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Month

May 2023

Panic of 1819

(x = space)

x

x

Panic of 1819

(and probably in ancient Rome and every Friday since)

x

I don’t have it yet

It’s Friday

I don’t have it

x

In a suburban way,

I want

To have earned the weekend

x

Bad night last night

Today’s not much better

Except I’m awake

If duly

And can

More practically

Resort

To caffeine, should I wish

x

But there is

Something better

I am sure

Something to find my spirit

In the rut

If not a hole

And pull me through

x

It’s feelings

It’s truncated thoughts

And more

A weight of sin

Perhaps

Though don’t we bear that

Every day?

x

Well,

Design

And draft away

And with a shape

Construct

A frame

Add more materials

For texture

And color as that matters much

On Earth

x

And get it done

For presentation

Monday

By five

Or six

Or seven

Then find our friends

Beside what we call

Colloquially

The watering hole

That other creatures need

The literal

More direly

x

But let’s go in

And break

Exhale

Find solace

Even in this world

In trust

x

Or

You know

We could go home

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Daniel Gregoire on Unsplash

x

curated in “Friday clouds”; looking like mountains—Friday mountains?—with the moon an evening invitation

x

0

Get Up

(x = space)

x

x

Get Up

x

There was something

I don’t have it

That happens more and more

I could fear dementia

Or being tired

Living near bad people

Being bad myself

Mixtures of denial

With remembrance

Corrosion

Over time

With late-night promises of products

Ready to shine up all the leads

Again

For the cost

Of philosophy

And exorbitance

So buy in

To something

Try to wear oneself out

For better sleep

To match the abstract way in which

A length of life

Keeps everything

Worn out

In style and manners

Lumping on the way

Another morning

Toward the coffeemaker’s

Totemity

Of dreams

And hopefulness

Having wrestling with an angel

Through the night

Near the water

And the waking land

To either side

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Xin on Unsplash

x

0

A Jazz Mass

(x = space)

x

x

A Jazz Mass

(recovering lost verse)

x

Jazz mass

A mass of jazz

Inside the church

That might

Be

Preservation Hall

x

Or come with me

To Cleveland

Or

New Liberty

Or a flat place in a field

With divots

Happening to happen

Just right for

Our instruments

To rest

While we musicians

Get to listen,

While exhaling,

Too

x

Inside the halls

Of the Lord

Which might have heaven

For a ceiling

With hell beneath the basement

So let’s stay here

On Earth

To worship

In good syncopation

(planned,

unplanned)

With an aim

Sometimes

To raise that roof

More heaven-toward

x

Loud

Or soft,

Sharing the stories

Of both places

And our prophets

And

Our prospects

x

Don’t charge for tickets

Maybe leave

A jar

Inside the door

More visible

When leaving

Should

We leave

Because there might be food

(after spiritual food)

And then another

Set-to

All of us

Jazzy playing

Jazzy-praying

To the Lord

x

C L Couch

x

x

A Jazz Mass is a worship service with service music and hymns played in a Jazz genre.

Jazz Mass | Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church

x

Photo by Mary Hammel on Unsplash

x

1

Shut the Door

(x = space)

x

x

Shut the Door

x

My neighbors slam their doors

Almost as matters

Of style

x

I don’t know why these

Concussions

x

Are the people frustrated?

x

(¿)They want to send a message

To me

Or to each other

Or the world

That won’t hear or be

Impressed and

Certainly

Won’t

Change?

x

This is why

I slam the door

(one of these)

Though it’s not my style when

I’m better

Or when maybe

The world hasn’t hit me first

x

I don’t know

x

People are weird

x

I am weird

x

We so easily turn people in

Our heads into

Things

As if we could transmogrify

In the academy

For turning people into things

x

And even objects might

Deserve

Some consideration:

Not be burned

For instance

When there’s value

In the form

Or the condition

x

Or liking

Or an interest in preserving;

x

But objects by and large

No longer matter

When they used to be

People

And now that we’ve changed them

x

And now we’ve changed them

We might

And honestly,

Sadly

Certainly will

Use them disposably

x

Surrender life to

Look the other way

And only

See a thing

Only fit for burning,

Burning

A heat

To match our own

x

And I have made

So much

From a door slam

(all right,

many slams),

x

Though I think you know—peer

Person and

Ersatz (peer) magician—what

I mean

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Oumaima Ben Chebtit on Unsplash

x

1

It Wants Us Crazy

(x = space)

x

x

It Wants Us Crazy

x

Yes, there is

A devil

No need to rave

About it

Resist

Find something better

To do

x

We’ll stumble

Fail

And fall,

Which is its pattern

By the way

x

But angels minister

But grace

And even miracles

Abound

Within the evil

And without,

No need for sin

To make them

Happen

(that is a joke

by Paul)

x

There is a devil

And, yes,

It seems to want us

For bad things;

Let peace prevail

Instead

And make

Reminders

x

Try humor

In a healthy way

As well,

For we understand

The devil cannot

Take a joke

At all

Much less

About itself

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Sergio Capuzzimati on Unsplash

x

1

Impoverished

(x = space)

x

x

Impoverished

x

I am a Christian

(and you’ll pardon me

if I don’t mind

that you are not)

