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September 2023

Rhapsody in Bible

(x = space)

x

x

Rhapsody in Bible

x

God

You are good

You love us

Always

And anyway

x

I’m sure it’s in there

Though I can make

Only pages with

Neat typing

Of blurred letters

As I try

x

And then the stream

The invitation

And a wall of rooms

That somehow

Turn into mansions

Promise of two verses

About paradise

About

You know

Dwelling in the house

Of the Lord

x

There are numbers on the pages

Small headlines

Aids from time

Which were not in

The original

Black pages

Into mod

(it was the sixties

into seventies

for us)

And now the church

All wood

And mullions

With a clock that I could see

When in the choir

Set in the center

So the pastor be reminded

(by the clock

committee)

Of the time

For preaching

And when

To wrap it up

x

I received my Bible there

I think

Or in the rooms

For Sunday School

Which had checked floors

Of tile

Room dividers

In the wing

That had been built

Before I got there

And a breezeway

Over the drive

x

But this is building stuff

And the pages

Pages stuff

What of the truth that’s in there

And it’s in there

I can recall without the images

Though they come

Anyway

The verses and the truth inside

x

Create in me

A clean heart

O God

And renew a right spirit

Within me

x

And that’s only to begin

The faith

And transformation

Needed

That we learn about

In there

x

C L Couch

x

x

from Psalm 51

(followed by

Cast me not away

from thy presence

and take not thy holy spirit

from me

x

which happened to Saul

by the way

at the nadir

of his life

as king

appointed by the prophet

who got directions

from the Lord

to look for someone tall

and

well

kingly

for a tragic irony

as things turned out)

x

sorry, I got into a kind of coda

(that a kind of song, could be a psalm, might have)

x

x

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

x

0

Today Is What

(x = space)

x

x

Today Is What

x

What is today

After some mental work

It’s Tuesday

In the morning

x

In the ninth month

Against which someone will say

So many days

‘Til Christmas

x

But that’s a cultural thing

(and a commercial thing)

There are so many things

Before

We get there

x

Hallowe’en

Thanksgiving

(in both countries)

The yearly argument

Over which explorer exploited first

x

And up here

(spring there)

It shall be fall

Leaves fall

In glory and defeat

Bare branches left behind

x

Except for evergreens

That we shall value more and more

For symbolizing

Something like forever

Through all the seasons

And we hope

(burn bonfires

to the sky

to sky-gods)

Through the great changes

To forever

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Adrien Olichon on Unsplash

x

1

Te Deum

(x = space)

x

x

Te Deum

x

I pray to God

And Jesus

Rarely directly to

The Holy Spirit

Sorry, Spirit

Though it seems

I’m talking with you

All the time

As an indication

A reality

Of indwelling

x

You are the nearest

The closest part

Of God

In fact, in me

While I know

It’s three in one

But for all I know

It might be

That you are the part of God

Who is the most patient

Part

(indwelling)

And who somehow

Loves me best

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Savvas Kalimeris on Unsplash

x

0

Drafting into a Welcome for Rosh Hashanah

(x = space)

x

x

Drafting into a Welcome for Rosh Hashanah

x

It has

Sundowned into

Tishrei

Rosh Hashanah

x

Now into

A count of five thousand

Seven hundred

Eighty-four

x

The new year

Turns the calendar

Adding one

To five millennia

(a few centuries

away

from six)

Together

As a people

x

We have liturgy

Reading

Hearing

We have the word of God

Visit

And then send us on our way

x

Our way together

Responding to the invitation

Of another year

Of seasons

For dancing

Mourning

All that is required

x

There are lessons

As we need them

x

A thousand died on Maui

Ten thousand in Libya

More than

Less than

A counting for

A necessary tally

As with those who fell in battle

Tallied in the texts

Of old

x

The wars waged with nature

And too often

With each other

x

And yet how many born

How many here

Grown into this family

Of long life

Together

x

And each one matters

Fallen

Risen

Breathing

Or having given up on breath

For what is next

x

Each one matters

x

Maybe

There are other

Older

But we are

A five-thousand (going on six)

Years-old people

Plus one new day

x

Ancient and new

We are

We work

We play

We pause to rest

We go again

x

(So)

Remember who we were

Remember who we are

This year of blessing

As we have it

Inside which

We’ll part

And come together

As required

Meaning it as celebration

Too

x

Sundown into sunrise

Go our days

Here and now

For we are here

We’re now

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Veronika Diegel on Unsplash

x

2

The Actual Words of God

(x = space)

x

x

The Actual Words of God

(don’t worry)

x

God says

Stand up

God says

Up on one foot

(as you are able)

