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clcouch123

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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.

Art Show

(x = space)

x

x

Art Show

x

My goodness,

It’s brilliant outside

The green has changed to red

Lit by the angles of

The sun’s afternoon

x

The larger trunks

Are tubes of transit

Moving our eyes

To the show

For which there’s no ticket

But the chilly air

(also a transiting device)

x

What is blue is blue

In the moment

Looking out and up

There is no impedance

From a cloud

Or interruption

Of a contrail

x

If there were

It would be a

Recipe’s ingredient:

Another element in

A complex design

x

It’s quiet through the window

There could be movement

But there isn’t any

Maybe to stay the moment

We may look longer

Let the silence

Stun the colors

x

Have this

As a MidAtlantic gift

Before a winter’s

Bareness calls,

Giving notice to

Another kind

Of traveling exhibit

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

x

1

the sadness before separation

(x = space)

x

x

the sadness before separation

x

fall will turn to winter

after the letting go

don’t go away

I must

there are things for me

on the other side

and I am called

I have been suffering

all that will change now

x

this is what to feel for now

the sadness before separation

it’s easier to say

for now

x

the greater pain is coming

the confusion of mortality

the letting go

x

c l couch

x

x

image by Wolfgang Eckert from Pixabay

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3

The Latest

(x = space)

x

x

The Latest

(family things)

x

My brother’s in the hospital

I’m not sure what that means

He fell

I know that much

He spent the night outside,

Which I think must mean

There’s trauma

x

A body worked too hard

A body with cancer worked too hard

A neighbor saw him in the morning

And called 911

He’s hundreds of miles away

And he’s in the hospital

In downtown Pittsburgh

My sister says the hospital is good

Urban, smart, efficient

x

Everyone knows their jobs

And what to do for him

x

Now we know

We’re standing by

Something will happen

And we’ll all come in

It doesn’t have to take an ending

He simply needs to be in one place

Or another

For a time

x

What contemporary medicine allows

And Medicare affords

A rehab center

For new fractures

While his cancer’s tended

And he

And everyone

Must deal with that

x

We’ve been out there

When and where shall we go now?

x

I’ve rattled all this off

Because

I don’t know how to be ready

For what’s next

I wish I had resources

Of all kinds

x

Family things

Obviously

Certainly (to push on

the conceit) I don’t mind

If you know

x

If you pray,

Maybe you’ll pray

I believe the power in that

God bless him

And help us all

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash

x

4

dream state

(x = space)

x

x

dream state

x

shall I write on a dream?

dreams work out subconscious

so I guess there’s something there

in mine

in my dreams

there have been nightmares

mostly, I hope they’re good

while I’m inside

the world changes in there,

naturally

sometimes I know my way

sometimes that’s not an issue

it’s the people I encounter

from the past

from the present

people I do not know

as for color, I don’t know

we’re told we dream in black and white

so if I say that’s yellow

is the truth of it in what I see

or what I’ve convinced myself

I’m seeing?

dreams are strange

I guess I need them

they might have been the first visitations

formless forms given form,

hidden words revealed

all because we sleep

confusions for

an easy price

x

I’m thinking now

I should have made this formless

or changed the shape many times

or something

as a waking example

but then when I’m awake

like many who dream

and recall anything,

I’m trying to clarify

unlike a scientist

but one to whom

everything had happened

x

as far as I know,

I’ve never died in dreams

I’ve fallen without an ending

to the fall;

sometimes I’ve fallen and then flown

and, after, felt the use

between my shoulder blades,

the stiffness from the muscles there

that that would be needed

for the use of wings

x

sometimes I’m frightened, after

most often, I’m sad

sometimes nostalgic

warmth or sometimes hope

worked its way through

the pastiche

x

I don’t know

how God’s involved in dreams

mine are a mess:

I don’t see how

an angel as an agent

could be talking through them

but we have precedents

in messages of prophecy;

to have a dream with clarity

must be something

as impressive it must be

troubling,

a contemporary (waking)

source for fear and trembling

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by Tamara Menzi on Unsplash

x

0

Quiet Victory

(x = space)

x

x

Quiet Victory

x

There is yellow sunlight

On things this morning

Or is it gold

Or is it wishful thinking?

