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June 2023

Contritions

(x = space)

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Contritions

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I don’t know what else to say

I wish I could resort

To the Bible better

I wish I knew

The right way to pray

Rather than the stabs I take

To try

I wish I were more righteous

In the right way

I think there is a right way

x

But you are there

And I am here

And you are here

With angels to assist

I know

Beyond a fancy

More than because

I’m supposed to

x

I believe

Because I do

And my choice doesn’t affect

At all

Your existence

My choice important

Faith to allow the grace

Free sacrifice

To hold

Even take root

And grow

x

But what am I

Nothing of

A Gospel hero

Let alone the older tales

Or new ones

What shall I give to you

You don’t already have

And more

And better

But that the slip of self

The folded leaf along the vein

Whose only purpose left

In fall

Is falling

x

But that you want me

Anyway

Though I find wanting

Every way

A scary thing

That is the lesson of the world

Through splintering experience

x

You can bring enough

Together

I know this

And enough might be enough

I’ll pray

I’ll try to read

To comprehend

The wisdom

Or maybe

Just enough

Justly to pray

Enough salvation

For today

Should you come by night

And then by night

Like heart attacks

Frightening

To take me home

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

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Faith Alone

(x = space)

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Faith Alone

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The Bible

Through a friend

Took us to Ephesians

Yesterday

Where we are saved

By grace through faith

One thing required

Of us,

To believe

x

Faith alone

Ignites the spark

As if the kindling

For the fire of grace

Were waiting

On the inside

All this time

x

Let salvation blaze

In heaven and

In testimony

While

Here we need to know

Whose means for fire

Rests

And waits

For the one thing

That matters

For a spark

A start

To save

x

Ephesians 2:8

(thank you, David)

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C L Couch

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Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash

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0

Many and Great

(x = space)

x

x

Many and Great

x

I’m sorry

There are other things

Wildfires

Wars

Rising oceans

More than tides

Allow

What nature does

What we do

While the Earth permits

Until it can’t

x

And I’m concerned

With how

I feel

Even mortally

(with room for veniality

as well)

I am one

How many are you?

You seem more to me

As if a company

Resides

Inside your wall of flesh

Behind your eyes

x

And I suppose it’s true

We each might be

Many souls

Maybe carried through

The ages

Or simply facets of

What splits

From our encounters

Here and now

And what remains

Beside our spirits

Mainly

As we become

Like growing jewels

x

When permitted,

Like layers

Added to the pearl

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C L Couch

x

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Photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash

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1

A New Utilitarian

(x = space)

x

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A New Utilitarian

(that’s us)

x

Up all night

Wondering about

Well

Everything

Night means moon

And stars

And all the smaller things

That from our perspective

Fly in small gold

Arcs

The shooting stars

We call them

And then there are the silver

Moving dots of

Satellites

The ISS

Anything else sizable

That’s orbiting

All against the Milky Way

And behind that

The black sheet of outer

Space

Inside all that

I thought

About the things that slow

At night

For most of us

Unless we’re on third shift

Or there’s a fire

Or a crime

Or all the factories

As well as governments

That must be working

To extents

All the time

Or so we have

And use

Our grand design

For industry

For politics

x

The slower thoughts will speed up

In the day

Somehow clouds on blue

Mean things are faster

Sunlight now a deadline

Get everything done

You mean to do

Or others mean

For you to do

While I’m still

For when I’m done

For most of us

The billable day is done

(except for the

exceptional things

at night)

It’s time to think of home

Or bars

Or gyms

Or other things that

Work affords

x

The fast thoughts

Then

Speak to their own velocity

For production

And for sweating out the deadlines

But I think

There might be

Fast in fast

As well as slow in slow

At night

Thoughts within thoughts

Like wheels within wheels

In large machines

Or complex stories

x

What’s faster might be

Say

Inspiration

Intuition

Instinct

The things that have us move

With some rapidity

(maybe with adrenaline’s

assistance)

While the slower might be

Reflection

Cogitation

Consideration

Working out and adding to

The foundation on the inside

That makes us faster

Better

On the outside

x

Which means

I think

There is room for fast and slow

For reaction

And respect

Afterwards

Of the situation causing

The reaction

Meaning

(here)

