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Assignment Earth

(x = space)

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Assignment Earth

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A return to three dimensions,

Grace is brief

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It splits through time,

Calls to the source,

And invites us there

While claiming in the world

Surprise and alteration

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Miraculous intervention

Owned by none

But gives of itself

Until what it bears is gone

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A life changed,

Spirit re-knit,

A reason to go on

If not in gratitude

Let alone astonishment

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Maybe something to think about,

Maybe only forward motion

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C L Couch

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The photograph was taken by Joseph Schultz, my nephew.  He enjoyed a job with the Fish and Wildlife Service on Midway Island and now lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.  The world is his future.

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Wording

(x = space)

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Wording

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Magic in words

A phrase I’m sure that has been said

In many times and places

Media

Many languages

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For it must seem that way

The way words can turn things

I suppose like many things

They have no value

Until applied

Character in the one

Who speaks or writes

Agenda, too

An open one shows fortitude

The hidden one a kind of cowardice

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They can start wars

In fact, we have to say

They are declared

Then words are needed, after

In treating peace

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There is so much more to say

Your turn

Use your words

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C L Couch

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Photo by Damon Lam on Unsplash

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Shipwreck of State

(x = space)

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Shipwreck of State

(in pandemic time)

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By the way, the highest number

Of cases was reported

Yesterday

But this mass lack of perspective

Child’s bid for attention

Ersatz use of masks

x

We don’t want to care, anymore

We have sick to care for

Too many dead to bury

In decency,

Though we’ll try

x

It isn’t that important,

The thing inside white buildings

In the capitol,

State houses similarly infected

x

There is disease,

And there is disease

Politics aside—and that’s it, isn’t it?

Putting aside what is

Supposed to serve us

With our money

With our votes

With belief

x

We have lives to deal with

And lack of life to mourn,

x

Which is the real nation

That like church

Means all the people

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C L Couch

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Photo by NOAA on Unsplash

Bow of the TITANIC

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What We Will

(x = space)

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What We Will

(6 January)

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I don’t have anything

For you, but

There is this:

There is a story

x

It is winter, now;

We have passed Twelfth Night,

The yule log is expiring

In the manor home,

Epiphany will have

Its celebrations;

x

Winter, then, will be

Full upon us

In the north;

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And it will be, between

Any festivals, such a

Good time for stories

And storytellers

x

Who should be invited

Then blessed on their way

To comfort others in

diverse ways.

x

Should there be no tellers

At hand, then we must

Become them—every group

Has a story,

After all;

And if yours has none to tell,

Then write it

(there will be a text

for now, for later on)

And then tell it:

x

Hear it, everyone!

In the north, it is

Such a good time for this.

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C L Couch

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Photo by Lance Anderson on Unsplash

Akron, United States

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The Arrival

(x = space)

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The Arrival

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My people don’t believe

In me,

And I am sad

And I am vengeful—the

Only thing allowed to be

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I shall find them In their lairs

And look for justice,

Any sign of righteousness

Because

I am all mercy as well

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I stay my hand

And also bring it down

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I’d rather they live in paucity

And peace with Earth

And each other,

Leaving the world no worse,

If not better,

When a generation’s

Done with it

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Creation is renewable

As it is sustainable,

x

But I have other children;

Here,

I have placed a point

In time

For an arrival

And the last catastrophes

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I wish they would be good,

I wish they would believe,

x

I wish that judgment

Perfect in me

Could be a happy process

When all of us are here

At last

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C L Couch

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Photo by HKTreks on Unsplash

Comet NEOWISE

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Remembering 28 December

(x = space)

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Remembering 28 December

(in liturgies)

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Yesterday there was a lesser feast about

The slaughter of the innocents

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Frankly, I don’t know how to bring

It up, the murder of many children or

The killing of one child

Two years old or younger

x

How does one speak to that?

How does one do it, in the first place?

