Search

clcouch123

I talk you talk we'll talk

Open Search
Author

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.

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

0

Passport

(x = space)

x

x

Passport

x

Then

There was the story of

The woman at the grocery’s

Who

Encountered

Someone new

Requesting an I-D

To

Accompany the check

x

And she brought out

Her passport

Maybe still

Shiny

With unuse

Except it jostled

‘Round

With all the other things

x

The purse inside

The purse

You know

Each with jostled things

x

Bypassing the license

For that

Passport

x

To indicate

To someone new

She might have been somewhere or will

Be going

Somewhere someday soon

x

C L Couch

x

x

This story did not happen and is based (fictively) on something the mother said in the movie Breaking Away, directed by Peter Yates and written by Steve Tesich.  Set in Bloomington, it is a good movie for (about) the summer. The mother is portrayed by Barbara Barrie.

x

Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

x

1

July 3

(x = space)

x

x

July 3

x

They were wrangling

I suppose

Having voted

Working out a document

To announce

The war

Officially

And an identity

A nation standing with

Nations

Newly established

Here for good

If possible

x

Slavery was

Set aside

And without a thought

Toward women

Either

I imagine

First families

Or the indigenous

In nature

x

Yet saying something

Human

Political

Flawed

Trying

To say something brave

Over the fallen

In Massachusetts

And the blockading

Or port cities

x

The war was on

This would say

We’re all in it now

Choose

Your sides

This is a side

To read out in assemblies

Inside

Outside

We are here

A nation

Enlightenment

Inserting God after the fact

Now committed

To the fields

Everywhere

Valleys

Peaks

Plains

Cities

Farms

Homes

Of battle

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Anca Muresan on Unsplash

x

0

To the Rainmaker

(x = space)

x

x

To the Rainmaker

x

Cloudy day

Rain has started

Drought conditions

Keep raining

Please

x

Grateful ground

With people on it

Also thanking you

xxxxxAs if a liturgy

For crying on us

If that’s what this is

x

If you are sad with us

And why not

We are inhospitable

Toward Earth

While it’s our home

In all the ages

And should we take measures

To prevent

To recoil

(as in rolling up again)

To keep everything alive

x

Will we remember

To apologize

While planting?

To express our thanks

We still have days

For growth

For food

And to get it right

x

To the sky

The stars

Whatever gods

Or greater compounds

Might set over us

Or under us

To serve

With greater might

Than we shall ever know

x

Curb our hubris

Stop us before

The final act

Shall ruin everything

xxxxxAnd someone

xxxxxSomething

xxxxxCome from outside

xxxxxTo claim

xxxxxWhat’s left

x

While it’s still ours

If ours

Help us

Gods

The sky

xxxxxWhomever

Get it right

With what’s left

To have an Earth

Before

We dare to seek another

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

x

0

We Land

(x = space)

x

x

We Land

x

It is the first

There is a special on TV

Three weeks from now

We land

We land

x

Let’s see

I was twelve

So much I didn’t know

But I was watching

Listening

Technical language

About pitch

And descent

Then dust kicked up

Then landed

I don’t remember Cronkite’s

Reaction

I’ve seen it since

Maybe my parents preferred

Another network

But they were down

Tranquility Base

There had been no base

They were the base

They were on

The moon

Armstrong and Aldrin

While Collins flew above

Waiting for retrieval

And then for the ship

To take them back home

x

That’s where we were

x

Armstrong got out

Kept talking

So we knew

He was alive

He descended

Left the ladder

Touched upon

The world

Near our world

x

One small step for (a) man

One giant leap for mankind

x

When they left

There was a plaque

About accomplishment

And peace

Signed by Nixon

A phantom pledge fulfilled

Since no one

Specifically had asked

Though Kennedy

Had said

x

The space race gave us

Microwaves

Ballpoint pens

And Tang

So there was usefulness

And whatever to be said

In winning

At least

Our saying

That we won

x

I thought we’d keep going back

I thought there’s be a base

With walls and windows

A round roof

And lots

And lots

Of oxygen inside

I guess that is about to happen

Now

And we’ll find out

If we disturb

The empire inside

That H. G. Wells

Fictively

Foretold

x

Or Clarke’s sentinel

Or maybe there shall be

A little

Prince

x

1969

We also went

To Woodstock

We protested war

All the contention of

My older brothers’ generation

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Guzmán Barquín on Unsplash

x

2

Contritions

(x = space)

x

x

Contritions

x

I don’t know what else to say

I wish I could resort

To the Bible better

I wish I knew

The right way to pray

Rather than the stabs I take

To try

I wish I were more righteous

In the right way

I think there is a right way

x

But you are there

And I am here

And you are here

With angels to assist

I know

Beyond a fancy

More than because

I’m supposed to

x

I believe

Because I do

And my choice doesn’t affect

At all

Your existence

My choice important

Faith to allow the grace

Free sacrifice

To hold

Even take root

And grow

x

But what am I

Nothing of

A Gospel hero

Let alone the older tales

Or new ones

What shall I give to you

You don’t already have

And more

And better

But that the slip of self

The folded leaf along the vein

Whose only purpose left

In fall

Is falling

x

But that you want me

Anyway

Though I find wanting

Every way

A scary thing

That is the lesson of the world

Through splintering experience

x

You can bring enough

Together

I know this

And enough might be enough

I’ll pray

I’ll try to read

To comprehend

The wisdom

Or maybe

Just enough

Justly to pray

Enough salvation

For today

Should you come by night

And then by night

Like heart attacks

Frightening

To take me home

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

x

2

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