One Thing Two Things
(I suppose not unlike One Fish Two Fish . . .)
Have I anything
To say
Today
I get
To this point
(sometimes starting there)
Near
What I think should be
An ending
For
The day
An end enough
To say
Here is something
Using eccentric pace
With
Access to metaphor
Something
That prose can say and often
Does
Say
And yet we have this way
The dance
Maybe
Straightforward or circuitous in
Intent
And
Form
Or both and all
Together
The sound
The shape like that music
Of
Rectangles on the page
And I think I say to you
This day
(and yet not new)
That
Love is good
When
Not bent or twisted
Which may come from an outside
Agenda
Demanding faith
And time
And money
Which eats away at
Time
Good faith
And
Devotion
Love to own and offer freely
And there should be health
In that
And so to healthy love
As a value
And approach
Maybe
With
The peacefulness of doves
The cleverness of
Serpents
(giving
snakes a chance)
Any can love and love well
Some things depending
I’m
Afraid
While the glass we see through darkly
Makes fidelity a challenge
(doable)
Makes love
The risky pleasure though no better quality
Of quantity in
Life
And the better
Open
Lasting things therein
Acquired
Fleshly
And abstract
And
So in this a
Pleasant day desired
For
You
The day and then
Romantic and-or reflective evening
As we please
While
Maybe dove-like and snake-like
In
And with the too often the imposing and
Suppressive world
The division faithful make
Like that
Spirit and flesh
Though they and with the world made
Good
C L Couch
Matthew 10:16
Photo by Sei on Unsplash
matters for prayer
(I should know there are always these to express)
sigh
so what do I have to say
if anything
right now
or in the hours to come
I give myself the day off as an
option
that some readers might not mind
the break to take
from
the entwinements
I could speak of God
for us
and I do pray for you
for us
although
I have no added insight at the moment
to the prayer
there is a wildfire
nearby
I mean
in my county
so I know the location
the forest I have driven through
and hiked in
and stayed
the place
of a human tragedy of note
(meaning it’s
marked)
from some decades ago
and while containment has been accomplished
the burning still goes there
and for
some days now
so that’s the occasion
looking for an occasion
and here’s
the spiritual part
a prayer
as
dear God
cover the firefighters and
other fighters and supporters
with care
to keep them
cool
(if possible)
and safe
(that by you is)
encourage those who had to leave
as they return
to face the changes
in damage
or simply facing the new way
things must be considered
now
not that we shouldn’t always be aware
of fragilities
and dangers
but
well
who does that all the time
no matter how exigent the living
cool
(if possible)
and safe
(that is)
please
and thank you
amen
so I said this and if you’d like to join
that would be gracious
and so
a prayer for you
and us
in that
dear God
please hear us when we speak to you
and you do
of course
but it is human to speak to you
the way we do
even the way we’re taught
grant calmness of night
and if that can’t be
so
then allow some source of calm within
that we might access
if only can a little
help us to be together
in the new day
together as in self-knit and then
joined with each other
the togetherness
in which
there’s greater hope that the day not only be
endurable
but also good to think about
to feel
and mostly to live through
peace
and union
and
our differences
amen
yes
I prayed this for you
for us
as with the other
c l couch
photo by Harrison Steen on Unsplash
of John 3:17
for God
did not send
the child of God
into
the world
to condemn the world
but that
through the child
the world
and all the world
might
be saved
for God so loved
c l couch
photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
the good season that lasts
the week after
time of discipleship
like being free of Pharaoh
free
now
of similar devils
new obligations based
on old beliefs
and
now
regeneration
not an easy life
in the spirit
old and new temptations
to parry
disillusionment as
after
last Friday
until the vigil moment
Sunday
which is maybe how sometimes
faith
appears
fast like a bird
settling like
rain
a life re-breathed
a new season that in temperate climes
speaks to changing colors
and
thermometer degrees
and while these quarters will continue
the life
in the spirit
we know
now
shall not have an end
