Search

clcouch123

I talk you talk we'll talk

Open Search
Category

Liturgies

The Good Book

(x = space)

x

x

The Good Book

x

The Bible,

Well,

It’s an awful book

x

There’s sex in there

And violence,

All kinds of aberration

x

There’s slavery

In stories,

Even though promises

Of freedom abide

As well

x

There’s poetry,

Truth in metaphor

x

An animal

Talks

Not to another,

Rather to a person

x

There is nudity

(animals

by nature are

naked)

x

And realized

Punishment:

Rules draconian set by

The pettiness

Of kings

And queens

x

In retribution

And

For

Mortification,

There is the

Anger of prophets

x

There is the punishment by God

x

And did I mention many

Miracles

For sustaining life especially in

The wilderness?

(there’s a good deal of

wilderness)

x

So

Why should we read

This book?

x

Because there’s life

Rendered with great beauty like

The facets

In a jewel

Emblazoned by the sun

And cool

By night

x

It is a book

That does not float on

Waves

But nonetheless

That saves,

Requiring ingestion

As one reads

Or good hearing while

Another person

(or maybe Balaam’s donkey

for a further

miracle)

Reads

x

Good book

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash

x

0

MS. Found in an Electric Bottle

(x = space)

x

x

MS. Found in an Electric Bottle

x

How do I keep

These?

x

Mostly, they’re electrons now,

Some of these a day

Over some years

Now

x

Shall I print them all,

Keep them like spells

Inside my crystal cave?

x

Well,

Maybe

Maybe I should

x

I can select from there

With those

To hope for publication

Or another egress

Out to you

To share

x

My part in the circle

And the stars

And the spells

x

We share our pages

With the magic words

That say

I’m here

With everyone

x

Read us;

Hear us

x

C L Couch

x

x

“MS. Found in a Bottle,” a short story by Edgar Allan Poe

x

Photo by Douglas Bagg on Unsplash

x

1

Waiting for the War to End

(x = space)

x

x

Waiting for the War to End

(words I heard offered rhetorically in a sermon)

x

Who goes today?

Who’s gotten

Sick?

Will there be meals?

Will there be

Water

To rely on?

x

How much less?

How many

Lost?

Only questions

In the catechetic style

Absent

Of answers

What is said

Depending, not depending

On a side

A leadership

Misleading

x

How long?

The first day when

Everything blew apart

Making

Normalcy

Seem paradisal

Now

x

When is the end,

The end we

Have,

Because we’re still

Here?

For those who have electric,

Normalcy is

Elsewhere

Where we can watch it

Hear it

Happening

Without explosions

News

Of explosions

Near

x

We’d be envious

Were we not preoccupied with

Terror

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Marc Szeglat on Unsplash

x

0

And Shall It Be

(x = space)

x

x

And Shall It Be

x

Amazing love

And

Can it be

Sing so

For it is true

Take comfort when

We’re certain

There’s no comfort

Accept pardon

When we’re

Certainly

Condemned

Because we’re done

Unless we wish

It so

Hubris

Material ambition

Only

A choice for evil

And the revenant

x

For the rest

How many

We can’t count

There is the chance

For faith

And for eternity

x

Well,

We don’t talk about this

At home

x

Well,

Maybe you should

While you are here

Before you’re

There

‘Cause there is coming

Which should

Be wondrous

Faith

For grace

And peace

And joy

x

The world seems to strong

Against

And it is armed

With sticks and stones

And missiles

Sent by will

x

Or drama

About other things

Comedy

Or tragedy

Too often tragedy

With violence

x

Or the fog

We settle into

With excuses

x

We’re not stupid

Everyone can know

x

To turn

Gospel-surprised

By story

Grace

And faith

x

And don’t worry if

My faith sounds differently

For different

Words

Or looks odd in concerning ways

For habit

x

Is there belief

And is there love?

Then all of us

So-set

Never perfectly

Are nonetheless

On the way

That matters

x

Believe

If you want

Not like choosing paint

But choosing

Life

This life without

The hard parts

The ignorant

The terrible

The peace-less

Parts

x

Subsumed as if forgotten

Like the pardon

For our sins

Some of this is easy

Like a promised burden

That is true

x

All can believe

Test the waters

Test the

Spirit

Go with what

Seems to you

In prayer

Is true

And don’t worry about

Eloquence

Or righteousness

In prayer

x

Believe

And live

Today

And when tomorrow fades

Into today

Forever today

Forever

x

C L Couch

x

x

“And Can It Be that I Should Gain” by Charles Wesley (1738)

x

Photo by Ismael Paramo on Unsplash

x

0

Sing Earth and Celebrate

(x = space)

x

x

Sing Earth and Celebrate

x

Shall we celebrate

Shall

We dance

Or tap affirmative

While sipping

To the side?

