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clcouch123

In conversation, I prefer Christopher. My mom named me after Christopher Robin, after all. In writing, I use “C L Couch” (or, more simply, “c l couch”) because the form is genderless and also frankly easier to use. I have awful writer’s cramp. I am an educator more or less retired, more or less due to disability. At present, I live in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (USA). My writing here I mean to be occasional and also devotional. Either or both. The banner and profile photographs are by my friend and peer Debra Danielson. More of Debbie’s work to be enjoyed is at debradanielson.org. Thanks to each of you and both and all for coming to my blog.

Faith and the General

(x = space)

x

x

Faith and the General

x

And did Moses

God as the ally

Part

The Red Sea

As a miracle

More importantly

As rescue

x

General Wallace

Wanted all of it

A story

For unlearned people

Awash in ignorance

Wanting

To stay that way

Away

Wet with lies

x

Red Sea

Or Sea of Reeds

The miracle diminished

By sponges

That is

Absorbents

Of reality

x

Or is the miracle

A normal thing

(the parting

of a sea

by wind

in certain

seasons)

Nonetheless

Miraculously timed

x

General Wallace wanted

All of it

A lie

At best an illusion

And delusion

Most of all

The notion that a God

Should want to be with us

Even through

A civil war

And send to us

Something

God and us

To save us

From the monstrous

The despicable

We make

And must be

x

And so what happened

(let the Red Sea

and the

Sea of Reeds

debate go on)

Well

He wrote Ben-Hur

As a fictive response

To how he had

Changed

x

And maybe

A divine hope

In and

For the rest of us

To marshal all the parts

And

Once assembled

Find out what there is

By

The revulsive

And the hopeful

For ourselves

For faith

x

C L Couch

x

x

After extensive studies of the Bible and the Holy Land, and well before he had completed the novel, Wallace became a believer in God and Christ.

Wikipedia (citing sources)

x

Photo by Evan Brockett on Unsplash

x

0

A Certain Psalm

(x = space)

x

x

A Certain Psalm

x

Songs to God

Confess

Mourn

Celebrate

Some ask where the Lord

Even while addressing

The Lord

x

Which is the way of doubt

Spiced with pain

Salt and bitter herbs

For the wilderness

Inside

The heart a desert

Reason wandering

Where is God but here

But we must

Over hills

And under earth

Search as if

Not to find

Or find in a new way

That answers doubt for all

And always

On this side

Through what we know

Has been dark glass

x

Sing

With a single voice

Or ask an orchestra to play

By composing

All the parts

And a message from humanity

Over the ground

And to the sky

To say

If anything might bless the Lord

Then bless the Lord

If any offering

Might be good for many voices

And an intention

Of authenticity

Received

Then receive the large psalm

Attempting to be thunderous

From us

x

To recognize

To thank

To let everyone have voice

In song or silence

Whatever might senses allow

Or to participate

By turning pages

Or only

Dutifully

Showing up

x

Locusts are a host

The killer bees

We can be a host

Though our precedents

Are angels in the sky

Nonetheless a human host

To try

x

Presenting such a psalm to you

From many people

A human host

Before the court

Of the Lord

x

C L Couch

x

x

recollecting themes and purposes of ancient psalms for the here and now

x

Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash

x

0

A Jazz Singer

(x = space)

x

x

A Jazz Singer

(for Paul)

x

The jazz singer

Being Jewish in a

Family

x

Wanting to be famous

Have a talent

To be

Tested

And a wish to be excused

From doctrinaire

Behaviors

While accepted

For the seder

Or when showing up

As the schedule

In being famous

Might allow

x

A public

Served

Entertained

Inspired

Is that enough

Is that acceptable

Against

Acceptable

Through generations

x

And the ones

Unprodigal

Who keep it all

And might remember

Those

Who do return

x

Remember whom

The empty chair

Is for

And would

In turn

Be welcoming

From the prophet

Of the one

Who reconfigures things

To save

With pleasure

Inside notes and rhythms

For a larger

Needful

World

x

So keep the second chair

Upon

Returning

Leant against the wall

And ready

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

x

1

Excelling

(x = space)

x

x

Excelling

x

Sigh

Jesus said

And thereby says

To love

And not

To worry

To know the hairs

And sparrows

Are all counted

And caught

In providential hands

x

To love

Even though there might be

Swords

And thorns

Pierced souls

And persecuted spirits

While the world

Takes our offerings

Jeering

At how much

While taking it

Away

x

But love

Bread and stones

Gall for wine

Yet plenty in the teaching

And the largesse

When it matters

The giving of the Lord

Who slakes the thirst

Of Samaritans

While those Samaritans

Help their neighbors

On the road

x

The strangeness in giving

What we have

What we don’t

The offer

And the follow-through

The love

All loves

Excelling

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Art Institute of Chicago on Unsplash

x

0

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

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