two windows
the day has turned
a little gray
and the way I saw two windows lined
in the brick house across the street
got
me thinking about school
and how when I was in
it didn’t hurt
to be
looking out
well
until caught at it
nonetheless where
the colors
were not made of paper or the time
of paper
either
but promise that we’ll get
to go
even if uncertain where
I should be going freely and so
learned to keep
a sense
and wish
for
freedom
hmm
and now the day is gold again
c l couch
photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash
A little yellow house in the fishing town Büsum, North Sea.
the building across the street is red brick, but I like this photograph
offerings uncontrived
I closed the window
Prufrock-like
since
I don’t know it will make a difference
in
mythology
I hope to keep the heat out
and
the air comes in the back
where I left the window open
some
and there
“The Open Window”
and
was that by Saki
so I’m thinking of stories
while
mind unwinds
as
in manifest
a time
and shall the muses without offering
nonetheless be pleased
with me
well
here are time and energy and my
one coffee of
the morning while dealing with
illness
to hope there’s a libation in there
somewhere
c l couch
(“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot; “The Open Window” by H. H. Munro, “Saki”; the muses in the ether and when they visit Earth upon our heads and in our hearts)
photo by Ciocan Ciprian on Unsplash
discretion
a prayer
1
I’m not sure what
to say
what would you like to hear
what
would be good
what would be loving
I wish I were an expert
in
what I am unsure
theology
perhaps
mathematics of the mind
or
of philosophy
if I knew church law
or
could know business far better
than I do and the business of
two people
God
human
spirit
and through all
too much for one
as the world is excessive for
one person
and yet I don’t understand
the two
much less the three
in one
with one of me
too much
I know too little
2
yet who
receives faith but anyone
and
faith must go this way
neither trick
nor contest
but acceptance
and
decision
yet even those who cannot choose
might be as
saved as any other
so there should be hope
well
all around
and I might know you
too
at least enough
to pray
and live in a bit of expectation
of some health
some peace
at last
c l couch
photo by Brendan Church on Unsplash
first through last message
I don’t know what
to say to you
today
which I know I say many times
at least
to me
but I don’t
I could speak of a-gap-e
the kind of love
that has no terms except to manifest
itself
the kind that comes from God
as all that’s good has come
from God
while evil is allowed
for now
and agape ruins that agenda if it seems
that evil wins for now
since
that is the illusion
that what is bad is victorious
and lasting
which is
regardless
how I feel sometimes
and maybe you do
too
from time to time
but what is bad will not persist
and what is love continues
to be chosen
as
it’s always available
as it’s in us
and as we decide
not only dwells but gets out
rather well
sometimes in surprise
always
in small wonder
if
sussed
yet it’s real and even ordinary
that is
to the loving
maybe is confounding to the wrong
who are loved
anyway
and
wrong’s agenda
which we may not love
so much
but
by praying for confiners
when
confined
who is confined
as far as victory might have to be
concerned
then
love wins
c l couch
photo by Vanna Phon on Unsplash
it could be Perelandra
I’d like to say
war does not belong
or
evil in any obvious form
as well as some
sometimes
the insidious
I’d like to go on to say
rampant fire does not belong
whatever
the origin
and
lava flows
eruptions overall
then there are floods
sometimes
seasonal
sometimes otherwise
at hand
in other words
all the problems that destroy the body
try will
with severity
challenge the virtue of the spirit
what promises bad ends
and tries to take us
there
does not belong
could we have a world of this
instead
and what belongs
is
good
and easy
and airy
and practical
and makes a world worthy
from which to explore
and is there
doctrine
or a selling point
that says we’re there already
but
we’re not
and have to deal in all
the evil
with the good
the war
the fire and the flood
and
what goes on inside us
shall we be saved
while everything is motley
to
our spirit-sight
our senses
to celebrate inherent goodness
and
to bring it out
c l couch
Perelandra is a novel by C. S. Lewis. It is considered science fiction and is about a world facing a choice and so be fallen (as a world) or not.
photo by Qingbao Meng on Unsplash
leavetaking
God
be with us
‘til we meet
again
and there is more to say
but what we mean
we know
in asking the creator to be with us
to be with you
from
whom I’m parting
that safety go with you
and
in your better aims
success
and I guess for me as well
that I should
keep the faith
with which
I’m asking
to be present
suffuse in
our
relationship
c l couch
(“God be with you” appears in Scripture, in fact of various traditions, and is the first line of a Christian hymn; “God be with us” is the meaning of Immanuel)
photo by Sebastian Enrique on Unsplash
well, there are two poems here, the first I wrote on how I was (am) inside, the second as an extension, prompt, based on the photograph—so it’s a little journey through words and image and more words and hopefully acceptable to you
ergo sum
what freedom do we have
I want it
and a little more
which
is why I drive to no places in particular
but
to take in the view
pretend it’s clearer air
and always new
discovery
exploring
better than an armchair
if only really
not
so much
(clc)
photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash
“Morning Hikes”
[Morning Hikes
to quote the photographer]
honestly
I’m wondering
if
one is holding back the other
preventing straying
yet
also perhaps initiative
the insight of one’s own
to move
to fine
more
than what it tacit
agreed upon
then
is
someone holding back another
or is the first one affirming
that
the other comes along
and this hand-
holding
is the gentlest of cues
c l couch
the gospel of the morning breeze
the morning breeze is
somehow
cool and warm
and I get it through
an open window only by some inches
so I could have missed it
but
it blew while I was
near and so I got the benefit
even of an easy paradox
to go with the pairs of contradictions
that
don’t go over gently
not at all
c l couch
photo by Smithsonian on Unsplash
Henry Ossawa Tanner, “Mary”
waking again
God
be with me today
Immanuel
and owning all the other names we give
though
it’s your presence
bold to ask for
not
really knowing with theology
or
religious fear
what I am asking and most of all
of whom
c l couch
photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash
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