Don’t Remove This Label

(x = space)

x

x

Don’t Remove This Label

x

I don’t want to reason

Only secularly

But I look where I am

And listen

x

In a long room

Whose beauty is beneath

Because the skin and other features

Are so poorly cared for

x

Which is to say

It’s old and could be good

But isn’t good

x

The noise of the world

Breaks in from above

And neither rule

Nor rent

Is cared about

x

Outside is a cold and pleasant day

At least to see

I see too much

And need to invoke

The other senses so much more

x

Drivers misbehave outside

Sometimes pedestrians

Though the thing about the outside noise

Is that it moves on

x

And I know

There are fires

That burn acreage

In a wild and awful way

And those who fight these flames

Are often hurt

And much is lost

Famously

In fires

x

And there is war I do not understand

And thank you I don’t want to

I’m sorry

But a bomb

Blasting away everything I know

And cuts away at me

By foes’ intent

I would be crazed

In every way

And to know the agency was human

Without randomness

For an agenda

x

And I know that states are falling

While brave people

Stand against

The evil reasons

And the power that, created good,

Is now corrupted

And maybe has been

For a while

But in a den bares now

Its blooded teeth

Behind a guard

That operates somehow

To keep the good ones from approaching

x

And I say it thus

With distance

Not that local evil

Hasn’t worked its way

Maybe the world

Learning of democracy

Is ruled by princes

After all

x

I simply want a quiet day

And promise of another

I want boredom

To be my awful challenge

And in this way I’ll try

To address the rest

I really will

From here

And now

x

You may decide what I am or

Most of you

Ignore me

And why not

Ignoring what

We need

To keep our naïve brand

In place

Like the labels on the furnishings

We do not tear off

Even though I doubt

The wars

Should care

x

I care

Not about that

But decades into this

I care

You might care as well

And more than me

Knowing better what to protest

What to fight for

x

Not to mention

I would rather be

Which makes everything more difficult

With you

Attached

Rather than against you

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by Thomas Dumortier on Unsplash

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Toll

(x = space)

x

x

Toll

x

I started to write

Because it was twelve thousand

Now it’s more than twenty

There would be little left

Of my small town

Which is considering

The numbers only

Imagine people

I don’t want to

Imagine myself there

Would be easier

Because I would be doing something

And it would be awful

And my life would break

Like the earth

Beneath the nations

That might come back

Or we will fill it

Not with the dead

But with material

For building and for living

Apologies from government are fine

Maybe we could stop the war

Among the factions

And the other wars

In the region

To reassemble

Reknit the people

Not as Babel

Fallen

But as the New Jerusalem

A promise

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash

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devotional rant

(x = space)

x

x

devotional rant

x

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

x

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

x

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

x

c l couch

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x

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 Day before Tomorrow

(x = space)

x

x

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

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Monisha Selvakumar on Unsplash

x

Warplanes

(x = space)

x

x

Warplanes

x

Almost antique word

That brings to mind

The bombers in the movies

The models on a tray

I worked on

When I was sick

x

But these are real

Metal and tall,

Plastic in the systems

Electronics

And then there are

All the explosives, loaded,

Ready to send

Here or there

x

Warplanes

That was the word used on the news

Long, official,

And romantic

Scarves and leather jackets

Indiscreet

From up so high

While on the ground

Where we live

The war takes out

Our fields and homes

While a threat

x

Maybe

Only anxiety,

A state that has its own

Consequences

In the air

On the land

Where the bombs hit

Or there are UXBs

If only in the mind

When we look up

And then look at each other

Side to side

x

Or it’s the real thing

The planes we cannot trust

Unleashing

Some kind of hell

Upon the Earth

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Kevin Den Heijer on Unsplash

x

Declared

(x = space)

x

x

Declared

x

Here,

There’s food for energy

And water

I know, for many

An easy trip to the store

x

War ruins this,

Of course,

There and by extension

My shopping receipts attest

All our bills

x

There has been the war of greed

There and here

x

Though

Away from war

Except for greed

I don’t have to fear for bullets

Or wait for other missiles small and large

Cry the air,

Find my flesh

Find yours

x

The planet will reclaim

The Earth to wait

And us to judge

Well or poorly

The killing of each other

Loss

Hardship

And disease

x

Our tries everywhere

To build

To know each other

Energize the world

Food

Water

Safety

A just ambition

Peace

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Антон Дмитриев on Unsplash

Sunset in the exclusion zone.

x

the blast of war

(x = space)

x

x

the blast of war

x

God

grant not my will

but yours

yours and mind when

we’re allied

but if it’s you or me

better to be you

and yours

I know

I’ll be there, too

that sometimes frustrates

when I want something

all my own

and maybe

you would not agree

all the way

better for your will be done

and mine left out

you’ll remember me

and several billion

while caretaking

all who are asleep

a world that’s cracking

you will let it crack

split into pieces

that we insist upon

who says

my will be done?

yours will keep the planet

and humanity

behold what

our will has done

and save us

by your modest will

gentle

or ferocious

x

the quiet desert

and the storm at sea

are yours

watch over these

and the tame or wild places

of the mind

the heart

and spirit

we should ally

keep us from all tyrannies

with a will

for freedom

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by jonathan bowers on unsplash

x

Allowancing

(x = space)

x

x

Allowancing

x

Should the

Spirit lead

Should an angel say

So that we rest into

Advice

From listening

x

Pointers of direction

For the way

This is a response from prayer

Or simple stillness

Being still

Into the world, into night

Into the quiet blue of day

x

Whatever time

To step outside

To step inside

Creation’s bands

The movement of the universe

Let it ride

For us

For a while

x

We rest within

We rest without

We try to listen with disinterest

(not un-interest)

For a while

x

If we get something

It’s a gift

Treat with care

Treat with confidence

Now get up

Carrying the lightness of a gift

Into the world again

Into time

(kairos into chronos)

Into hours of the day and night

Into chores

Into decisions

Into life

Into peace

Or needs be war

x

Not worrying a win

But plainly things are better

If no new rewards

Maybe a win for all

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Aaron Huber on Unsplash

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An Odd Peace

(x = space)

x

x

An Odd Peace

x

Too much loss

Too long

Too much to rebuild

How can we face it?

But for the

Cessation of hostilities

That sounds official,

We can bear it

On our own

For each other,

Help the ones who can’t

To let them in at home

When home’s

Returned

Rebuilt

Re-welcoming

Known inhabitants

And guests

x

If I woke up and

There were

Rocks outside my door

Plaster, dry-wall dust

On everything,

I’d feel a cry

If not a wail

Build up

And if there more

Blood and such

Then other instincts

Anger and assistance

While the

Keening is considered

A savage peace

For hearing nothing

Letting medicine

Take over

While I slept

Even through sirens’

Calls

The mermaid singing

The murderous intentions

Of humanity

x

There would be

A day

I might walk through it

Would I be made to leave?

How would I be fed

The markets gone

And where are you?

Small parts

Of war,

And I would want

To resign it all

While also thinking

About a gun

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash

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