as long as we’re inclined
and others
all of us go on
face the choice
to belong
adhere
and have renewed breath
in the new time
in the gathering that is church
only people
by
its Greek definition
and goodness the soft
yoke
the easy
weighted burden
which faith allows
maybe
hopes near all traditions
c l couch
first full week of the Easter season
photo by Julia Elliot on Unsplash
rest with
rest with
I think of thick
cloth
maybe with a scent of earth
and what is
the scent of resurrection
I don’t know
the face
for fear
for shame of looking
but I can’t help
but rest
against the folds
and a little ways
inside
I rest
and I don’t know the surface
of the ground
beneath
it could be firm
it could be clouds
if could
be fire
but for the company
I’ll keep resting
maybe fall
asleep
daring and remarkable
in the Earth-turning
and somehow homely presence
of the Lord
c l couch
for Easter Monday
photo by Clément Falize on Unsplash
Hearing a New Commandment
Bread and wine
For body
Wind for spirit
Earth
For creation
These show the nature of
The Lord
In closest metaphors
Like mustard seeds
For faith
And there are other metaphors
For appreciation
And
For learning
But these are things we have
And may know
Easily
Even rather thoroughly
That any might believe in
What they represent
And so
Have faith
In the intimate way
The better things are and have
Been made
Bread
Wine
Wind
Earth
Learn
Believe
Love
Live
C L Couch
for Maundy Thursday
John 13:34-35 (and in Matthew 22)
Matthew 11:15, 13:9
Photo by Assad Tanoli on Unsplash
in waiting
waiting as in stillness plus
waiting as in serving
stillness
and serving
the God beside us
in waiting
is waiting
c l couch
Revelation 3:20
Revelation 21:5
photo by Yucel Moran on Unsplash
bitter
the herbs of Passover
or what
sin-eaters eat
when it’s more than salt
with bread
though
salt is pretty bitter
on its own
and then there’s the attitude toward
life
after
disappointment
even within
unscaled perspective
we don’t get what we want
so life is
bad
it’s wrong
it’s bitter
although what we may want is exactly
what is needed
so maybe what we want’s
the issue
what
for whom
and how
nothing new in this
in that
life goes this way or that
becomes
quite trite
in fact
(and pardon rhymes at
times)
and still we want life
I want mine
you should want yours
so hang on through
the bitter
please
self-determined or pushed
maybe dropped
on
heavily
by the world
there’s more
and it could be challenging
maybe with
a way to see
to bear
the bitter
and-or
who knows
a time in life
(life time)
could turn sweet
if
and most likely not
forever
yet
which is why we have and own the term
for terms
the times
the joined word that is
the lively paradox
of
bittersweet
c l couch
photo by freestocks on Unsplash
Heat
(a kind of review)
Fire burns
Which means that for survival
Fire’s good
And yet fire destroys
The fuel we place
But
Everything that gets away
The flames that ruin homes
For animals
For us
And everyone
And everything
Of course
That burns
The spirit of the Lord
We equate with
Fire
And I don’t know what is means
By denotation
To fire as in to separate from
A job
Still
It is ubiquitous
It seems
Like “they”
And though its forms seem drastic
As in warming
As in cooking
So we live
And by heat often through the night
And yet
To take away survival
Too
There being the matter of its
Wildness
That is the problem
That makes the thing hideous to
Destroy
Without fixing as much
As only to build over for
Recourse
Yet there is God
Again
Whose spirit is not wise the way
We think is wise
And is not
Tame
The way we think only in formal matters
Should God
Be relegated
Rather
God is wild
Even in wildness
You know
The wilderness
Which we won’t like for lack
Of building
Compartmentable
Purchasable
Convenience
(and the promoting of a market)
And
Who knows how God might feel but
Uses such heaths and
Pagan places
Anyway
Tame and wild
Which shall we have
Of course
But both
Let God normalize
And let go
If lovingingly
Amok
Like fire
In a frame
And who sets the flame
(out of
lovingly flammable
inflammable materials)
But the tame
The comfort in
The very God while also dwelling
In the zealous flame that both
And must
Love
As well as
And often even as
The heat
And I guess we must mean
The heat of all kinds
C L Couch
Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash
“Bonfire Night”
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