July 2023

The Splendid Myth

(x = space)

The Splendid Myth

We have a problem

Everywhere

In that

We perceive myth

As untruth

As a story

That’s a lie

That’s a myth

We say

Meaning it’s

Untrue

But myth itself

Is better

It’s is a culture’s aim

To explain

What is larger

Than our words

Because

It’s larger than our thoughts

The source of things

The wherewithal

The why

The motivation

Weather

Natural disaster

Seasons

Where and when

There are seasons

The attributes of animals

And of ourselves

And finally

Mortality

Of everything

It seems

Except perhaps

The Earth itself

The light and dark

With sun and moon

And other skyward things

We might take in

Though all these

Need our stories

Too

These are myths

Neither stupid

Nor naïve

For they are put together

By great minds

And hearts

To work the mind

To placate

To work

To stir toward greater

Effort

Greater meaning

Our thoughts

Our feelings

All our ambitions

Everything

Given worth

If partially

Yet splendidly

Explained

C L Couch

Photo by Gabriel Ramos on Unsplash

July 31, 2023 1

Hellish Season

(x = space)

Hellish Season

It’s summer

And it’s hot

The sky too dense

With particulates

Of fires

And there’s

An irony of floods

And there is war too hot to fight

Yet fought

There

And in

We’ve heard

The war at home

Too much heat

It could seem

For sin

And yet not (yet) hot enough

To forestall

Our trying

And should

The hellish rise

In us

Around us

There might be balm

Valued

And adored

Christ

(of battle

the coming of the Lord)

Spirit

And angels

Come with mercy

Like cool liquid

On fevered heads

Once bodies

Have been taken

From the fray

And then the heat

Might break

A cooling rain

In fact

Begins and lasts

All the next day

Like the fourth day after

Three days

Of terrifying

Awesome

Blooded battle

All battles drawing blood

But this

Specifically at Gettysburg

Four days at Gettysburg

The fourth day for rain

To wash the field

To mist the ignominy

Either of retreat

Or too much victory

C L Couch

(after three days of accidental, built-up, pent-up, exhausting, murderous battle, starting on the first, the battle at Gettysburg was done and on the fourth day there was rain—ironic for the nation, being the Fourth of July, of course our independence day for the USA)

Photo by Henrique Sá on Unsplash

July 30, 2023 2

And All That

(x = space)

And All That

There is cool

For heat

I am lucky

I have family

I have friends

I know I spend

My days alone

Which is belied

By your company

You are with me

It’s not a story

Well

It is

But the story

Explains the truth

Even the myth

That’s founded on

The truth

Of something larger

Than ourselves

That we wish to

Know

And so

Sometimes in clarity

Sometimes in mist

I have you with me

From the inside

Out

From the center fold

In me

Out through the pages

Into sunlit

Cloud-lit

Night-lit

Illumination

It’s always like as mask

I guess

Like the dark glass

A purple panel

That even should we leave

The cave

Goes with us

A pretty barrier

Maybe raised by sin

Maybe to challenge

Virtue

Well

You’re with me

I know that

And I am thankful

I am thankful for my sister

Too

My brothers

And my friends

Grateful for the lack

Of desolation

With all that livingly

Is set

Upon it

Knowledge

Insight

Discovery

A growing column

Always with

A hook for that dark glass

Yet rising toward the others

And toward you

Thank you

For being God

And Christ

And Spirit

More than doctrinaire

You save my soul

Without the rites

Though rites are good

As well

Vital esprit de corps

And all that

C L Couch

Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash

July 29, 2023 1

something small series

(x = space)

something small series

(three parts, that is, three poems)

For What We Are About to Receive

Thank you

God

For what is small

For what is easy

To see

To hear

To guess a touch

A taste

And what is left

A smell

In likelihood

Or gentle appreciation

Flower

Bird

Child

Not to touch

But to leave alone

Unless the touch be necessary

Or requested

Of the thing

Not my agenda

Or the world’s

Leave the flowers grow

And the birds

And the children

Provide

Teach

Enhance

The opportunities

Hold them

When our own

Release them

To their own

Be thankful for the borrowing

Even beholding

As a work

Of yours

In a museum

Without walls

With working space

And fields for play

The sunshine and the wind

To enhance

The experience

All experience

That’s human

Sanctioned by divine

In the making

And the giving

Thank you

The Open Gift

Thank God for something small

Seemingly

Easy to love

As if we had received a gift

For our delight

The flower

Or the bird

Or a child

Given in labor

Pain

And innocence

Returning both perhaps

Charged to our keeping

But here is the gift

A moment for the beauty

And the truth

In our beholding

In what is revealed

From the force

Behind all forces

The presence

We may guess at

And not know

For sure

Thought we know

This moment with

The flower

Bird

Or child

They are not avatars

They are their own

They are not agendas

Though they are

Naïve messages

Of innocence

Realistic purity

On Earth

(part 2 of something small a series)

The Final Solution

And now

Praise God

For something small

With song

In appreciation

To adore

Creator

In creation

For all there is

And isn’t

And should be

(the Quixotic dream)

Take in the leave

Take in the wind

Take in a stranger

Passing by

In New York City

Millions

Not to see again

Until our sight

Be perfect

And unbidden

Sighting love

In focus

Blissfully

Agenda-free

Sinless

Indiscriminate

Find something small

To love it

Even a molecule

Considered

The illustration

From a textbook

Or a website

Thanks God for protons

And electrons

Neutrons

That have meaning

Though they seem

Without an interest

Of their own

But they are here

And all the rest

To bind

In gravity

Of love

And willingness

For unity

And one’s own identity

Everything shared

Nothing lost

Praise God

For something small

That’s you

And me

When you

Love of self

And the other

We delightfully have both

And all the time

One by one

Small part by small part

A miniature greatness

That is set

And to combine

To form out of apocrypha

Or apocalypse

The real thing

We’ll be there

Won’t we

(part 3 and probably enough of the something small series)

