coins
a wish
we wish for many things
sometimes
into longing
ask the mermaid on the water
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photo by Christina DelliSante on Unsplash
amazement
no
really is
good news
God loves us
and is perfect in everything
and so
perfect in this
the only mitigator
human will
created to be meaningful
to change the spirit
by
affiliation
to alter bodies and all people
as gathered into
interests
and all nations
and so the world outside of Eden
has been laid
not
as a game
though that would be temptation
serpent-like
spoken into ears
and
there is gospel
too
to endure anything with faith
and our version of that love
that made us
even set us on our way
accountable
joy
and peace
and how can that be
but by
amazing love of God
and by degree
what we might live of that
God
self
and others
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And can it be that I should gain
An int'rest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?
Charles Wesley
photo by Anthony Rosset on Unsplash
ours
it’s my world
though the wars are far away
I could complain about war-chemicals
in the atmosphere
and more exigently about
war’s cost of life
the sad and tragic loss of life
by artificial means
those who had been alive
the moment before
and who am I but an Israeli
I am from Ukraine also
and of the Palestinians
Lebanese and Egyptians
Iraq
and Iran
and Russia
knowing some fine people there
I am of all despot states
especially the ones who say they’re not
I am of Earth
and so are you
and so means of destruction
hit at the statues of our lives and states
destroys us
piece by piece
one oppressive act by the next
whatever takes out freedom
will
and life
hours
exchange
one deadly volley
then another back or
somewhere else
maybe
toward allied
then the arcs overlap
and collapse
order
of things
and then we say it’s over
‘cause we say
and then ceasefire’s broken
and
who is left
respecting whom
worse than chaos is
the void
we shouldn’t move toward such
things
such lack of shape and substance
and the life itself
one life by one
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photo by mauro mora on Unsplash
interior-castling
sigh
I want the love of God
pervade my life
Teresa had it
when she sought sacred ecstasy
as if to rise
with God
wings lent from angels
in
the revelation moments
and
then to come down to mortal living
for the nonce
yet with holy meaning
in the hours
and could I live with God
that way
if less
if domestically
to have earned presence somehow
through apartment living in
small towns
in such
plain hours
and a less-than-regular
me
hoping for more
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photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash
just and unjust
forgive me when
I fall
not
through accident but through
some poor
design
for
the devil’s poor that way
while
God is rich
to give
which I should remember
and while grace
be mine
and
yours
it’s not enough on Earth sometimes
to know
and wounds are honest pain outward
inward
and while there are accidents
sometimes and
often
hurts are delivered
oh
so consciously
still spilling blood
of
a kind
with not nearly enough doing
to patch up
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photo by Rémi Boyer on Unsplash
soul power
let us break bread and
drink
wine together
breaking hate for whatever
reason
we saw justified
wine as blood
to know that blood is poured
and
has been poured
and except
by the one must be
bled no
longer for the rest
to say today
and
how
shall we rejoin
(or if
rejoin)
tomorrow
if
we could
remember on our
knees
in faith
to the one
and then in service
also
to each other
then
that we study war no more
but
let peace prevail and
a feast
by love
by love
tempered by wisdom as
mercy tempers
justice
unafraid
overcome
if afraid
still overcome
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for Juneteenth
photo by Ian Kiragu on Unsplash
you, the season, and the Bible (3 poems)
the Tuesday verse
it’s Tuesday
how
are you
well
I hope
and
if not on your way toward
becoming well
and more
I don’t know what kind
of day you’ll have
today
maybe one of actual prosperity
or
to refine only
hope for
more
maybe there will be peace
this day
though there might be conflict
just
as well
the world as it is
we know
here it happens to be
raining and it’s
cooler
it might be raining where you are
as well
as
it falls near
everyone
even in the desert now
and
then
a happy Tuesday to you
and we try to raise our thoughts
toward
a Wednesday with
an even
better view
maybe weather
notwithstanding
or
altering
the longest day
the solstice is approaching
Midsummer
or
Saint John’s
and then the days grow shorter
though it’s
summer
and we think if in irony of longer
days
relish
in fact
the light of day that lingers as a cue
for picnics and vacations
or
simply to take in
because of the gradients of
blue
and then
the stars appear to dance
to twinkle through the atmosphere
at least
in the summer hours we have
which
will grow longer for them
maybe in the dark of only this time
of year
we’ll also think of kick-the-can and
capture-the-
flag
time and talent
Jesus wept
the reputed shortest verse
though
it’s a matter of numbering and syntax
of translators
and
then getting by the editors in
the inspired process
and maybe new translations
paraphrases
challenge other parts for that epithet
say
to write in Genesis
God made
or maybe to try
only
God
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photo by Wenying Yuan on Unsplash
good and plenty
(not that I’m a fan of licorice)
God is good
and God is here
we reach out
to God
while we are here
wishing ours were better
when it’s
not
and also taking time
and sharing words of thanksgiving
for part of that
good
we have
and life goes mingled this way
even
with the Lord
and we persist in this adulterated life
because we should and is
our impulse to go
on
not
to wish ourselves to heaven
way before it’s time
or
whenever
the surprise to know
with
sadness left behind
while on the way toward joy in paradise
and this
is how it goes
as well
a mingled afterlife
and
not
to say this life is a rehearsal only
for it’s not
while it is for what comes after
it is its own
for dreaming and for realizing dreams
with
accountability along the way
so if frustrating
not
to have virtue instantly
rewarded
there is nonetheless
far-down peace that rises
through our flesh and to
our eyes
and mouths
to exude and share
what
we might know of lasting joy
that like the class activity to tell and
show
even the love of God and love as God
on Earth
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(allusion aside, the candy licorice fan would be my sister)
photo by The Nix Company on Unsplash
breaking the accord
global nuclear restraints
new escalation
IDF strikes Iran
Iran strikes back and that’s war
long suffer the age
civilians live
or live not seemingly random
injudicious thief
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I don't know by tradition about haiku being topical. But I've wanted to work at the form once a week, and I can't help but think and feel about what's happening on Earth. And elsewhere, when it's elsewhere. I mean for the haiku to stand alone, though clearly I think they're also related.
photo by Anzhela Bets on Unsplash
The building of a cinema and youth center in Chernihiv, Ukraine that was destroyed by an aerial bomb in March 2022 .
clcouch123 
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