my friend’s surgery was “good” (friend’s word); now he’s recovering, the recovery being complex and uncomfortable
thank you for prayers and good thoughts; any such that could be offered or given toward recovery would be really appreciated—Christopher
2 poems that deal in prayer
what we ask
I sin
and God is with me
loving me
though not approving
I don’t think
I ask the psalmist’s ask
and will receive
not
because I’m David
or a prophet or
a choirmaster for the court
but because
I ask
and God is love
(say from Psalm 51)
in prayer
and
do we get what we ask
gee
I don’t know
though if I had to guess I’d
say
the answer’s yes
yes
we do
all
right
unless we ask for evil
or we make evil
sinful good
and so deceive ourselves and then
beseech
but
you know
God’s rather smart
having
invented smart
and though God’s old
there’s nothing feeble to typify
as
sometimes we stay keen
all the way through
and God
stay keen forever
having
invented keen
as well and also I believe that God
is
yes
old
but also as young
as young as now
so about asking
and
what we ask for tends to be good
which might
surprise
and so
we’ll get that
we will get
the good
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photo by Luise and Nic on Unsplash
I don’t how my friend is yet
cup
cup
of coffee
of Communion wine
of the cool cup of water offered
in arid need
and I don’t think the Scripture denotes
cool
but I like to think of summer
desert comfort in that way
and
which is more important
which meets
the greater need and I guess it is the wine
for sacrament
though
without the water
I think you know there is nothing for the parched
to hear
the better evangelism to meet
the Earthly need
first
and if all in prison
then
we share the words we may
out
of the well of nothingness
we share
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(c.f. the parable of the sheep and the goats, Matthew 25:31-46)
photo by Cici Hung on Unsplash
I wrote this probably too hastily yet for verse I hope it is acceptable (receivable). If you have prayers and/or good thoughts to offer, I’d like to ask them for my friend who’s having his eye operated on today. Thank you so much.
heal my friend
Monday
my friend has an operation in
a few hours
it’s on an eye
and so
will not be easy or simple
at all
as in a week or so I’ll have a procedure
that is simple replacement of
an implanted device
been
gone through
once by me
and so many times through the people with whom
I consult
his operation’s hard as
well as complex
many stages to go through
and
then an uneasy time of recovery after
all goes well
that is
the hope
of course
if all were an eye
you know
and thankfully it’s not
we’re
not
but that is metaphor for Christian duty
while his
the actual need
for sight
God help him
keep him
guide the hands that serve him
and
frankly
like asking for my niece because I don’t your will
precisely
so please heal her
please heal my friend
in
part out of
plain direct
praying
shall we ask for what’s clear and toned by
careful notes and leave
the gray notes
out
gathered by the single one who with angels
serving
knows rightly
how to play
well
everything
every song for every purpose
under
heaven
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1 Corinthians 12:17
“If all were an an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?”
photo by Murray Campbell on Unsplash
afternoon after church
it’s a gray Sunday
though white
is trying to break through
sun
to clouds
and
is it presence
seeming
God breaking through
reminding us of
incarnation
Immanuel
God
with us all the time
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photo by NASA on Unsplash
Hello, World [from NASA!] This nighttime picture of Earth was taken on April 2, 2026, by an Artemis II crew member aiming a camera through a window of the Orion spacecraft. The image was captured after Orion completed its translunar injection burn, the critical maneuver that sent the spacecraft on its path toward the Moon and back.
