poems about life together
regardless
sad programs
about
the dying animals
with sad
commercials about
giving money
to save
the dying animals
and if we’re good
there will be t-shirts in
the package
with
some photographs
and some rhetoric
please
to send some more
sigh
and this is
Saturday
and sometimes throughout
the day
or at night
when I am done
with the workday
or week
and it seems
I’ve nothing left
to give
for service
or for play
and shall I find it in myself
to give some
more
and then some
more
well
why not
it’s only interactions
with a service
and the donations go
automatic
in the timeframe
I approve
and maybe
we could
do this together
as
you know
a project
or something passing by
over time
to be reminded of
and how
small
even accumulated
was this kind
of giving
then there’s an hour
two hours
a few hours
to go into town
to serve somewhere
because
what is required
is what we know already
how to do
and also
how to smile
how to say
hello
and then
here you go
please enjoy
a gambol
a gambol
is a walk
that is playful
sometimes what
a mountain goat
or sheep
might do
upon the mountain
and shall I
gambol
somewhere
on this weekend
day
or take a drive to nowhere
letting the playfulness
be mental
and emotional
(while
driving carefully)
playfully
in my head
or chest
might count for a gambol
too
for someone keeping score
or for
without a record
simply to have
the play
beside the work
don’t worry
deserving
simply go
and shall we
collaborate
into companionship
to go
out there
in here
companionable
and when we return
we could enjoy
some silent company
with small words
in between
the kind the authors call
companionable
I shall enjoy
companionable silence
if you are of a mind
and will
to join me
in the same
I don’t there are cues
but time will tell
(and now we know
what that means)
let’s sit
or do small chores
with a glass of wine
nearby
or tea
poured into
carryable cups
and let the hour
be an hour
without counting
or whatever time it
takes
to rest inside the mind
and in the seat
where classics say
we build up
and make sense of
our emotions
time passes
easy love
the kind that lasts
through jumpy times
or even
catastrophic
should the phone ring
or something on the news
require our rising
on the inside and outside
to take on
together
built on the companionship
built in the quiet
times
and everything unworldly
together
maybe not the end of day
and then we rest
maybe tired
maybe worried
maybe
we need
to talk some
more about
what’s going on
inside our lives
even the world
at large
to parse the day
and yet not
box
anything
but leave the thoughts
and our emotions
even will
to go organically
to set priorities
through the life-sense
and what’s important
that we built
and yes
together
epilogue
straightforward?
saccharine?
more metaphors?
some
jaundice
for what we consider
the infection
of reality?
I don’t know
what’s real?
what is truth
to modern
governors
and Pilates?
well
give it a go
or not
I think we’ll only find
a truth that lasts
and a reality to bear
when somehow
we work it out
as we
(and yes
too easy the
transition)
whee
don’t forget
to play
without humor
and joy
it’s hard to work out
life’s
priorities
even its reasons
without
some
together
c l couch
photo by Dan Cristian Pădureț on Unsplash
Theology for Anyone
Too many things
To think about
What is
Simply
Out there
Anymore
What might be simple
First
In here
And show the way
The poet
(I have mentioned this)
Taught me about the Amish
Person
Who was asked
Are you saved to heaven
To which
The faithful person said
I hope so
Not doubting so much
As to be humble
And to be prodded
All the time
To serve
And remember who is
Served
And what did
Jesus say
About the sheep
But
You may come in
For helping me
Because
I was the thirsty
And the naked
And the lonely
While you goats
(poor goats
for a metaphor)
Must stay outside
And go to
Frankly
An awful place
Or maybe
Nothing
Philosophically
Simply enough
Perhaps
That is
Live well
And for each other
And who is my neighbor
But
Anyone in
Need
While we have the means
And typically we have
To use
Help each other
Which I guess means
Take the help
As well
Simple enough
C L Couch
(Matthew 25:31–46)
Photo by Nandhu Kumar on Unsplash
help the goats, too
ain’t together
(roaming like clouds or cellphone signals, I apologize)
anticipation
like the ketchup
rain
should come
at any moment
through
the unrelenting gray
to the west
and south
severer things have happened
and
I think
we
shall get the dregs
of it
flooding tempests
and tornados
well
it’s windy
now
though I don’t think
shelter-driven
though
of course
I could be wrong
and I’ll
be looking for
a doorframe
after all
and you be safe
unless
you be
stormchasers
then
I don’t what
to say
how about
God speed with you
and make wings
ahead
blow you the other way
when exigent
need be
coda
I’m sorry
we aren’t going through
what you go through
in Ukraine
or in Gaza
or
in parts where the same things
happen
and we don’t hear about
so much
I’m not talking about
bullets
killing or
explosions
the terror
then the thirst
and hunger
after
the infections