C L Couch

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

July 28, 2023 9

The Lonely Makers

(x = space)

The Lonely Makers

(an accounting for geneses)

There is God

There is the Spirit

There has been Christ

As we have the story

There is Christ

Before Sarah

In fact

To speak to bring the world

Ex nihilo

Into something

The world was made in six days

Each day therein

An age

Such as the day of the dinosaur

Or the days of Camelot

Count twenty-four

God could do it

But there was void at first

Then light and dark

How shall one count

In that

Before the world of clocks

Christ speaks

And all is made

The Spirit moves

Behested to breathe life

After the first

Breath

Into the sky

Over the water

Abstracts are done

And then

The species

Of the Earth

Come forth

Creatures

With small spirits

Even

Our own

Breathed out of dust

To live

To make our way

To make

Our own

Shares in creativity

By will

Because later on

We ask for this

Alone

And alone

C L Couch

Photo by Christine Kozak on Unsplash

July 27, 2023 0

The Garden of Scheherazade

(x = space)

The Garden of Scheherazade

Imagine

An Arabian portico

A ceiling to the side

Under which is

Furniture with pillows

It is day

Then it is night

And in another place

Deeper inside

She meets with the husband

She volunteered to take

Even though

He is a maniac

Who kills after one night

To secure fidelity

And so you tell a story

Recalling all the things you studied

Texts

Everything told you

By your father the vizier

By his advisors

Students

The servants of the house

And when allowed to wander

(covered up)

Making stories out of comments made

Along the streets

Of a desert country

With oases

And mountains

As well

Legends

Narratives from

Math and philosophy

The history of men

(mostly men

aware of audience)

Through the ages

Sinbad

Aladdin

Ali Baba

So many more

Nearly three years’ worth

Though it was the first night

That mattered

And the day that followed

Keeping life

By keeping the killer

Entertained

And then the second night

Made all the difference

And the third

While you stood

Or sat

Or walked

The garden outside

The blood-filled palace

Deciding

Crafting

Revising

Each narrative

For the night

Aiming for salvation

For another day

coda

I don’t know why I think of this

She

Came to me yesterday

Probably because

I was thinking about story

On its own

Not so much the content

But the abstract

And the purpose

The importance

The reality

A telling makes

Maybe not

To life and limb

Bur all the stories she got to tell

We got to hear

That were in context

So much fighting

For her life

C L Couch

A Thousand and One Arabian Nights is a collection framed by the telling of stories by Scheherazade, the daughter of the vizier. She volunteered against her father’s wish, naturally enough, to marry the king as a defensive measure for the women of the realm—and because the realm was losing all its women, at least those suitable for a king to marry. Whatever suitable means, especially given the circumstances. And as an overarching cause because the king whose first wife cheated on him and was summarily executed made in the king an attitude of mania regarding fidelity. And so each day he would marry a virgin and then each night have her killed. Scheherazade, who was not only skilled in storytelling but in story content, went to the king, married him, and entertained him on the first night with a story and then, because he wanted more, on the second night and so on. The king found good stories more enticing than slaying wives, which I guess is some kind of virtue even in one we can’t overall admire. Finally, the king’s madness broke or something like that happened; and he thought to keep Scheherazade as his one (and lasting) wife.

Well, it’s a story within stories. Or I should say without. But it adds an edge in the telling and our hearing. An added edge like that of a sword, perhaps that of an executioner.

Photo by Arsalan Rad on Unsplash

July 26, 2023 0

New Song

(x = space)

New Song

Sing to the Lord

a new song

All right

A new song

And what shall make it new

New arrangement

Instruments we rarely

Have in church

Maybe there should be dancing

The king’s before the ark

As it was taken

Across Jerusalem

(risking disapproval

of the court

the queen)

Maybe not

A psalm

Of normalcy at all

By that I mean

New words

Phrased by us

And our understanding

A gift today

And as a record

Kept in legacy

With the music of

The music master

(female

or male)

What we keep

Because we made it

With a notation

Of the first time

It was read

It was played

It was sung

It was danced

C L Couch

Psalm 46

Photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash

(if you want a story of the queen risking the disapproval of the king, then read Esther)

July 25, 2023 1

annunce

(x = space)

annunce

do not be afraid

it said

how not to be afraid

before an angel

calling

might have been a good

lesson

from my mother

I bring you

good news

but I am betrothed to

a good person

and

the families

are not in conflict

what need have I

for

further prizes

you shall bear a son

not by Joseph

but by

the Spirit of God

pause

well

pause

what will they say

what will he

believe

am I being offered

something

may I say no

I know the fall

of Eve

was from will

to know the truth

of good and evil

and I hope

I know the truth

at least enough to

decide

I shall say

yes

what other answer

to an angel

and my Lord

and if it was foregone

then

I will risk

divine trickery

or naivety

to choose

and then to say

yes

angel

yes

to God

as it is

I know I risk

sanction

and refusal

doubt

and rejection

and if there is reason

these reactions are

reasonable

but I will

go with God

and go to Joseph

and to

mother

father

and shall hope

and in hope

prepare for motherhood

as a complex surprise

in my youth

rejoice

O young woman

in thy appointed youth

pause

rejoice

c l couch

Ecclesiastes 11:9 (ASV)

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

Photo by Bartosz Kwitkowski on Unsplash

July 24, 2023 0