x

It is an open day

Sky for a ceiling

Though we can make canopies

And later

Light candles

For the bugs

(I mean citronella

or the like

safely

not to kill them

but keep them away

where they might dance

in dark

safe places)

x

Unsure about the music

We could argue

For

A bit of everything

And as for food

Can start with stones

Then

Enter friendly rivalry

For dishes from

Here

Or there

x

There should be

Volume

For talking

And volume as enough

For everyone

And let the children sleep

Near

Or under

Tables

To which

And for whom we brought

Sleeping rolls and mattresses

x

And

Yes

There might be plots

In the dark

Remembering

Our traitors were invited

Too

But

Try to be friendly

People

We will have had

This one chance

For Earth

On Earth

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Louis Reed on Unsplash

x

0

amen, amen, amen, amen, amen

(x = space)

x

x

amen, amen, amen, amen, amen

(you can sing it)

x

there were good hymns

in church

and a couple that were sleepy

the sermon was terrific

for being true and in style easy

as if we could believe

afterward

and live it through the new week that

all this was meant to serve

amen

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by channel 82 on unsplash

x

0

Panic of 1819

(x = space)

x

x

Panic of 1819

(and probably in ancient Rome and every Friday since)

x

I don’t have it yet

It’s Friday

I don’t have it

x

In a suburban way,

I want

To have earned the weekend

x

Bad night last night

Today’s not much better

Except I’m awake

If duly

And can

More practically

Resort

To caffeine, should I wish

x

But there is

Something better

I am sure

Something to find my spirit

In the rut

If not a hole

And pull me through

x

It’s feelings

It’s truncated thoughts

And more

A weight of sin

Perhaps

Though don’t we bear that

Every day?

x

Well,

Design

And draft away

And with a shape

Construct

A frame

Add more materials

For texture

And color as that matters much

On Earth

x

And get it done

For presentation

Monday

By five

Or six

Or seven

Then find our friends

Beside what we call

Colloquially

The watering hole

That other creatures need

The literal

More direly

x

But let’s go in

And break

Exhale

Find solace

Even in this world

In trust

x

Or

You know

We could go home

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Daniel Gregoire on Unsplash

x

curated in “Friday clouds”; looking like mountains—Friday mountains?—with the moon an evening invitation

x

0

A Jazz Mass

(x = space)

x

x

A Jazz Mass

(recovering lost verse)

x

Jazz mass

A mass of jazz

Inside the church

That might

Be

Preservation Hall

x

Or come with me

To Cleveland

Or

New Liberty

Or a flat place in a field

With divots

Happening to happen

Just right for

Our instruments

To rest

While we musicians

Get to listen,

While exhaling,

Too

x

Inside the halls

Of the Lord

Which might have heaven

For a ceiling

With hell beneath the basement

So let’s stay here

On Earth

To worship

In good syncopation

(planned,

unplanned)

With an aim

Sometimes

To raise that roof

More heaven-toward

x

Loud

Or soft,

Sharing the stories

Of both places

And our prophets

And

Our prospects

x

Don’t charge for tickets

Maybe leave

A jar

Inside the door

More visible

When leaving

Should

We leave

Because there might be food

(after spiritual food)

And then another

Set-to

All of us

Jazzy playing

Jazzy-praying

To the Lord

x

C L Couch

x

x

A Jazz Mass is a worship service with service music and hymns played in a Jazz genre.

Jazz Mass | Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church

x

Photo by Mary Hammel on Unsplash

x

1

Shut the Door

(x = space)

x

x

Shut the Door

x

My neighbors slam their doors

Almost as matters

Of style

x

I don’t know why these

Concussions

x

Are the people frustrated?

x

(¿)They want to send a message

To me

Or to each other

Or the world

That won’t hear or be

Impressed and

Certainly

Won’t

Change?

x

This is why

I slam the door

(one of these)

Though it’s not my style when

I’m better

Or when maybe

The world hasn’t hit me first

x

I don’t know

x

People are weird

x

I am weird

x

We so easily turn people in

Our heads into

Things

As if we could transmogrify

In the academy

For turning people into things

x

And even objects might

Deserve

Some consideration:

Not be burned

For instance

When there’s value

In the form

Or the condition

x

Or liking

Or an interest in preserving;

x

But objects by and large

No longer matter

When they used to be

People

And now that we’ve changed them

x

And now we’ve changed them

We might

And honestly,

Sadly

Certainly will

Use them disposably

x

Surrender life to

Look the other way

And only

See a thing

Only fit for burning,

Burning

A heat

To match our own

x

And I have made

So much

From a door slam

(all right,

many slams),

x

Though I think you know—peer

Person and

Ersatz (peer) magician—what

I mean

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Oumaima Ben Chebtit on Unsplash

x

1

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