That all the parts of who we are

Like all the parts of day and night

Belong

So we should

Examine that

Otherwise unexamined life

To grow through

Fast and slow

Surface

And latent

Rationale for

Stronger living

More complete

Satisfying

Funner

And productive

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash

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0

Storm Chasing

(x = space)

x

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Storm Chasing

x

It’s on the screen

Best that I can do

Storms are coming

I want to stay

In here

It’s an illusion

They could get me here

I have vague recollections

Of black and gray and green

Clouds looking to form

A funnel

While I drove beneath

Mainly though

It’s stories

On the news

From the family

From driving by

After

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C L Couch

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Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

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away from all things (haiku)

(x = space)

x

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away from all things (haiku)

x

away from all things

only bloom and branch attract

safety in numbers

x

c l couch

x

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photo by Kamala Bright on Unsplash

apple blossoms

(safety in numbers)

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Good Earth

(x = )

x

x

Good Earth

x

I don’t know the news now

I’m writing

x

I know what I knew

Last night

x

You know

Film at eleven

x

And reading much

Throughout the day

x

And having it

Affect me

x

I filter

And am changed

x

Maybe the filters change

Certainly

x

What settles on the other side

Has changed

x

The other side

Do you let the world

x

Affect you

This way

x

Everything impresses

As parents

x

Imprint

Upon the infants

x

We can only hope

They’re good

x

It’s all good

The process

x

And the people

On which rests

x

The fate of our

Good Earth

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by Jeniffer Araújo on Unsplash

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1

Five through the Ocean’s Gate

(x = space)

x

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Five through the Ocean’s Gate

x

I shirk

From contemplating this

I love the water

Love the ocean

Love the walk along a portion

Of its rim

At early morning

x

I’ve never been out far

No cruise

Or transatlantic anything

To look out

At waves without horizon

When there is the slightest haze

Along our edges

As if the clouds

Were now

Rimless warnings

Of an endless

World

Along the top

Let alone to think about

Below

x

They are there now

It seems

Their bodies

Anyway

They died in that below

Circuitous to

The wreck of all the wrecks

One of the sisters

Whose names were too large

A hubris

For an invitation

From the trickster gods

x

Five of them

Five of us

Someday officialdom

Will offer numbers with

Technical reasons

For us outside

The families

Conclusion

So we can move on

To other stories

To think about them

Once a year

Perhaps

x

Exploration

Research

Play

All are valid reasons

Human reasons

To go down

Into the blue

Though without expectation

I imagine

That there would be

No returning

x

Sorry

For your loss

We must do better

Say it months from now

And years

With meaning

And with safer

Measures

Though adventure

Is a chance

And cannot change

From that

x

C L Couch

x

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Missing Titanic Sub Crew Killed after “Catastrophic Implosion”

Helen Regan, Adam Renton, Rob Picheta, Aditi Sangal, Elise Hammond, Matt Meyer, Tori B. Powell, Mareen Chowdhury

https://www.cnn.com/americas/live-news/titanic-missing-sub-oceangate-06-22-23/index.html

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Photo by Inés Álvarez Fdez on Unsplash

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To Philemon

(x = space)

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To Philemon

(“and to the church in thy house”)

x

We are encouraged

By your faith

In fact

We have joy

x

Give Onesimus

Another chance

We send him

To you

He may have wronged thee

Take him back

x

If he owes anyone money

Or its equivalent

I will repay it

I tell you this myself

Who

Told you about the faith and

So be saved

x

Receive him

Who to me has

Become

Peer and colleague

And he will serve you

Especially this way

x

Treat him now

As one who has

Standing

No matter how it might

Have gone

Before

x

Let the deeper parts

Of all of us

Be glad

That we are one

In Christ

x

From all of us

Who live

Captive by the world

For now

Grace and peace

To thee

And thine

x

From prisoners with me

Paul

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C L Couch

x

x

Philemon is the addressee of a brief epistle in the Christian New Testament

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Photo by Mike Hindle on Unsplash

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