Church is going on

I’m trying to listen

The advantage and the irony

Of virtual

If I’m distracted

If I distract myself

It sticks

(the distraction)

x

(Saint) Paul is confessional

I think that’s good

I was thinking yesterday

Of (Saint) Peter

And his qualities to lead

That are pretty awful

He leads anyway

Jesus said so

Called him foundational

To a new movement,

A new church

x

We are flawed

And at our best

We do not deny our flaws

Because that is honest

Because vanity

And ego

Won’t win anything

The battle

Or the day

Or the age

Or the world

Or the cosmos

Better to be the silent planet

As Lewis has created

Until we speak in power

Due to love

And lead the battle

And the world

And the age

In love

x

C L Couch

x

x

Solar Eclipse

Photo by Obed Hernández on Unsplash

x

1

Wake Up, Now

(x = space)

x

x

Wake Up, Now

x

I haven’t heard

Or read the news

Seen images move

Across the screen

Or be still

There

x

So what happened

Overnight?

It’s Saturday

What high schools

Might be happier

For Friday’s games?

What nations

Changed?

Who might be in charge

Now?

x

How many

In the hospital

From one of or some or all the reasons

Who is on the way to heaven

Or purgation

We can only pray

And hope

For good things now for them

x

What have I wakened

Into?

How is my home

Of planet Earth?

What’s happening outside

That we only know now

As news,

Carried from light years away?

x

And what might happen here

Today?

I won’t know, of course,

Until the hours

Come to me

And I to them

Good morning, world

Good morning beyond the world

And inside

Where things are happening

Cellularly, too

x

And can I think of God

First thing?

I don’t think I can

I’m not devout

I’ll get to God

Once consciousness

And the lines of things

The shadows

And the shapes of light

Are seen

And anything to hear

Is heard

Maybe what woke me up

If the timing is untoward

x

I’m thinking of God now

For correction

A moment of chagrin

Wishing

(one wish of three wishes,

if there were a story

happening)

Wishing

I were faithful

Like the faithful

Waking up

To hear

And somehow see

Taste and smell

And touch

The agencies of God

And then the world

x

Sigh,

Good people

Special people

Waking up

So wonderfully

And usefully

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by Rhamely on Unsplash

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0

Autumn Liturgy

(x = space)

x

x

Autumn Liturgy

(layperson’s)

x

Just a little gray

Is creeping in;

It might turn into

Another color

Later on

x

I may say

The point of dawn

Is nearing

Just after the moment

When night and day

Are shared first time

Then several

Hours later

x

The week has passed

Its sharing time

As well,

Being Thursday

Counting Sunday

As the first day

x

Maybe because

It’s autumn season

There is more

Preoccupation

Over what has passed

Than what is coming

x

Summer’s over

Growing’s done

Up here;

We count the harvest

And rely on it

To nourish us through

Winter

When dark is even more pronounced

In shorter daylight days

And longer nights

Even a solstice

For beseeching

Everything we lost

To return again

x

It’s all right

To think on loss

Not fun but necessary

So many things are shed,

Leaves off trees

And skin cells

Off our bodies

We lose things

Too many things, we think,

On the course of normalcy

x

And yet there is

The lesson of the harvest,

The gaining of so much

To see us through

x

The bears do this, of course:

We’ve had fat-week

Pageantry for them

Seeking winners among

The ursae

Who will be readier

For winter rest

Under their stars

Beneath the paler sun

x

We need our things

And we should have them;

Things are lost,

And often we must let

Them go

x

Gain and lose that is

The way of things

(we gain, we lose);

It has to be all right,

And it is

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by mana5280 on Unsplash

x

1

Dreaming Impossibly

(x = space)

x

x

Dreaming Impossibly

x

This is for real

But every now and then

I must imagine

Like one Lewis or the other

Things that cannot happen

Happening

x

A hole

Through which

The world is further out

Horizons wider

Air that moves just right

Enhancing breath

Progressive fields

That do not have to tire

We can take them slowly

Discovering

Along the way

x

Water we can take

It’s safe

And not worry

About returning

About returning overall,

Well, that’s another matter

After exploration

After delight

And rest

And learning

From this impossible day

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Florian Rieder on Unsplash

x

0

Rank and File

(x = space)

x

x

Rank and File

x

Thank goodness

For the discipline

Of fire and cloud

And water

And the path

The faithless wonder

x

There is a promise

When we forget

There is a promise

x

There’s prophecy

To mingle with

What is before us

In contention,

All the other parts

That make up everything

x

The everything we know,

The things we must

Believe in anyway

Sometimes from apostacy

Of fact,

Worse from the inside

Out

x

Before external judgment,

We sentence ourselves

For lack of faith

When, reasonably,

How much is there to believe in?

Evidence of what’s unseen–

Thank you,

Says our agnostic

x

The normalcy

Of matter and dimension

Fairly

Imposing,

Building what we stand on

For belief

And unbelief

x

The believer is the doubter

x

We go through this,

We are this

x

Often there is more of us

On the other side

Of chrysalis

x

C L Couch

x

x

Hebrews 11:1

x

Photo by Ruth Paradis on Unsplash

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