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A Certain Psalm

(x = space)

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A Certain Psalm

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Songs to God

Confess

Mourn

Celebrate

Some ask where the Lord

Even while addressing

The Lord

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Which is the way of doubt

Spiced with pain

Salt and bitter herbs

For the wilderness

Inside

The heart a desert

Reason wandering

Where is God but here

But we must

Over hills

And under earth

Search as if

Not to find

Or find in a new way

That answers doubt for all

And always

On this side

Through what we know

Has been dark glass

x

Sing

With a single voice

Or ask an orchestra to play

By composing

All the parts

And a message from humanity

Over the ground

And to the sky

To say

If anything might bless the Lord

Then bless the Lord

If any offering

Might be good for many voices

And an intention

Of authenticity

Received

Then receive the large psalm

Attempting to be thunderous

From us

x

To recognize

To thank

To let everyone have voice

In song or silence

Whatever might senses allow

Or to participate

By turning pages

Or only

Dutifully

Showing up

x

Locusts are a host

The killer bees

We can be a host

Though our precedents

Are angels in the sky

Nonetheless a human host

To try

x

Presenting such a psalm to you

From many people

A human host

Before the court

Of the Lord

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C L Couch

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recollecting themes and purposes of ancient psalms for the here and now

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Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash

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Excelling

(x = space)

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Excelling

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Sigh

Jesus said

And thereby says

To love

And not

To worry

To know the hairs

And sparrows

Are all counted

And caught

In providential hands

x

To love

Even though there might be

Swords

And thorns

Pierced souls

And persecuted spirits

While the world

Takes our offerings

Jeering

At how much

While taking it

Away

x

But love

Bread and stones

Gall for wine

Yet plenty in the teaching

And the largesse

When it matters

The giving of the Lord

Who slakes the thirst

Of Samaritans

While those Samaritans

Help their neighbors

On the road

x

The strangeness in giving

What we have

What we don’t

The offer

And the follow-through

The love

All loves

Excelling

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C L Couch

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Photo by Art Institute of Chicago on Unsplash

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Reverie on How Things Taste

(x = space)

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Reverie on How Things Taste

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The sweet

Should have the bitter

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I know you are a villain, Iago

Now

Too late

x

The bitter

Should have sweet

x

It is a way to live

To know the world

As is

And a little

How it should be

x

There is a flower

Or an herb,

I think,

Or both

x

If so,

A wise bloom

And spice

Inviting us

To savor

How things are

And a little

How they should be

x

The plants

That have blossoms

And have thorns

They are wise

And sad

They speak

They sing

To peril

x

Had Christ had a few flowers

On the crown

Pressed on his head

The beauty

Would not have changed

The agony

And we might wonder

Were a parody

Of beauty

Pressed on his head

Not only

Majesty

A jeering of

An earthly diadem

x

We need both

Because the world

Is both

And we should navigate

Understanding

That the bitter and the sweet

Are out there

And often

Come together

As the savor

Of the world

x

That we cannot pull apart

Not here

Not now

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Robin Lyon on Unsplash

Bittersweet in Winter

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This Is What We Want

(x = space)

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This Is What We Want

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We want to wake up

Waking’s good

We want to have breakfast

Something to break the fast

Of sleeping

We want to move

To greet each other

Gauge each other

And the day

And then move into it

x

We want work

And decent ways to get there

We want safety

Of our bodies

Our workplace identities

Our spirits

For the labor

With nodding toward

Our dreams and aspirations

x

We want lunch

We want to like it

Maybe enjoy

The company

Or it need be

(or preferred)

Dine alone

x

We want an afternoon

For work

And then for something grounded

Afterschool

A time to leave

For home

For family

For snacks

For play

And then our evening lives

Meetings or more work

(homework)

Or movies

And more snacks

Then ease into

It’s over

This day

For sleep and readiness

For next

x

All the mitigation

Third shift

Or farms

Demanding seasons

Training

x

Sickness

The things that shift in life

The ones we knew

Whose company

We no longer have

Aging

Anyway

And all that comes

With final dreams

Allowable inside

Three score and ten

And in society

x

We want this life

We want today

Into tomorrow

And yesterday

In part

At least

For fond remembering

x

Such a life

Should be supportable

This should be our culture

And our lives together

More as God allows

Or might demand

Of prophets

Or of mystics

Though we get to keep

The quotidia

We should have

From the beginning

x

And allowances

Yes

Of course

Allowances

Curies

Heyerdahls

Should have their way

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Laurentiu Morariu on Unsplash

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To the Rainmaker

(x = space)

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To the Rainmaker

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Cloudy day

Rain has started

Drought conditions

Keep raining

Please

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Grateful ground

With people on it

Also thanking you

xxxxxAs if a liturgy

For crying on us

If that’s what this is

x

If you are sad with us

And why not

We are inhospitable

Toward Earth

While it’s our home

In all the ages

And should we take measures

To prevent

To recoil

(as in rolling up again)

To keep everything alive

x

Will we remember

To apologize

While planting?