last of April so
I should say something to this
month of poetry
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for Poetry Month (that this has been)
photo by Clark Young on Unsplash [makes me think of Ebenezer Scrooge and maybe Bob Cratchit, while waiting for coal, penned and kept verses on the insides of his cuffs]
shall
so yesterday maybe
was
Shakespeare’s birthday
if if was on that
date and
you know
if
there were such a person
I mean
I’m pedestrian though
I have close degrees
as well
and think he was
and
was the poet and the playwright
though I
appreciate
the mysteries
no plays published until after
life
no notations of his education or any
if any
travel
no portraits done while he was living
either
the portrait that we think we know
is a guess
though
we get used to it
for him
don’t
we
the plays changed the world
they changed me
and you may believe that
they
changed you
though it was the poetry
the sonnets
that first brought him fame and money
then
acting and producing
since playwriting wasn’t given so much shrift
which might to explain a mystery
you know
and
Shall I compare thee to a summer day
when yet
Thou art more lovely and more temperate
which is
the day
rather like today
spring
and yet so green and passing
tractors blading
as
the summer season signs
and then true minds
as I shall say
then cite
against
for wisdom
Which alters when it alteration finds
that lives verse
and
our lives
and may I note resides as true love in The Princess Bride
and
that’s good learning of
good wisdom
we
don’t follow
and we
should
that’s all
we should
that is
love there without exception
of
what we think to change that by the way we
won't
and read more poetry and watch
more
plays
and note the authors as best we may
since there is more than
one
conundrum in
knowing who they
were
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Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
116
photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash
William Shakespeare statue in Central Park.
Central Park, New York, NY, USA
plain or fancy
what did he
say
and this is so
the Bible says that Jesus loves us
when we’re weak
so
he is
strong
always weak
always
strong
everyone seems called to both
weak to
hear
strong to act
call weak gentle or easy
or
withholding
openness to listen
and
to heed what he should say
we have the story
and the help of spirit
and
of angels
strong to act while strong is faith
and
otherwise
to
take great care
for anger destroys
and
pride
as vanity shall fall
every time
with
consequences to learn
if not yet
experienced directly
and that is plain
I hope
for me to learn
for you to be loved by God
and Jesus and the
Spirit
loved by God and in that book
find it affirmed
and
by our instinct as we grow with God
by Jesus
and the Spirit
and by the Bible
and with each other
as
we’re faithful
and even when
we fall
the love’s not over
anymore than faith or hope
though love’s
the
quality and entity
the strength
the practicality
that
remains
the theologian was asked
and
responded
Jesus loves me
this
I know
for the Bible tells me so
may it go so simple
and
so strong
if not perfectly not yet
by us
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the song “Jesus Loves Me” was written by Anna Bartlett Warner, published in 1859 (the line breaks above were by me)
the theologian in question, at least so goes the story, is Martin Marty, asked to sum up his theology, responding with the beginning of the hymn
photo by Lauren Mitchell on Unsplash
I hope the other side of the shirts says “The Now”
knowing how to live
O God
on a sunny day
I could wish I were
in
Bible study
I know
some would say I don’t know how
to live
much less how to prize a sunny day
but
I don’t know
clean room
a group of us
we
act clean
the words of Scripture clearly on the page
and we hear and we
discuss
kind interaction and somehow
authentic for
our
loves
and for our growth
for the beauty of the Earth
glory
in the skies
we will see through the window
sorry
there should be a window
and
feel after when we take part
in the outside world
God had
made
and about which we have the story
with
a gospel
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(“For the Beauty of the Earth” is the hymn cited and to which alluded; the author of the hymn is Folliott Sandford Pierpoint)
Earth Day
photo by Dima Serafin on Unsplash
“A Bee in Snowdrops”
what kind of day
what kind of day
to look outside
‘cause I can
see
there is sunlight
easy allowing colors and
shade
in relationship that’s agreeable
as if
sun and Earth had worked it out
in a process
before dawn
and this is today
with all
the hours ahead and for all the plans
or
maybe apprehensive with no plans
what shall happen like
the Spanish song
with
surprises along with what’s expected
founded on what’s ancient
and what’s yesterday
entering new
time
with what we have and are to bring even
to a table
to negotiate with each other
like the sun
over
what should change on Earth and what
remain
the same
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photo by Spenser Sembrat on Unsplash
say it’s dawn (I have trouble telling)
clcouch123 
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