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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.

Signing Up

(x = space)

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Signing Up

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I’d like to pray for you

I know I don’t

Exactly need your

Permission

But there is some respect

Involved

Discretion

You might be bothered

And I won’t expect

Gratitude

x

Maybe I’ll pray badly

With too many

Starts and stops

And stutters

Maybe an angel-coach

Will nudge me

To desist

Stop dissembling

Get to the matter

To the reason for this natter

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The Spirit might say

Please,

Let this one alone

To try

Resist evaluation

Put the book away

This one has faith

Help the unfaith along

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I won’t ask

The prayer is up to me

And to the hearing

Once received

But who is on our side

Is not to worry

In the world

When

The one who made the sides

Who allows

Is listening

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C L Couch

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Photo by Pedro Lima on Unsplash

Juiz de Fora, Brasil

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The House Not at Pooh Corner

(x = space)

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The House Not at Pooh Corner

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Your story

(see above)

Puts to mind

The mother of

Christopher Robin who

(I may have said

something of this before

don’t stop me

if you’ve heard this)

Took a walk around

The hundred-acre wood

From time to time

And when asked

By her son

Should he join her

She said, no,

But when I return

Greet me as if I had been gone

For a long time

And am returning now

From being away

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C L Couch

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Photo by Grayson Smith on Unsplash

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While I Was Writing

x = space)

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While I Was Writing

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On the news just now,

A hypersonic missile

Purportedly in China

China denies it

We want the same thing

China isn’t evil

Though sometimes

Sometimes we are evil

We all should know better

And we do

We do what we hate

Give it a name,

Security

Secure would be

Not to have these things

In Xanadu,

Kublai Khan decreed

An extraordinary place

And I hope everyone was fed

There

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C L Couch

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Alhambra de Granada

Photo by Jorge Fernández Salas on Unsplash

Alhambra, Spain

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Momentum

(x = space)

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Momentum

(for friends)

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You know,

I write several things

A day

And then choose

One of them

Some days I only write

One thing

And I use that

I tell myself that if there’s

Nothing, then I won’t

Have anything

To share

And that has to be

All right

Occasionally, that happens

Not so often

If I have access to my

Small machines

Among them the device

Inside

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I say this because

This is where I am today

Not quite Pooh Corner

I admit

I cannot do everything

I want and like the apostle

Sometimes I do

The thing I hate

Though I think it’s more

That I don’t do

The thing I want

Even love

To do

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I could ask

Where is the energy

Of youth, that

Sweet bird,

Though I think we know

That energy is finite

Like the push-pull

Universe

And that we always tire

So we

Run the race we can

Then rest

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I know

You’re at the

Starting line

With me each day

I want to be with you

We go

And if we’re smart

We’ll rest

When there’s been enough

Join me today

Won’t you

In the race

That for us

Is cosmic laced,

Spiced, intertwined

With spirit

(or have spirit

laced with cosmic

thinking the spirit understands

either way)

The cosmic race

The spirit race

The human race

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C L Couch

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Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma in the evening light

Photo by Frantisek Duris on Unsplash

Roque de los Muchachos, Spain

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Romans 7:14-15

(Hebrews 12:1 et al)

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Prayer for Angry Neighbor

(x = space)

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Prayer for Angry Neighbor

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I’m going to ignore you

And pray for you

That you find what you want

Not as you want it

(sorry, that’s a spiritual rub)

But as one perfectly

Provides

And you are happy

As you’ve never known

x

I guess that’s not

So much ignoring,

After all

It’s the other stuff

The stuff that you throw

Down as if to say,

Challenge me

I’ll take you on

Though what you want

Is brittle

And could shatter

With what is left

Call them fragments

Call them splinters

Call it defeat

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That’s probably too much

To pray for now

To keep it simple,

Pray for peace

On the inside for you

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C L Couch

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Photo by Siarhei Plashchynski on Unsplash

Eindhoven, Netherlands

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Fifth Day

(x = space)

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Fifth Day

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It’s Friday

And we face the weekend

An invention that started with

Reform laws

For factories

I hope you have a grand time:

Play

Find a moment in which

To be grateful

For reformers

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If you are having fall

I hope it is the right kind for you

Colors

A degree of chill,

Wind that speaks

And, when not speaking,

Sings;

If it is spring for you

I hope you find new life

The right intensities

Of green and blue

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If there is a sabbath service for you

I hope you find God at home

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C L Couch

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Photo by Oliver Hihn on Unsplash

Germany

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Robby

(x = space)

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Robby

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God, I pray

The shots go well today

And the check after

At the cardiologist’s

Making sure machinery

Is operative

And optimal

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A robot lubricated

Taken through the list

Before launching

Into new missions

Into the

Ordinary beyond

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C L Couch

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Robby the Robot in a poster for the original release of The Invisible Boy.

[image provided by] Reynold Brown – http://wrongsideoftheart.com/wp-content/gallery/posters-i/invisible_boy_poster_01.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25167466

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Dire Invocation

(x = space)

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Dire Invocation

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God

Help us

We need you

Because

And when

The world is too much

And we can’t get away

For love

Of being here

Unreadiness for heaven

‘Til you say so

And we can’t live

‘Til you say so

We have to do

Other

We think you made us

This way

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C L Couch

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Photo by Jack van der Spoel on Unsplash

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Native American Heritage Day

(x = space)

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Native American Heritage Day

(26 November 2021)

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Hundreds of years

And last year

Too late

And, no, first families

Weren’t always good

With each other

We’re not celebrating

Perfection

We’re hedging against

Annihilation

So much more is needed

Against the situation

Mostly

Whites have caused

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Is there hope

On reservations,

The better land having been

Cheated away?

I don’t know—do you?

Real homes for real people

Real lives

Real race

To stand alone

Or add into the melting pot—that’s

Self-determination

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Give us a day

But we’ll need tomorrow, too

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C L Couch

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Six panel high resolution mosaic of the Cygnus region from the Butterfly nebula to the Crescent nebula. 3 hours of integration for each panel from a dark sky location in Spain. Zoom in for details in the various regions.

Photo by Aldebaran S on Unsplash

Fregenal de la Sierra, Spain

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