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I talk you talk we'll talk

Month

May 2023

Three Months

(x = space)

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Three Months

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I miss my brother

I have no one to talk about

Old movies with

I learned from him

But mainly it was the treat

In discussing

The subject

The people mostly black and white

The fictive stories they presented

The real stories

That they were

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Older brothers seem to come with

Mysteries

Blank spots in life that stay

That way

Stories within stories

Ways of thinking

That I’ll never know

But we had the sure thing

Of old movies

For discussion

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And now I miss that

As part of missing him

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C L Couch

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Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash

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Gilead

(x = space)

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Gilead

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There is a balm

In Gilead

I don’t know where that is

I don’t know if

It’s on a map

The Gilead

That heals

The sin-sick soul

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And I don’t know

What it is

The balm of Gilead

An ointment

A colony of physicians

Waiting

A miracle in local water

Or the air

x

And is it

Sick with sin

Or sick of sin

As in

I’m tired

I want something better

I want to strain

Fewer people for it

No one hurt

Really

Because I think

I want something

I no longer want

x

And did I ask for it

Before

Maybe

Probably

But there’s also something about

Whiter than snow

Impossible

Except to take the texture out

Though it’s the texture

Of the sin

That needs removing

Money

Lines on the face

The heart

Whatever

Wherever

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Heal me

Leave the scars

I ask with sighs

Certain things are inexorable

Like evidence

Though cleanliness

Time

Humor

Smiles for friends

And even for the world

Have wrought

A great deal

By repentance

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C L Couch

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Jeremiah 8:22

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Photo by Christina Deravedisian on Unsplash

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(haiku about the river)

(x = space)

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Susquehanna’s high

brown water like the wide wide river

west Mississippi

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C L Couch

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I drove and then walked through storms today

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Photo by Justin Wilkens on Unsplash

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“the devil,” “elements” (2 poems)

(x = space)

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the devil

(you say)

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the tempter

the corrupter

the ruiner of things

resist

no thanks

go away

we’ll bring in professionals

xxxxxif we have to

diaspora

we’re spread apart

you like us this way

we don’t believe in

xxxxxtogether

should we understand

that we are three in one

because God is

(that is the pattern)

we can stand alone

xxxxxJesus

xxxxxJohn

xxxxxElijah

xxxxxMoses

xxxxxeach and all did that

goodness, we know that well

but to be together

find gentle,

overwhelming power in that

we don’t know that

not anymore

not since the last time

and the time to come

and meantime?

we are together all the time

we only need to turn

to find each other

share the tiny glory

in that

the tiny victories

that add up

or they don’t

breathe in

breathe out

let life happen

as it’s supposed to happen

our alone times

our together state

the glory of the Lord

shine through

all shapes and sizes

everything and everyone

inside creation

not the devil

that gave up all right

to enter realms instead

of nothingness

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elements

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matter merges

xxxxxspiritual and fleshly

xxxxxmaterial

xxxxxgrain and grapes

xxxxxtogether

xxxxxeach part

xxxxxand together

xxxxxchanged

xxxxxinto finer things

xxxxxcloser to purpose

xxxxxcloser to creation

xxxxxand creation

xxxxxand what is finer than

xxxxxa smidgeon more intentional?

xxxxxall the wonder

xxxxxsimple and refined

xxxxxis here

xxxxxmade from the start

xxxxxmade full

xxxxxby God

xxxxxJesus

xxxxxand the Spirit

xxxxxwho are here

xxxxxwhose substance

xxxxxwhose presence

xxxxxis in here

xxxxxand is in you

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notes

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I’m sorry, while drafting I couldn’t think of women in the Bible who stood or prayed or fled to be alone; now I think that Mary could have been by herself when encountered by the angel and in her response to the announcement and the will of God; Judith might have prayed on her own, away, as well; and Esther might have planned the salvation of Israel in the same way

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Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash

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