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September 2021

Monarch

(x = space)

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Monarch

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King Jesus is all

My all in all

I know he’ll answer

Me when I call

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In a final chapter of

The Last Battle,

A non-Narnian who was

An anti-Narnian for

A time,

Has met Aslan, the

Metaphor of

Christ and God

x

And this young man

Is abashed

To know he has

Been serving faith

In another god

And way

And now must own

His condemnation

x

And Aslan

(and Lewis)

Judges remarkably,

As only God-as-love

Can

To pronounce that

Service done well

In his life

Is counted as

Service unto him

x

(sorry,

as a character

Aslan is male,

though we know

don’t we

that God is female

and male,

Jew and Greek

and more than

these)

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Scandalous doctrine?

Some

Might think so,

Saving

Saving welcome for

Those outside

The fold

As Aslan

(in Lewis)

Says is so

x

God bless the ecumenical

Those who serve

That all might know

The glory

Living in

The realm of God

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C L Couch

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The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis

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“King Jesus Is All,” a traditional gospel song

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Galatians 3:26-29

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Matthew 6:29

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As Pretty As It Is

Photo by Calvin Mano on Unsplash

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

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5

The Dead and the Quick

(x = space)

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The Dead and the Quick

(9/11)

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It is a day we lived

Through,

Those who lived

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Like D-Day

Like Hastings

For the English

Or the entry of the Nazis

Into Paris

For the French

Like the storms in Indonesia

That killed thousands

In 2004

Like the killing

Of a good man

In Haiti

Recently

Wrecking the nation

For a time

Upon hurricane

And earthquake

x

They are history

Beyond the idiom

And by those now gone

We rebuild and build

And sometimes pledge

Anew or new

We will take greater care

Cosmic care

Next time

x

We might learn

If we should learn something

From allegories that were

Flesh and bone

And blood

Except that being found

Is good

Being remembered

Parochially,

Sometimes globally

x

Forever with a double

Meaning,

9-1-1

How peaceful to be by

The memorials

A quiet place to count

And then to cry the names

Peacefully

x

This place

These places

Are all over

Hopes we might be united

Everywhere

For once

An hour and a day

And then for keeps

For keeping

All the Earth

And us

For longer

So much longer than

The bugled ceremony’s

Time

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C L Couch

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(9/11/21, 11/9/21)

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9/11 photographs exhibition at photography festival Rencontres Arles 2019

Photo by Fred Moon on Unsplash

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2

Pagan Petition

(x = space)

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Pagan Petition

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Freya of the

Earth,

On your day

I ask for

Such a small part

Of the world

To borrow

x

Where I stand

Where I sit

Where I might lie down

For a while

x

Yes, I mean

What metaphors might mean

Yes, I need a place

As trolls need caves

Only with a door

And a wide window

And some plumbing

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It would be home

Until it’s a time again

For wandering

x

Please

And thank you,

Lord and lady of

Earth and earthiness

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C L Couch

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Reliefbüste “FREYJA”, Amalienstraße 51, Fürth

Wofro – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21650063

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Hurt Locking

(x = space)

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Hurt Locking

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Sometimes sadness

Has a weight

If I knew, I had forgotten

It bears down on the face

Justifying frowns

It pushes on the inside, too

(and mainly)

Pushing things together,

Causing pain

Along with weight,

There is the freezing

An effect that has no

Temperature

What to do next in the world?

How to get there

Through the challenges

Of sadness

x

And it simply hurts, you know?

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C L Couch

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Photo by Ricardo Arce on Unsplash

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5

Eeyore

(x = space)

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Eeyore

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Mopey

To say the least

But if all I had was

A lean-to of sticks,

I might be

Sullen, too

x

Then there’s

The tack-on tail:

I used to wonder

If it hurt

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C L Couch

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Photo by George Lemon on Unsplash

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0

On the First Day of the Week

(x = space)

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On the First Day of the Week

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God,

A petition for this morning

While the sky is gray

And the sun

Is in the offing

Waiting to push through

x

Follow us

To catch us when we fall

Or to pick us up

Dust us off, after

Or simply be around

Because the negative is not

Enough

And if we rise with you,

A certain kind of sufficiency

Of economy

The science of

A real enough and more

May follow

x

Really,

We don’t need so much

Less than we think we do

Then out of

Small largesse,

When that’s all we have,

We may help

The other

Not a sly metaphor

But a person

Real people

Real needs

Not holiday

But quotidian

Every day,

You know

x

All this is real

And thankful

To be prayed

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

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2

“Remembering Lorraine Bay”

(x = space)

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“Remembering Lorraine Bay”

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Newspaper headline

Human interest story

She was interesting

Loved her job

(with challenges)

As a flight attendant

x

She was on the flight

The plane that crashed

Near a small town in

Western Pennsylvania

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C L Couch

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Shanksville’s Main Street in July 2006

By Aude – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1007438

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They Seek Him There

(x = space)

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They Seek Him There

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O God, our help

In ages past

Our hope for years to come

x

And what do we need today

But to know you are near

Some miracles would not go

Amiss, I must confess

(unless they do)

For a week of flood and fire

End or start to war

A sickness that has taken many lives

Corruption from the fruit of Eden

For the way we ate

For the way we live

For the way we want to live

On this side or that

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C L Couch

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title borrowed respectfully from The Scarlet Pimpernel

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by Lawn Weeds – Scarlet Pimpernel, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85377914

Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) is a summer annual plant and a member of the primrose family. As its name suggest[s,] it has bright red/orange flowers, which only open when the sun shines.

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8

Doctrine for Three

(x = space)

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Doctrine for Three

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In dim light,

Something was handed me

A gift

In the dark outside,

We talked about

His father

Who had died recently

Whom I liked

(whom he liked)

And of family, generally

x

His father’s legacy

Was to share outside

The family

I being one

I could argue worthiness

But then I’d miss the point:

Grace is free

It really is

Without conditions

And has to be

x

C L Couch

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Anatomy of a dying stormcell. A stormcell dissolves over the San Francisco Peaks.

Photo by NOAA on Unsplash

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