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July 2023

Reverie on How Things Taste

(x = space)

x

x

Reverie on How Things Taste

x

The sweet

Should have the bitter

x

I know you are a villain, Iago

Now

Too late

x

The bitter

Should have sweet

x

It is a way to live

To know the world

As is

And a little

How it should be

x

There is a flower

Or an herb,

I think,

Or both

x

If so,

A wise bloom

And spice

Inviting us

To savor

How things are

And a little

How they should be

x

The plants

That have blossoms

And have thorns

They are wise

And sad

They speak

They sing

To peril

x

Had Christ had a few flowers

On the crown

Pressed on his head

The beauty

Would not have changed

The agony

And we might wonder

Were a parody

Of beauty

Pressed on his head

Not only

Majesty

A jeering of

An earthly diadem

x

We need both

Because the world

Is both

And we should navigate

Understanding

That the bitter and the sweet

Are out there

And often

Come together

As the savor

Of the world

x

That we cannot pull apart

Not here

Not now

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Robin Lyon on Unsplash

Bittersweet in Winter

x

1

Federation

(x = space)

x

x

Federation

x

I pass patches

Of cultivated farmland

x

I trust there’s more

Of these

From coast to coast

x

Though we pay farmers

Not to grow

In the way

The OPEC caps (quite literally)

Distribution

x

These and other things

Manipulate the

Market

x

Have done so

For decades

If not ages

(thinking the Romans were

at least among

the first

to play with supply

and prices

and inflation)

x

Sigh

x

I wish we had a market

Based on need

As well as pleasure

And for profit

x

Everyone needs food

x

Everyone needs means

For acquisition

And so on

x

Everyone must work

I’d go for that

But everyone is each one

With aptitudes

And what might be considered

Limitations

Though we should think

Uniqueness

x

Well

Captain Kirk might be right

In that

There might be no money

In the twenty-third

Century

x

An age for which

We have decided meeting

Human need

Is a galactic

Law

And providing means

For training

Toward discovering

And realizing

Talents

x

Also dreams

Magellanic

Or quite

Homely

x

Art

x

Manufacturing

x

Philosophy

x

Blacksmithing

x

All be done

Out of desire

And ability

And help

x

The way we help

Or should

Our children grow

x

And so

Our galaxy shall grow

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Danny Lines on Unsplash

x

0

Lean

(x = space)

x

x

Lean

(John 3:17)

x

Not to condemn

But to love

Because God would rather love

And does love

It is gravity

The universe is biased toward

That which keeps us together

And God is biased

In the same way

x

Everything is biased

Everything leans

The one who can be objective

Best

Who maybe sets objectivity

Aside for math

(maybe)

Has chosen to favor

The impulse of creation

And an agenda

Toward ourselves

x

God would rather save than condemn

Would rather love than judge

Who will judge

And do so with perfection

Also to pardon

With a possibility

Faith required

Faith in something freely offered

Grace

The sacrifice made by another

Who was God

Who is God

That in the mixture of flesh and the divine

Blood and spirit

Sin and innocence

Might conquer death

And offer conquered death

As proffered life

The chance to live in hope today with

As the song asserts

Bright hope for tomorrow

x

Perfection chooses

Love’s mitigation

Case dismissed

Open the gates

Or however admission

Might be managed

Into heaven

And for now

Into today

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Steven Van Elk on Unsplash

Foggy Beach Walk

x

1

This Is What We Want

(x = space)

x

x

This Is What We Want

x

We want to wake up

Waking’s good

We want to have breakfast

Something to break the fast

Of sleeping

We want to move

To greet each other

Gauge each other

And the day

And then move into it

x

We want work

And decent ways to get there

We want safety

Of our bodies

Our workplace identities

Our spirits

For the labor

With nodding toward

Our dreams and aspirations

x

We want lunch

We want to like it

Maybe enjoy

The company

Or it need be

(or preferred)

Dine alone

x

We want an afternoon

For work

And then for something grounded

Afterschool

A time to leave

For home

For family

For snacks

For play

And then our evening lives

Meetings or more work

(homework)

