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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.

Simon Says

(x = space)

x

x

Simon Says

(based in part on verses)

x

Is that the pie-man

Or Simon Peter?

Anyone

Who’d rather simonize

A game

x

We know what Simon Peter says

He wrote letters

We have two

He fished

One kind and then the other

It seems he went back and forth

Between despair

And inspiration

His is a good cause

For reconciliation

Saying the one thing

You are Christ

Then falling, failing

Into water

(he is rescued)

First refusing foot-washing

Then wanting it all over

x

Yet somehow he is the rock

A name

A metaphor

For church

Jesus says so

Then there’s the episode

Chapter and verse for us

When it is night

And his rabbi, his leader,

And his friend is arrested

xxxxxtaken away

xxxxxto the authorities

xxxxxwho can determine

xxxxxtemporal and real

xxxxxcontinued life

xxxxxor death

And when he’s near

To everything

And asked about it

Says he doesn’t know

He doesn’t know the man

And upon the last

Of three of these

He curses

And the rooster crows

And he sees

Maybe in every way

The savior

Who was his teacher

And his friend

And it’s over

No paradox remains

The holes have been dug

Into conviction

Into faith

And practice

In some new ways perhaps

At least on the inside

Where it matters

Unless feeding others

That is an outside matter

x

What faith,

The joy he had

Have gone into the void

Like mortality

Into the entrance of a tomb

He goes away

He’s out of everything

For a chapter

Or two chapters

His own story

Torn out by the tearing actions

Of denial

Help my unbelief

He could have remembered

The cry of the parent

For the healing of the child

He could have wept

For Jerusalem

And for his friend

x

Peter, Peter

Denier

Pumpkin-eater

Follower and friend

He said so

Jesus said so

Then everything was gone

He was gone

With the other one

Sometimes we lose our way

With the other

x

C L Couch

x

x

Matthew 26:69-75

x

(the letters that are 1 and 2 Peter)

x

nursery rhymes that are the stuff of ages, now

x

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

x

1

Trick

(x = space)

x

x

Trick or Treat

x

Simply put

And because I cannot count

Not knowing all the places

With the numbers

Too many died

This past week

From war

From sickness

From hunger

Or from thirst

From having something safe to drink

From crime

And corruption

(there are many sources)

From hate

Because hate, in fact, can kill

It takes the life

It leaves us with a zombie-like illusion

We can blame the movies

For the monsters

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Arno Senoner on Unsplash

x

0

Rhapsody on Umber

(x = space)

x

x

Rhapsody on Umber

x

Orange

Nothing rhymes with it

(I’ll try syringe

sometime,

hydrangea-a?)

Who cares

In the better way

It’s wonderful

And add a little brown and yellow

Is that burnt umber

The lost crayon?

x

But it’s just

Right for fall

Add red on its own

For leaves

And all the shades

For possibilities

Cast them under clouds

On a cool day

When walking

In the countryside

Is right

A quiet celebration

A season in the season

If you live around

Here

If not,

In the mind then

Or online

x

It’s fall

The very best Pooh weather

There should be

Tea and honey

For Christopher and friends

The roly bear

The donkey with the usually tail

Mama kangaroo and child

Tiger with springs

An owl of storied wisdom

As far as a child’s genius go

Long-suffering rabbit

And the pig

Small

Always counted on

Like needful stories

To be there

x

thanks for A. A. Milne and to my mom who really liked the stories

x

C(hristopher Robin) L Couch

x

x

Photo by Valentina Ivanova on Unsplash

Ukrainian Village, Чикаго, Иллинойс, США

Published on October 19, 2021

x

0

15 October

(x = space)

x

x

15 October

(I might have talked about this last year)

x

Open market

Open season

Open days for change

Of others

Telling

Selling

You to change

Telling

Selling you

To change

x

Which might be right

Which might be necessary

Expedience a benefit

Since these days will

Move along

x

The seasons are fixed

Perhaps

And I mean all of them:

Two to four upon the Earth

In regions,

Three seasons of the Sphinx,

The growing

And the harvesting,

Exchange of goods

And services.