To express our thanks

We still have days

For growth

For food

And to get it right

x

To the sky

The stars

Whatever gods

Or greater compounds

Might set over us

Or under us

To serve

With greater might

Than we shall ever know

x

Curb our hubris

Stop us before

The final act

Shall ruin everything

xxxxxAnd someone

xxxxxSomething

xxxxxCome from outside

xxxxxTo claim

xxxxxWhat’s left

x

While it’s still ours

If ours

Help us

Gods

The sky

xxxxxWhomever

Get it right

With what’s left

To have an Earth

Before

We dare to seek another

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

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We Land

(x = space)

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We Land

x

It is the first

There is a special on TV

Three weeks from now

We land

We land

x

Let’s see

I was twelve

So much I didn’t know

But I was watching

Listening

Technical language

About pitch

And descent

Then dust kicked up

Then landed

I don’t remember Cronkite’s

Reaction

I’ve seen it since

Maybe my parents preferred

Another network

But they were down

Tranquility Base

There had been no base

They were the base

They were on

The moon

Armstrong and Aldrin

While Collins flew above

Waiting for retrieval

And then for the ship

To take them back home

x

That’s where we were

x

Armstrong got out

Kept talking

So we knew

He was alive

He descended

Left the ladder

Touched upon

The world

Near our world

x

One small step for (a) man

One giant leap for mankind

x

When they left

There was a plaque

About accomplishment

And peace

Signed by Nixon

A phantom pledge fulfilled

Since no one

Specifically had asked

Though Kennedy

Had said

x

The space race gave us

Microwaves

Ballpoint pens

And Tang

So there was usefulness

And whatever to be said

In winning

At least

Our saying

That we won

x

I thought we’d keep going back

I thought there’s be a base

With walls and windows

A round roof

And lots

And lots

Of oxygen inside

I guess that is about to happen

Now

And we’ll find out

If we disturb

The empire inside

That H. G. Wells

Fictively

Foretold

x

Or Clarke’s sentinel

Or maybe there shall be

A little

Prince

x

1969

We also went

To Woodstock

We protested war

All the contention of

My older brothers’ generation

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C L Couch

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Photo by Guzmán Barquín on Unsplash

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Contritions

(x = space)

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Contritions

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I don’t know what else to say

I wish I could resort

To the Bible better

I wish I knew

The right way to pray

Rather than the stabs I take

To try

I wish I were more righteous

In the right way

I think there is a right way

x

But you are there

And I am here

And you are here

With angels to assist

I know

Beyond a fancy

More than because

I’m supposed to

x

I believe

Because I do

And my choice doesn’t affect

At all

Your existence

My choice important

Faith to allow the grace

Free sacrifice

To hold

Even take root

And grow

x

But what am I

Nothing of

A Gospel hero

Let alone the older tales

Or new ones

What shall I give to you

You don’t already have

And more

And better

But that the slip of self

The folded leaf along the vein

Whose only purpose left

In fall

Is falling

x

But that you want me

Anyway

Though I find wanting

Every way

A scary thing

That is the lesson of the world

Through splintering experience

x

You can bring enough

Together

I know this

And enough might be enough

I’ll pray

I’ll try to read

To comprehend

The wisdom

Or maybe

Just enough

Justly to pray

Enough salvation

For today

Should you come by night

And then by night

Like heart attacks

Frightening

To take me home

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

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Faith Alone

(x = space)

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Faith Alone

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The Bible

Through a friend

Took us to Ephesians

Yesterday

Where we are saved

By grace through faith

One thing required

Of us,

To believe

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Faith alone

Ignites the spark

As if the kindling

For the fire of grace

Were waiting

On the inside

All this time

x

Let salvation blaze

In heaven and

In testimony

While

Here we need to know

Whose means for fire

Rests

And waits

For the one thing

That matters

For a spark

A start

To save

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Ephesians 2:8

(thank you, David)

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C L Couch

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Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash

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Storm Chasing

(x = space)

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Storm Chasing

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It’s on the screen

Best that I can do

Storms are coming

I want to stay

In here

It’s an illusion

They could get me here

I have vague recollections

Of black and gray and green

Clouds looking to form

A funnel

While I drove beneath

Mainly though

It’s stories

On the news

From the family

From driving by

After

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C L Couch

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Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

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