A People of All Seasons
(to the accomplishment and memory of President Jimmy Carter)
Sacrifice
And service
Duty
As love
All of these
Impulses
And choices
Be love
As in
Love of country
Love of each other
Preference
For peace
And everyone be fed
And living safely
In
Unconscious readiness
For something from an outer circle
To round in
Provide the next challenge
For
A species
Shall we care and
Shall
We lift each one
Diversely
And also through
One principle
And let that principle
Of course
Be that
Of love and growth
And so earn
That readiness
Even while
Simply
Learning delight
In the energy
Of ourselves
Sponsored
And
Grown of ourselves
While
Naturally enough
God might
Approve
Then leave us as in let
Us
To what’s next
C L Couch
Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash
Aver
Affirm
As if
To make a pledge about it
We might aver the Lord
And all the works
Therein
Therefrom
Vocabulary
Syntax
Devotion to one’s homework
Enough so that the computers
Might stay running
In
A way the machines might
Talk to us
Share everything
After inputting
At least
Translucently
For spell-check and search engines
Sigh
School is worthwhile
After all
Establish
Learning all the time
As the model
For the way
As
Even Genesis
Continues
Certainly
The love
Made
And spoken of God
Go on
C L Couch
Photo by Sam Loyd on Unsplash
Writing in School
Hmm
I wrote a poem
A long time ago
I couldn’t work the artifice
And so
Worked a loosened mind
With something of a heart
To write
Of invitation
And because I was a senior
It was printed
Though
One reaction only
Had I heard and was
Of
Confusion
And now I often
Sigh
Into words
Reconsider tickets
To the show
And so
Writings later
The search
For what’s authentic
And the answer that I have
Is that what is real
I write for you
C L Couch
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
have or have not
yesterday we have
in pieces
today is a whole thing
from now to now
confusion
when we’re tired
or bemused
notwithstanding
leaving the partial thing
like yesterday
tomorrow
also
in pieces of
guesswork
and expectation
well
the wind outside
is blowing thoroughly
on the branches
and I’m pretty sure
it’s cold
from the time
and the narrative
of
the season
what we have
is what we have
and what we know
we know
and I’m thinking that
control
profit
agendas
that are hidden
really don’t help this moment
that we have
and to expect
though it’s honestly a mystery regarding
next
but mysteries
have joys
if we allow
and maybe disallow
the heavy things
that
keep the letting go
down
and
down
as if
to Goblin-Town
or worse
only shadowy things for real
we think
we have to own
and wield
to own
c l couch
title swiped from Hemingway—an homage of, I mean—who might have swiped it—been inspired—from Ecclesiastes, Donne, or a sociologist
[sociology about the haves and have-nots]
yesterday’s image was of a bridge at or in New Orleans, picked because of the city and the recent tragedy occurring there (plus bridge as a metaphor)
photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash
“Hand holding keys to a new house. Real estate residential.”
Promised Responding
And what
Shall
Happen
When we hear
Like Horton
(only
louder)*
We are here
Meaning
The host of heaven
Small and gargantuan
Depending on
Dimension
And
Dimension’s need
Ready
When we beckon
Or soaring ready
In flight mode
Or on the ground in
Angel
Ranks
Maybe loving us
On fine days
Merely
Or to have to march
(or land)
Upon
Megiddo
To realize apocalypse
And fight for us on
Our side
Meaning the side of all
The believers
Not through possession of
The pride
Of
Victory
So much as that love
By appreciation on
That fine day
C L Couch
(Horton Hears a Who is cited)
Photo by Katarina Dodig on Unsplash
“My favourite street corner in Dubrovnik” (photographer’s caption).