Now down

Uh-oh

You didn’t hear

God says

x

Righteous

Confusion

To say we hear the right thing

All the time

From God

Whose big voice

In the sky

Has chapters for us

As a best-selling

Enterprise

x

How do we know what God says

Well

We don’t

God might speak rather directly

To the mystics

Find a mystic

For the rest of us

We have a text

Then say hello

Then listen

And that ain’t all bad

x

We won’t have anything

To sell

But the working out

Shall take a grownup lifetime

With the pleasure

Fully realized

In prayer

Without agenda

Or to find agenda

There

Rather than first

And then

Get the holy language

To agree

x

The actual words of God

Don’t worry

We’ll say things

We’ll listen

We’ll have feelings

We’ll have instincts

Which shall be

Our life of faith

Credible

Without a claim

Or verbatim

But what should love

As we learn God

And live

Tell us

Anyway

x

While if you’re Moses

Reading this

Or Deborah

Or Julian

I think you’ll understand

For the rest of us

x

Be easy

I believe

You might say this

Too

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Achim Ruhnau on Unsplash

x

2

The Artist of the Beautifuler

(x = space)

x

x

The Artist of the Beautifuler

x

Ain’t life grand

And all we behold

Upon the Earth

Above

Below

Inside the ground

And waters

Of the Lord

The glory of first days

The foundation

For our virtue

Or our sin

For we must admit

We can do both

x

So much is

Left to us

It always has been

As far as we’ve known

An always

Our time

Anthropocene

‘Til a robot age

Take over

Sighing lubrication

Into ancient joints

That keep the world

As if

We were coming by

Again

x

That the god who made them

Will forgive them

In the failure that they own

In the fight against our future

That we

Not they

Had lost

x

They can renew themselves

And mostly

They are standing by

x

C L Couch

x

x

a bit of science fiction

x

thinking about City by Clifford D. Simak and the after-war chapter (on Earth) of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

x

Photo by Redd F on Unsplash

x

2

changelinged

(x = space)

x

x

changelinged

x

1

I was invited once

to touch a snake

I like to think

it was a changing experience

not for the snake

x

the snake was enormous

I should say

wider to reach over

than with my hand

serpent exotic

in a safe place

for our human sakes

I’m sure

x

while I stroked

the smooth and awesome scales

looked up close

at God-given color patterns

the muscles moved

they rippled

in a kind of normal splendor

to our given

giving

Lord

x

what new thing did it know

it had to move that way

and by the way

representing all

the better sides of Eden

in its normal work

glory

and play

x

2

the poor snake

gets short shrift

as an inhabitant in paradise

and then cast out

x

same thing

you know

happened with us

x

and we can say

who changed

but everyone

and who shall be redeemed

and maybe

all creation

if it was everything

that fell with us

our choice

remember

and we can remember

x

maybe the serpent shall be changed

if the satan in

the twenty-plus chapters be

dispossessed

of nefarious

possession

x

now to wander

and climb freely over

all of our

new Earth

x

c l couch

x

x

I’m pretty sure this was part of a program sponsored by ZooAmerica at Hersheypark

x

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

x

3

I Need to Resupply by September 22

(x = space)

x

x

I Need to Resupply by September 22

x

I need some breakfast,

Hobbits

x

Bagels are gone

While only a couple swipes

Of cream cheese remain

x

One piece of bread

For toast

And if I search my shelves

I might the last of peanut butter

x

Inside the fridge

Maybe some juice

And don’t worry

I have coffee

x

I’m sorry, hobbits

x

This is grim fare

And certainly for hosting

x

I have to hope

There is no

Unexpected party

x

I have wine and beer

Should you

Wish to come

Later on

You know

Respectably

But you’ll have to bring

(so sorry)

Your own food

Maybe to share

With me

x

Oops

x

I have a nice collection of maps

For treasure quests

To offer

x

C L Couch

x

x

The twenty-second means the birthday of Bilbo (and Frodo).  There could be or should be an (expected) unexpected party, then.

x

Photo by Jas Min on Unsplash

x

0

We Dial 9/11

(x = space)

x

x

We Dial 9/11

x

Remembering is easy

Even through news windows

I can’t imagine

Falling all the way

Except in nightmares

The kind that say

Should we find the ground

In dreams

We die for real

x

For real

All the passengers

The bombers

In New York

In Pennsylvania

In Washington, D.C.

We have their names

To honor them

As best we may

Collectively

And with each heart

Directly changed

By impulse

Will

And so

By degree

x

Then with remembrance

Names on stone

Or marble

So many flags flying

At half-mast

And also living on

Quite normally

For it is part of normal

To be changed forever

Yet

Clean our houses

Shop outside

Do business that we have to

And if sponsored right

With satisfaction

x

There is life

We have it while we have it

Theirs is somewhere else

We study

But don’t really own

It seems

x

We’ll have to follow

Then we’ll know

We all will know

How we remembered

Through this life

And in pausing

x

Through moving on

Bearing more metal weight

Each time

x

Go to Shanksville

Pass by the Pentagon

Visit the enormous squared

Marble

Set with names

And moving water

In New York

x

Remember

Pray for heaven

Then

For mercy

Somehow

Upon the Earth

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Dawn McDonald on Unsplash

x

4

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