Home by the end of day

x

For those older

In the north and west

For all of us

Whose lives

Are counted and uncounted

Hours

Fiscal years

Phases of the moon,

The sun has a lesson

In plan and unplanned

Sunspots,

Mass ejections

x

And for our own decisions

Inside the desired

And the inevitable

x

C L Couch

x

x

the season of the healthcare marketplace in the USA

x

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

x

0

Warplanes

(x = space)

x

x

Warplanes

x

Almost antique word

That brings to mind

The bombers in the movies

The models on a tray

I worked on

When I was sick

x

But these are real

Metal and tall,

Plastic in the systems

Electronics

And then there are

All the explosives, loaded,

Ready to send

Here or there

x

Warplanes

That was the word used on the news

Long, official,

And romantic

Scarves and leather jackets

Indiscreet

From up so high

While on the ground

Where we live

The war takes out

Our fields and homes

While a threat

x

Maybe

Only anxiety,

A state that has its own

Consequences

In the air

On the land

Where the bombs hit

Or there are UXBs

If only in the mind

When we look up

And then look at each other

Side to side

x

Or it’s the real thing

The planes we cannot trust

Unleashing

Some kind of hell

Upon the Earth

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Kevin Den Heijer on Unsplash

x

2

I’m Taking My Break

(x = space)

x

x

I’m Taking My Break

x

The haunting rises from

The coffee cup

When the liquid’s hot

Enough,

Aided by the air

That might be just-right cool

x

A spell upon the world

Not cast by anyone

Not by un-sentient machines

Or by any eldritch

Part

Of us

x

Like morning fog

There’s beauty in the vagueness

Indefinition

Wonder, too, as we look

Through

To the same as ever

And it’s not the same

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Ayaneshu Bhardwaj on Unsplash

x

2

Yesterday’s Statistics

(x = space)

x

x

Yesterday’s Statistics

x

Only a few hundred died

From COVID yesterday

Only a few hundred

We must be getting better

And maybe we are

Except for the families

Friends and neighbors

Of a few hundred people

Who died from COVID

Yesterday

x

But who’s counting

The CDC is counting

WHO is counting

Sometimes it’s on the news

But even news programs

Want for ratings

Vie for them

x

One more day to help;

Live as if

x

As If

x

As if tomorrow is a question mark,

Which it is

As if love is uncertain

And life the mystery

With or without a number

As always

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Yuval Zukerman on Unsplash

Peterborough, NH 03458, USA

x

1

LoveSpeak

(x = speak)

x

x

LoveSpeak

x

What does God’s love say

In the face of danger?

Through many dangers,

Toils, and snares

God’s love says

I’m here

The love is here

The source is here

The host is here

We’re here

x

Though there be anger,

Scorn, and fear

From enemies and friends

Alike

Because doubt and unbelief

Might have to have

Their way,

The love of God is first

And follows

Like the currents inside Earth

And over,

The moving pillars

Cloud or fire

That are before

And after

x

Alongside in

The truth of companionship

But I can’t see that

You can

It’s more than senses

With which we perceive

As best we can

x

Presence and love are better

They are inside

And out

They speak without words

Until it’s time for words

x

When we have ears to hear

And cannot hear,

Count on the company

Of the divine

To know us better,

Pick us up

If fallen,

Go with us onward

Leading, should we ask

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

x

“Amazing Grace” (the hymn) referenced above

x

1

The People First

(x = space)

x

x

The People First

(Indigenous Peoples Day)

x

Today on the

Convenience of a Monday,

We acknowledge

Indigenous Peoples Day

x

A day for dance

For songs whose lyrics

Most of us don’t know

x

Set before

Except for math in certain years

The arrival of Columbus

On a day

And on that day

First time

Complicit in

The Taino

Vanishing

x

We inveigled

Tricked

Overwhelmed

After learning to survive

Pushed the people

Pushed our teachers

And, yes, first adversaries

Onto arid land

At last

Unless a virtue be discovered there

Then moved farther on

xxxxxArtificial islands

xxxxxAre trending;

xxxxxThe people could build

xxxxxOnto the ocean

xxxxxUnless we wanted

xxxxxSomething under

x

What shall we do this day?

Not give anything back,

I’m sure

x

Feathers

Leathers

Colors

How to live with nature

When even nature’s scant

Colors of the earth

And of fauna

Movement, teaching of the seasons

Life with the Spirit,

The hand of God that pressed

The mountains

And the valleys

Plains between,

Ridges and runnels

Of the fingers

That should be

Filled with water

x

Truths of land and air,

Interesting add-ons for us

Supplements for mortal life

Maybe next year’s

Vacation

x

What is the hope

For a people pushed

And pushed off,

As if unwanted by the created world

Yet placed onto the world

First,

First people here?

x

Well, there is a day

I think better have the day

Than not

It offers balance

Maybe pain with recognition

Suffering with acknowledgement

Especially against

The time to come

In two days’ time

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Mike Newbry on Unsplash

Utah, USA

x

I could be sorry for the we-they attitude (and I am) except it’s what we (they) have. Hope for a day to come when we can mesh and moosh the pronouns because the better unifying has happened.

x

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