and the awful
draining
fear
for families
and I’m not in Philadelphia
where someone had to shoot
at Muslims
having Eid al-Fetr
at the end
of Ramadan
and I’m not everywhere
where white folk
hate the Jews
or anyone who’s not
so white
(I guess I mean
pure
ethnic white
whatever hell that means
as a thought
or an
agenda)
anyone
that is
whom we’re afraid of
as the next
majority
in number or
otherwise in power
well
I merely
started talking
about
weather
and by
implication
climate change
but
maybe
everything’s extreme
anymore
and the peace of moderation
sometimes called
the swing vote
might be desired
more than
ever
or I’ll only speak
for me
from a kind of centered place
that I hope is not
the hurricane’s
but God’s
eye
c l couch
photo by Clay LeConey on Unsplash
with at the start a reference to a TV commercial from the '70s
How to Go to the New World
(either way)
I still don’t know what
To say to you
Today
I mean
This is me
And I don’t know
Not knowing
Words
And something of their use
Often
Re-rendered
When conscripted
Into verse
Or let the message
Be a branch
Or bird
Inside the tree
Or something of the sun
Through clouds
Below
Leaving a gospel
In a shadow
But something new
Or affirming
Something old
Or even ancient
Like virtue
And its complement
Of rules
We take for argument
From Greeks
Who took things
From Egyptians
Then both subsumed
By Rome
And so
What’s happening
In Asia
All the while
And then the holy
And the Roman
Christians
Establish empire
Where for eons
There had been those
Who fought
And
Dwelled
Expanded and
Diminished
On their own
To have the only world
They knew
And it was vast
More than enough
Until the white gods
Came
The devils
To deceive us
A whole world
For its varied understanding
Of
The way things go
And on another side
How seasons
Turn
To go another way
And so subvert
The growing year
Of Gregory
So much
So many
To have touched
On so few
And in one time
And so
Move forward
When complexities
Are
Rife with
Differences
Agendas
Styles
And signals
Of the fear of the unknown
Toward other people
In the shadows
From our light
Whose singularity
Makes others
Fearsome in the dark
That we have made
Much darker
Not
To behold
Their part
In the same light
We could tone down ourselves
And so inquire
Of the ones
We do not know
But could
In openness
And inquiry
The way we learned research
In school
Before the grown-ups interests
And fear for profit
Took us over
We could learn to love
The differences
As might have been
Our first impressions
When meeting
As children
Invested by impulse
With curiosity
And let the world change
With our acquaintance
Let everyone be different
Just a little
For having met
With outstretched hand
Empty for introduction
While the other hand
At our side
Is open
Too
With honesty
Allowed to gain
Through inquiry
And
Once permitted
Exploration
C L Couch
Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash
with or without a garden or an upper dining room
well
God
I’m here
and where are you
why
look
you’re here
you’ve always been
and it’s
so much
the patience to remain here
while I
prevaricate
to think a million
other things
as if
they matter more
and justify
the saddest
putting-off
for
my specific greetings
my confessions
petitions
for my needs
and needs
of others
more specific
and for the entire
world
and the whorls
of the cosmos
that need
you
out there
and I’m sure
more than
in here
in this hour
when I happen to awake
to find you here
or
in a
sleepy moment
to unlid
my eyes a little
see you
then and there
surprise
as well
always
a miracle
and I’m chagrined
to take up
your presence
and your time
the way
I do
not
to say I need a bell
or other
signal
from assemblies
(though
I like
bells
generally)
and shall you send
an angel
as an agent
for assistance
homely
and extraordinary
though it’s
especially
your Spirit
that is
needful
as a saving source
and guide
your word
you
as word
is needed
to get me there
and then
with you
and to remain
even
while here
for all my faults
and prevarications
but also
with broad hints
of there
(un-agnostically)
say
through the song says
after here
live
in your house
that follows
and is filled
with goodness and mercy
and is filled with
forever
c l couch
1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
John 14
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-14-2/
photo by Lucas Hoang on Unsplash
small salvation
I haven’t spoken yet
to God
today
and yet that isn’t
true
God was with me
in the sip
and the blue light
atop
the small appliance
and in the swirl
that’s favored in the northern hemisphere
within the sink
as I was washing
out the cup
after
honestly
some days
and God was with me
in the steps I took
when
rising
finding slippers
sloughing
in a poor arc
toward the kitchen sink
and God was with me
in the dream
I had
I can’t recall
and in the moments after
while another
set up
like reels
in a matinee
the kind I went
to
long ago
but is that companionship
the same
as talking
to you
I don’t know
there is certainly
the ministry of presence
and do I offer
that
in each small thing
that I do
