day

(26 November 2021)

x

Hundreds of years

And last year

Too late

And, no, first families

Weren’t always good

With each other

We’re not celebrating

Perfection

We’re hedging against

Annihilation

So much more is needed

Against the situation

Mostly

Whites have caused

x

Is there hope

On reservations,

The better land having been

Cheated away?

I don’t know—do you?

Real homes for real people

Real lives

Real race

To stand alone

Or add into the melting pot—that’s

Self-determination

x

Give us a day

But we’ll need tomorrow, too

x

C L Couch

x

x

Six panel high resolution mosaic of the Cygnus region from the Butterfly nebula to the Crescent nebula. 3 hours of integration for each panel from a dark sky location in Spain. Zoom in for details in the various regions.

Photo by Aldebaran S on Unsplash

Fregenal de la Sierra, Spain

x

Own

(x = space)

x

x

Own

x

So, Lord,

What shall we have

Today?

We shall have burnt toast,

It seems,

My fault

The coffee is all right

Except now the

Button doesn’t work

That turns if on and off,

The last

Of many things, I think,

That say it’s

Time for another

Will you lead me to another

Coffeemaker, Lord?

Or have an angel do that,

Please?

So small

And there are many things

So much larger

(the ocean is so large,

and my boat is so small)

But things push

The economy, I suppose,

And angels

Are your agents

x

There are clouds

There might be rain,

Perhaps a storm

This is your day

Because you made it

This is my day

Because my choices

Matter in it

Because of will

And degrees of determination,

This day belongs

To all of us

I wonder how we’ll own it

I wonder what we’ll do

x

C L Couch

x

x

Stormy Stornoway

Photo by Lachlan Gowen on Unsplash

Stornoway, United Kingdom

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