Or movies

And more snacks

Then ease into

It’s over

This day

For sleep and readiness

For next

x

All the mitigation

Third shift

Or farms

Demanding seasons

Training

x

Sickness

The things that shift in life

The ones we knew

Whose company

We no longer have

Aging

Anyway

And all that comes

With final dreams

Allowable inside

Three score and ten

And in society

x

We want this life

We want today

Into tomorrow

And yesterday

In part

At least

For fond remembering

x

Such a life

Should be supportable

This should be our culture

And our lives together

More as God allows

Or might demand

Of prophets

Or of mystics

Though we get to keep

The quotidia

We should have

From the beginning

x

And allowances

Yes

Of course

Allowances

Curies

Heyerdahls

Should have their way

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Laurentiu Morariu on Unsplash

x

0

Christopher and His Time Machine

(x = space)

x

x

Christopher and His Time Machine

x

Sometimes,

I wish I could go back

And get things

Purchase things

Not extravagant things

Well, maybe

But practical things

That aren’t made anymore

At least where I am

Or where I shop

Or wherever

Jars of yellow mustard

Big, glass

Because I don’t care for

Squeeze bottles

Glass bottles of ketchup

Too

Bottles of soft drinks

When they (all these)

Were commonplace

And cheap

And I’d bring back my quantities

For the delight of my days here

x

Maybe

Shirts with bigger collars

From the ‘70s

Or the ‘30s or ‘40s

Even the suits (for women

or for men)

They wear in film noir

With the fedoras (again,

for men or women)

Maybe a car

Made out of metal

More than plastic

Though I guess

I would be

Getting too far

Away

What with electric chargers

Taking over, nowadays

x

And there’s no time machine

For me,

Anyway

Though should there be

I have to remember

To get the money right

(the years right)

For my trips

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Daniele Franchi on Unsplash

x

1

The Ohio River Once a Year

(x = space)

x

x

The Ohio River Once a Year

x

Did I dream

Of flooding?

It’s been raining

Occasionally

Torrentially

And I’ve been caught

In some

Not much

x

I have not seen a flood

Except after

With effects

I guess that’s normal

I’ve never lived along

The Mississippi

Though the Ohio

Used to flood

(still does, I’m sure)

Once a year

Taking houses

And lives away

Like the old hymn

About time’s sons

x

Then the houses

Would be built

And those alive

Resume their inside living

Once again

Until the following spring

Should cause

All the deadly

Wash again

x

Maybe no one

Wants to buy

Maybe if you have some land

You’ll live the terror

Once a year

To keep it

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Art Institute of Chicago on Unsplash

Two Women on the Shore by Edvard Munch

x

https://hymnary.org/text/our_god_our_help_in_ages_past_watts

x

2

Moment Clear

(x = space)

x

x

Moment Clear

(to go with “The Moment,” “Moment Passed”)

x

Hello

You must be God

I don’t know what I’m saying

I could read from a book

I suppose

You’d know the words

And I guess

That you know mine

x

Why are you invisible

Why are you only known

Through agencies

Through angel words

And actions

Fighting

Providing

Or announcing

Such a scary thing to Mary

Words in the sky

To frighten shepherds

Though getting them

To Bethlehem

As well

x

And may I know you

Unseen and surrogates

The promise

In the making

Of the cosmos

Promising perfection

With you later

x

Well

Maybe it’s simple

Believe in you

Or not

You remain the same

And for some reason

Have a plaintive part

As if you long for us

Having made us

Then pushed us along

From making

Into life

Into choices

x

And we may choose you

On our own

Without good evidence

Through with impulsive knowing

That there’s good and bad

Somehow both

And good is better

Bad amounts to nothing

Even though it gets to dress

In temptation

That we find compelling

x

Oh God

How do we know

How do we choose

I guess we do

We do

And that is all

No more

No less

Through faith there is the grace

The gift to everyone

In shadowlands

Enough clarity

To know you

And to have you

Knowing

You have us

Through the next moment

Of posterity

Into eternity

x

That’s it

We believe

And you remain

Unrevealed

So that faith keeps to the road

As invisibly as ever

The way

Belief and grace

Shall take us

Knowing when we fall

From lack of evidence

Or from gilded devils

With their feet out

x

We can pick up ourselves

And even reach for you

To know that something’s

Someone’s

There

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Randy ORourke on Unsplash

x

0

Moment Passed

(x = space)

x

x

Moment Passed

(goes with yesterday’s post, “The Moment”)

x

There is such a thing

There ain’t

No such thing

x

If you had a chance

To meet with God

Then passed

And let the moment pass

So what

x

To find God

How many moments

Guessed at

In a waking day

How many moments

Made

x

Pick one of them

Turn

That’s all

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Chyntia Juls on Unsplash

x

2

The Moment

(x = space)

x

x

The Moment

(the Christ encounter)

x

The new

Not new

x

They are letters

xxxxxof love

How often we forget that

Whose message is for many

x

Finally,

Everyone is mentioned

x

A gift to all

xxxxxthe words

The grace they represent

An invitation to the Lord

A life with heaven,

After

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Will Paterson on Unsplash

x

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