or that happens
anyway
except
you know
I think there are
words
I think I know it’s you
at least sometimes
and say
something maybe
in my sleep
and when I arch my back
to rise
and greet the morning
with
a groan
or with a sigh
or with nothing
but let’s get
to the
coffee
don’t you know
I’m saying something
all the time
and I believe
I’m even listening
as I think was established
in
the correspondence
of the
conversations
first read in
Genesis
and all the chapters
since then
which led to my interest
with encouragement
from breezes
and vistas
to make words of
and start
having conversations
with
the Lord
and you rose
from the book
to become
real
talkable
hearable
in my transactions
and receptions of
the rings and all vibrations
in the cosmos
inside
my head
of vanities
and my heart
of
brokenness
you are there
I hear you
I respond
we talk our day through
all the cues
and actual words
and
I hope
there is telepathy
in exchange
with the divine
and with
your angels and your saints
and all things
glorious
that I encounter
in such small ways
in a day
in a life
that’s not important
save you made it
and
speaking of
have saved it many times
not
through faith
or doctrine
but through miracles
I cannot count
because I do not know
how often you have
rescued me
from evil
from myself
from all the apathy
the world would rather have
on
everyone
for better exploitation
uncounted grace
salvation after choosing you
and hearing you
in everything
and
really you
throughout the day
and when
the night
is blank
and terrible
I should remember
the same
presence in
the light
and all the glory
small for me
to fit
that also saves the world
all the time
however many times
we need
until infinity
be sated
c l couch
photo by Ricky Kharawala on Unsplash
beginnings
church seasons
Sunday after
Easter
it will be Easter now
Easter season
for a while
up to Pentecost
the appearance of the Holy Spirit
in
fire and languages
and often thought of
as
a birthdate
for the church
from
then on
there were martyrs
also miracles
and formations
and also
debates
fighting over Antioch
or Jerusalem
and whether or not
to let the Gentiles
in
there would be conversions
teaching
sometimes with warnings
and final prophecies
to warn us
yes
more so
to encourage us
and love us with
hope
there is discipline
and code
baptisms
dedications
confirmation
the faith
begins
for good or ill
for good and ill
the Christian church
belief is risk
it always
has
a countercultural
element
choose
to be comfortable
to wear a mask
to believe
and act
and take a chance
c l couch
originally, the poem was not in triplets; but as I looked at what was the last stanza (six lines), I realized that it could and maybe should be made two stanzas of three lines each; then I went back (up) to revise the rest accordingly; I had one line at the top, remaining; I added in what was the title and subtitle to make the first stanza of three lines, then added a new title; sometimes the form comes first; this time it was more or less last
photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
a moment in devotion
God
I love you
I can say it
into a quiet moment
in the hope
of food
reception
by an angel
who might convey the message
there
and then
something
returning
maybe the same words
or something else
an assignment
should I wish
to accept it
though the angels do not stutter
over approval
and then
to act it out
except for the third
that fell
or are falling now
while working wile
responding
to a campaign
and a plan
below it all
from the one
who’s fallen
and will keep falling
who cannot stop
on nothingness
the moment
of my love
maybe my fear
in how I’ve fallen
in a metaphor
for doctrine
though the fear
is real
enough
come save me
if you will
I cannot fall alone
for faith
or for an angel
you might send me
so I live
to say
and live
the love
with which you made
the Earth
and even chasms
with the landing place
the catching place
below
c l couch
photo by Vickey Goh on Unsplash
Outside the Quiet Place
God
I need your help
I need the quiet
And am I
Too poor
For this
The wealthy can buy
Quiet
I suppose
And I could consider
Monkish ambitions
As my sister
Likes to say
In
A monkery
I don’t want silence
Really
As if
To live inside
The Cone of Silence
That they mismanaged
On Get Smart
Because
In fact
I like normal noise
And isn’t that
Relative
But children playing
Cars
And trucks
That pass by
And if their noise is bad
Well
They pass by
Dogs barking
Even cats thumping
As they run
Above
For rivalry
Or for recreation
Only
I’m thinking
My notion
Of good noise
Is minimal
And self-determined
For the world
And so
Sigh
Unworkable
Go back to being wealthy
And I could buy a camp
Inside
The wilderness
Where even bears
Are satisfied
To say away
Near their own moving
Water
For the fish
And foxes cry
But I know their noise
By now
And what is it
Owls
Scream
And crickets cry
By Shakespeare because
Folklore
Has it
That way
As it knew
(whoever it might be)
While drafting
C L Couch
Macbeth 2.2.15-16
Photo by Keith Hardy on Unsplash
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