And so I believe

That Jesus saves

And the Holy Spirit indwells

x

As God creates

And so we have

The three in one

And one always in three

x

And should I be offended

Or should you

And I think neither

x

God is

And if you don’t think so

Then

You don’t think so

Though statistically

Most on Earth

Believe

In something

Someone

Greater than oneself

Who is at work

In the world

Or for some

Is standing by

x

Jesus is offensive

He excoriates

Both Jew and Gentile

He also is all love

And empties himself of godhood

On a cross

To die

The first

Last

Great sacrifice

For sin

x

And that offended evil

I am sure

And the devil wailed

While certainty in hell

Was harrowed

By the Lord

And Lord

Who came alive again

And lives for us

Offended

Or easier about

Salvation

x

So we’ve time and chance

To care about

Our part in things

I’m thinking

Keeping promises

To families

To Earth

To what is true

What is giving

What is loving

x

Some find love offensive

In the cost

Of nothing worldly to have

Or to keep

Or it isn’t love

That like grace

There are no dispensers

With requirements

Except the Lord

Who says

Love God

And each other

Do both

x

And if that’s a requirement

Well

Take it up

With the one who made you

x

There

I have offended

But I empty myself to say

I love you

And when I do so

I have done it

And maybe say it

Well

x

Love God

And believe

Believe in Earth

Not quite so solid

Through truly

Given

Believe in us

That we have a chance

That we have a choice

That might please hell

Or make a heaven

In the middle

x

Believe well

And do better

Keep nothing that relinquishing

Would make love

Wholly stronger

And viable

In an occupied world

x

Until revelation

Make it real

And in the meantime

Learning

Living

What shadows

(taught by Plato

and what others more respectable)

Reveal

x

C L Couch

x

x

Speaking finally of Narnia and Earth, the professor said, It’s all in Plato.

Except it isn’t.

x

good thoughts courtesy of the ALC at Covenant Evangelical Presbyterian Church of West Lafayette, Indiana—anything that offends, maybe insults, is from me

x

Photo by Callum Hill on Unsplash

x

0

Jesus at Westminster

(x = space)

x

x

Jesus at Westminster

x

Officially,

Jesus is there—their

Liturgy and

Scripture

Say so

x

I think Jesus would show

Anyway

Without invocation

Or any

Of our invocations

x

Such as help

I need you

I love you

x

He is there

Affirmed by doctrine and

Technical language

x

And the greater fact that

A loving God is

Everywhere

x

How simple

Without flash

With oath-taking

Except

Now and then

In each life

To say

I believe;

Help my unbelief

x

There is an alleluia

Sung by eight

Fluid

Black

Wondrous

How match their music with

Movements

Of their bodies

And jubilation

In their brevity

Of ending

Introducing

Homily

x

Justin Welby

Just

x

And there is a theme

Throughout

(sav it

with me)

Not to serve

But to be served

Well,

We’ll see

It could happen

x

Meanwhile

Jesus is here

He’s everywhere

He’s here

Ms Silverman

Like magic

x

He’s there

Maybe

You have invited him

I hear he’s good at checkers

And at Go

x

C L Couch

x

x

I cite Ms Silverman in admiration

x

Photo by James Baldwin on Unsplash

x

0

La Esperanza y la Alegría

(x = space)

x

x

La Esperanza y la Alegría

x

An unexpected victory

Against numbers

In favor of the Mexican spirit

Now

Today

Of culture

x

It’s an excuse

As with many holidays

We could respect

The reason

We could

Respect the people

Ojalá

That is

I hope we do

x

Bright colors

Food I enjoy

Most every day

Also

Tragedies at borders

And inside

x

Making

A nation of contrasts

If not opposites

And so

Like every other nation

On Earth

x

Do you know the flag

It is a vision

When sighted

It becomes

A place of origin

And also means

The struggle

Answered

Yet unfinished

Of

La vida

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash

x

0

Mystery Breathing

(x = space)

x

x

Mystery Breathing

x

I’m looking at my books

I think I really like

Mysteries,

Which is to say

Mystery

The numinous

The liminal

x

Could numinous

Mean pneumo-

As in breathing?

x

And more fancifully,

Myst-

As in fog

Though which

We go inexorably

As heartbeat

And do not know

What we’ll encounter

On the way?

x

I mean,

I like the plain thing

That Jane or Hercule

Must resolve

And I like the modern things

By James

Or Aaron, Charlotte

Elizabeth

P. D.

x

But there is the other thing that

Contents of books

Point to

Even to hold them

What’s in here?

Out there?

x

Scary stories?

Parts of them?

Without doubt—shouldn’t

Faith be scary as

It’s thrilling?

x

And then

The pattern seems to be

That all things

Will not be known

Until the end

With denouement to follow

If an epilogue

x

Then

We reach for another,

x

Which is why

We make a treasure-trove

Of libraries

Or simply having

Lots of books

That might be in forms

Of electrons

x

We are curious

We want to solve

Even as we

Want to be resolved

x

What are the greater mysteries?

How shall they end?

Maybe we should read together

Or at least

Discuss them

Piecemeal

On the way

All together

On the way

And over endings

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Arthur Oleynik on Unsplash

x

0

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