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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.

From Earth Above

From Earth Above
(homage to the title of
a book of wondrous
planetary imagery)

Ridges of Amazonian tress
Is there earth beneath? one
Might rightly wonder

It is an orange time of day,
And the beauty, like Diana,
Looks nowhere to be
Inviting seduction

For all technology, the
Machete is the better
Instrument for maybe
Finding one’s way through,
Searching for a lost city

This is the Science Channel,
And I am grateful to see,
To hear the photographic
Cinematic semblance of
The truth of this:

This place, hidden living
Communities, and quest

For those who can go
There (I have limitations),
I wish safety and exploring
With all respect

Which is deserved at far
Corners of the treasured
Earth

1

This is the World

This is the World

The world’s too big, you know;
Even when we stand, too often
Upon others, to shake fists of
Presupposing power, we won’t

Earn a living dot to be perceived

From far away—even, say, from
Worlds known and yet unknown

Is height-to-planet ratio somehow
Universal? On smaller planes or
Habitably larger, are we there

Proportioned in some way so
That our diminishment remains?

And must that make sense to
Have not one of us be tall enough
To overwhelm the rest—and is

This maddening thought or comfort?

Tell the ruler of Babel or the director
Of Auschwitz: they built insanely
High and wide, never valuing

The true size of Earth beyond
Provision of a circular base on
Which to keep the demons’ scale
Tray that they desired to keep
Unbalanced toward their part,

Never mind that justice rode upon
The other side, preparing to upend;

At the last, we are one by one, no
Monument to detect from space

Which has to be enough—we can
Build each other up, thus making
Better, reaching obelisks to scrape

A spiritual sky upon the Earth

 

5

To All Nebuchadnezzars

To All Nebuchadnezzars
(in the present age in exigency
anywhere, this is the prophecy
of speaking truth to power)

Said Daniel to the king:

You are brittle with power
While I have talent, speak
With zeal, and touch power
That’s true because I know
It’s not my own

You will cast me out and
Throw me down

I will survive the lions, while
You, above, will soon suffer
Suppurating disease

The carrion of falsehood
On which you feed will have
Its way with you, eating
Infected meat of poisoned
Blood that comes from
Your own veins

Why not send me, if you
Cannot bear my presence,
To a new place where I
Might love the people you
Have cursed whom I can
Help, and you remain

Within your rich and sullen
Chamber, adorned in
Shadowed fate

Nothing changes, king; for
I will arise from the pit in
Certainty, while you will
Never recognize how you
Dwell in your own deep
Place without protection
From the beasts

8

Psalm 31 — a song, a request

Psalm 31
a song, a request

Lord, your love rises above
All; let me, with your choosing,
Rise with you

Lift me without pain that
I might see the borderless
World below, source of your
Love in that we were made
Out of your will

Better than the dawn
Is waking to new life with
All things seeming new—so let
Me rise with you

Better than all other pleasures
And pursuits, please let
Me rise with you

8

Midst

Midst

There is no storm just now;
Yet I am between two poles
And, like the compass magnet,
Cannot find a true direction

In the middle and cut off, I
Drift alone—the sun is bright
Though I feel no thirst, no
Longer any hunger, either

I am alone—I don’t know
What happened to the crew—
No storm now and yet I feel
I am only between one

Tempest and another, that
One will come to overturn my
My unsteady craft; so how
Does the Latino saying go?

Your sea is so great, and my
Boat is so small—for the time,
And but for swelling waves,
There is no current bearing

Me away: yet I believe I am
In the midst of all, awaiting
What happens, what catches—
Compelling, never planned

9

Annie, How Do Lizards Leap?

Annie, How Do Lizards Leap?
(the answer might be, Very well)

Extra day
One day in four
We leap
With twelve lords
In British fancy-
Fashion

Well, I guess we
All own the song
By now

(Domains
Notwithstanding)

So leap—that’s
Falling with intention
Yet toward an
Unknown landing

Don’t expect
To touch down
(This is living,
After all)
On cushions

C L Couch (Coussin)

7

Desert Mother and Father

Desert Mother and Father
(contemplating Holy Family narratives)

With her husband, she
Flees with her child;

They go in the desert way,
If anyone can hurry.

They arrive in pharaohs’
Land, now a Roman colony.

What happens now?
They will live in exile,

Then return to native land,
Moving toward home in

Relative safety. She is
The desert mother, now—

He the desert father.
Child of the wilderness,

He will be taken there
Again, driven by God and

God-made agencies. He
will defeat the devil: after

To home and elsewhere in
The land, nevermore in

Safety. In millennial ages,
Spirit-led parents, not

Attached, will live in
Heathen caves and cells

To mentor the will of God,
To recall in scoured

Understanding and
Legacied devotion—what

This first desert family
Rescued and made real.

 

5

A Memory of Church

A Memory of Church

The family of God
That is the church

I have a memory:
A small church building
On the edge of town
Maybe on the way
To the next place
Or into the countryside
Or simply on the
Outskirts; and in this
Church, there was
A very pleasant man
The pastor with whom
I had enjoyed an
Ecumenical Bible
Study in the town

I liked that man, and
I liked that church
He and it were simple
(In the best way we
Use that word), set
Apart—the way I
Think the universal
Church should be;

And isn’t—we want
To be in the center of
Town, where everything
Fashionably important
Takes place

We want to be in
And will accommodate
Much about ourselves
So we can be there

7

Psalm 30, a song of I-don’t-know

Psalm 30
a song of I-don’t-know

what is the resolution
of an unsolvable equation
when one plus one
makes love

what more is there to say
to add or calculate
what function can enhance
the totality of this

one plus one makes love

2

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