The answer is, one doesn’t

But tells soldiers and slaves to do it

x

The children are only

Targets, after all, unreal as people

If we never look at them

Or what we commanded

x

Being Idumean,

Herod might even have considered this

An act of war against

An enemy Jewish people

x

But we are right to say

That it was local genocide,

Even of boys the

Killing of a generation

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Foes from which there would be

No reprisal,

No fighting back would be

Expected

And thus a tactically successful

Maneuver and campaign

Designed by a crazy person who

Had the kind of power

Democracy should slay

x

God would address the Herods

Later on:

You don’t really think

Herod and his would

Get away with murderous

Abrogations?

x

We cannot count the children;

We do not count them now,

Though so many

Live inside danger

x

They are not wood or cardboard—they

Are not shades behind

A chain-link fence or

A craftier, a solid-seeming barrier

x

They starve, they bleed,

They cry as a divine signal

To the rest of us

x

Listen to them, see to them—in this,

The parents are the world—and

Then we can rightly damn

All Herodian kings

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C L Couch

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Photo by insung yoon on Unsplash

Saemangeum-ro, Gunsan-si, South Korea

Solar Eclipse

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Matthew 2:16-18

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Acts 12:20-23

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According to documents and legends, Herod the Great and Herod Agrippa (grandson) both died lingering and painful deaths.

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Midnight Sun

(x = space)

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Midnight Sun

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I can’t help but imagine

A quiet and dark place

x

Maybe a church

Maybe a campsite

Maybe in the desert

Maybe a quiet place at home

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It is late

There is candlelight

And whoever’s there

And there are people there

Is praying

x

They are praying for the world

As if it were outside

And in greater peril

Than experience has known

In ages

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Great hunger lurks

And plans

x

But here there is silent love

Propelling urgent works

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Peace

And intercession

Then knowing what to do

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C L Couch

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Photo by Emily Hon on Unsplash

Yellowknife, Canada

Aurora shine the whole night.

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The Magician’s Children

(x = space)

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The Magician’s Children

(Christmas 2020)

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It’s a magic time

The animals will talk at midnight

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Light of many colors

Will shine inside and outside

Of hours

And tall buildings in the city

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People who don’t believe

Will be quiet for a while

Almost in honor of the child

x

Christmas might be

A chore for them,

But they take the quiet anyway,

Until the noises of the morning

In the household begin

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And there are those who will be quiet

Because they are the only ones,

Each one in a home of sorts

To bring in the day

On one’s own

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Each one has a job

To send out the peace

Just beyond, until the next one

Take it,

Send it out in thought or feeling

Or a prayer

x

Others will be so busy

But the lonely could do this

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Create a spirit-band across the world

Through many places,

Many nations,

Many destinations

That can’t be reached yet

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Someday, perhaps

When we have enough health,

Enough determination,

Enough interest in the risk

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Merry Christmas to each one

And from each to everyone

Live in peace for a day

And remember that a day

Can be an age

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C L Couch

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Photo by Daniil Silantev on Unsplash

Ozero Turgoyak, Челябинская область, Россия

Ice on the Lake Turgoyak

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A Night to Remember

(x = space)

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A Night to Remember

(Christmas Eve)

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So there’s this sleigh

A regrettable homonym;

It might be as big as a spaceship

In a science-fiction series,

One that might carry generations

To the next set

Of sun and planets

x

The sleigh could have a crew,

Though

We know of only one,

The captain and the power

That comes from reindeer

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There are deliveries to make,

Though what might be most important

Is the trip around the world

In certitude

We have a world to play with

And work on

For keeping homes

With some promise of a future

Under brick and wood and canvas,

Stone and shale

x

Will it be a merry Christmas

For those who don’t believe?

Well, why not

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No punishment is promised inside

Skepticism;

One might simply enjoy

The colors, the materials, the brilliant

Detritus, after

All the domestic parties

‘Round a tree or in another

Fine arrangement

Or in a place that looks the same

As it did the day before—

Thank goodness, there are no requirements

x

It’s a day,

A unique day we’ve held

In the offing

In anticipation

For a while

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C L Couch

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A Night to Remember is the name of an old, bittersweet movie.

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By Sierra Nevada Space Systems – Sierra Nevada Space Systems, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25460329

Artist’s conception of the Dream Chaser commercial human space transportation vehicle docked to the International Space Station.

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