*(still, still small voice)
Then Doubt
Doubt is
Smart
It has an edge
There is reason
There
And care for the shape
And flow
Of things on every
Side
Doubt considers
Aspects
What is good
And what needs changing
What
To say halt
To
While there are considerations
And respect
At least a dive into awareness
Of all players
Doubt
Needs affirmation
Maybe
Though first it should get it
Of itself
Which is to say the paradox might be
That
Doubt
Should be awarded its own
Certainty
To say the head
And all corners of the heart
Deserve
Consideration
And then
There are the questions
The committed should ask questions
Too
Practicality
At least
Though when
Doubt and commitment might
There might be fixing
What
Things need fixing
And leaving go
What might be brought
To bear
With virtue
Next
Occasion
Say
When the parent says
I believe
Help my unbelief
The doubt
Affirmed to heal
Embodying the risk
That faith must
Take
For the stronger
Lasting
Miracle
Of holding
On
Sometimes
Or when certain
In the morning of belief and
And in
Life
That also needs
It seems
The evening of doubt
(Mark 9:24 is cited, the entire passage recommended)
The Pain of Doubt
Doubt does
Hurt
It is disturbing
Even when
We try to keep it only
In the realm of thought
There’s
Likely
To be pain
Goodness is more fun
And we like think
More lasting
As
Promises
And prophecies
Foretell
Yet goodness unchained
Directionless
After
The pleasure might need
Something more
As well
And shall doubt
Provide that
The sureness of having
Worked
Through it all
And shall come out on
The other side
A conviction
Certainly
For enough
Of faith
And peace and
Joy
C L Couch
Photo by BenMoses M on Unsplash
A Christmas Season Message
(anytime)
So once it’s proclaimed
That
God loves you
And a presumption
God loves
Me
Then
We might consider
For ourselves and the world
God loves us
It’s not an easy love
Because the world
Isn’t easy
Rather
Selfish
And destructive
You know this
And the presence of God
Is not made so visible
Or at all
Though there are stories
And what does
This love
Mean
To ask catechistically
Well
It’s the strongest fragile going
Because the world and the devil
Seem
To have their ruinous say
And rule over
Temptations
Ready to wreck us
When we’re turned
Ignoring
Keep from us notions of
Redemption
With reconciliation
Back
Into the body of believers
And so much
Too much
Is hidden in the world
Like treasures found
In mines
As well as ancient
Tombs
That were new once in grief
And now perhaps
Remembrance
Truth hides too easily
Secrets used
To cover truths
Of course
And there’s a pushing under of
Open justice
That restores
By a greater interest
In control of
Rules
And closed-over until-
Declared
Tyranny
Meaning
Sinful attitudes and strategies
Allowed
Through good things bent
Too often by
Prosperity
And punishment
Which warps the understanding of
What’s fair and
Openly
Respectful
In favor of shaded interest
And is this real
Well
All of it must be
Making
Sad sense out of what
Explains
The way things are
And love is hard in this
And some would say impossible
As a human
Reaction
Understood
While love itself might go
Underground
Deeper than the superficial world
Knows
Love might have to hide
Rising when it’s risky
But
To seal the deal on planet Earth
And who knows where else
That better
Vows
Mean something
And we must take the chance to say
And sometimes write so
And say so
From a podium
Until repudiation of such public love with
Podium
And church or temple
Fired by hate
With worldly agendas behind
‘Til what is good
To hear
To bring us together
Is then ashes
Love is strong
Even when assailed
And it shall
Last beyond
But
Oh
It
Takes a beating now and then
Or all the time
Depending on who’s
Or what’s
In charge
But love regardless
God’s behind it and in front
And is invisible
Irascibly
It seems
Even to allow great danger to
Adherents
But love is
Called for
Anyway
And we should love
Each other even more visible than
God
‘Til God more obviously shows
Keeping the understanding
Learning
And the living that
As we might
Know
Singly and together
God loves us
C L Couch
(for its own lectern maybe, serving a sermon or another kind of message in a hall or other place or kind of gathering)
Photo by virkelighet on Unsplash
Seasons’ Reasonings
(or is it reason’s seasonings)
What do I really want
To say today
And shall I break
From
My agenda
Even of pressing needs
For aren’t they all
Seeming-
Exigent
I want
To say
Simple and plain
I guess
As folk
As others
Say
And it’s
God loves you
And
While God loves you
In
The strength and practicality
Of love
Without the pink and lace
So much
Until it’s time
For these
In my land
After the groundhog wakes
And the better President
Is born
And then
Another tussle for
Too many
With
In fact
Pink isolation
Like
Too-often
Christmas green
While all of it
We know
As blue
(though
yes
Elvis’s Christmases
are blue)
Until and in between
These times
That is
Most of the time
And
Yes
And even then
(the betweens of in-betweens)
God loves you
God before us
God behind
Us
And God beneath
With God above
And also
On
Our way is
God beside us
And is there more to say
With hope of heaven
Interesting
But unknown
‘Til it should be happening
And
It hasn’t happened
Though love has occurred
And on all sides
Of time
And will
Exists
And does go with us
Inside
Outside
Everywhere
There’s where
And love
You know
The reason for creation
For creating anything
We know
C L Couch
(Saint Patrick’s Breastplate is cited; sorry, the pun of the title and subtitle, I imagine, only works in English)
Photo by Andy Holmes on Unsplash
Books of Numbers
1
Twenty-six
For those who count
This way
And just into
New
Seasons
Eight days
For Hannukah
Twelve for Christmas
Until
Epiphany
The world shall have its
New year
For the parties
And
The cheers
There shall be the new
Asian year
Then
Too
And Muslims start
The specific year
As well
And other calendars
No calendars
Hold sway
By group
And ways to count for time
Or not
To count at all
2
When were you born
I was told
That I was born
When it had rained
Days
Straight
And the valley flooded
The people had to climb
And my mother gave
Birth
To me
From a high place
Which has affected
My name
C L Couch
Photo by Paul R Design on Unsplash
clcouch123 
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