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Impoverished

(x = space)

x

x

Impoverished

x

I am a Christian

(and you’ll pardon me

if I don’t mind

that you are not)

And so I believe

That Jesus saves

And the Holy Spirit indwells

x

As God creates

And so we have

The three in one

And one always in three

x

And should I be offended

Or should you

And I think neither

x

God is

And if you don’t think so

Then

You don’t think so

Though statistically

Most on Earth

Believe

In something

Someone

Greater than oneself

Who is at work

In the world

Or for some

Is standing by

x

Jesus is offensive

He excoriates

Both Jew and Gentile

He also is all love

And empties himself of godhood

On a cross

To die

The first

Last

Great sacrifice

For sin

x

And that offended evil

I am sure

And the devil wailed

While certainty in hell

Was harrowed

By the Lord

And Lord

Who came alive again

And lives for us

Offended

Or easier about

Salvation

x

So we’ve time and chance

To care about

Our part in things

I’m thinking

Keeping promises

To families

To Earth

To what is true

What is giving

What is loving

x

Some find love offensive

In the cost

Of nothing worldly to have

Or to keep

Or it isn’t love

That like grace

There are no dispensers

With requirements

Except the Lord

Who says

Love God

And each other

Do both

x

And if that’s a requirement

Well

Take it up

With the one who made you

x

There

I have offended

But I empty myself to say

I love you

And when I do so

I have done it

And maybe say it

Well

x

Love God

And believe

Believe in Earth

Not quite so solid

Through truly

Given

Believe in us

That we have a chance

That we have a choice

That might please hell

Or make a heaven

In the middle

x

Believe well

And do better

Keep nothing that relinquishing

Would make love

Wholly stronger

And viable

In an occupied world

x

Until revelation

Make it real

And in the meantime

Learning

Living

What shadows

(taught by Plato

and what others more respectable)

Reveal

x

C L Couch

x

x

Speaking finally of Narnia and Earth, the professor said, It’s all in Plato.

Except it isn’t.

x

good thoughts courtesy of the ALC at Covenant Evangelical Presbyterian Church of West Lafayette, Indiana—anything that offends, maybe insults, is from me

x

Photo by Callum Hill on Unsplash

x

0

Gilead

(x = space)

x

x

Gilead

x

There is a balm

In Gilead

I don’t know where that is

I don’t know if

It’s on a map

The Gilead

That heals

The sin-sick soul

x

And I don’t know

What it is

The balm of Gilead

An ointment

A colony of physicians

Waiting

A miracle in local water

Or the air

x

And is it

Sick with sin

Or sick of sin

As in

I’m tired

I want something better

I want to strain

Fewer people for it

No one hurt

Really

Because I think

I want something

I no longer want

x

And did I ask for it

Before

Maybe

Probably

But there’s also something about

Whiter than snow

Impossible

Except to take the texture out

Though it’s the texture

Of the sin

That needs removing

Money

Lines on the face

The heart

Whatever

Wherever

x

Heal me

Leave the scars

I ask with sighs

Certain things are inexorable

Like evidence

Though cleanliness

Time

Humor

Smiles for friends

And even for the world

Have wrought

A great deal

By repentance

x

C L Couch

x

x

Jeremiah 8:22

x

Photo by Christina Deravedisian on Unsplash

x

1

“the devil,” “elements” (2 poems)

(x = space)

x

x

the devil

(you say)

x

the tempter

the corrupter

the ruiner of things

resist

no thanks

go away

we’ll bring in professionals

xxxxxif we have to

diaspora

we’re spread apart

you like us this way

we don’t believe in

xxxxxtogether

should we understand

that we are three in one

because God is

(that is the pattern)

we can stand alone

xxxxxJesus

xxxxxJohn

xxxxxElijah

xxxxxMoses

xxxxxeach and all did that

goodness, we know that well

but to be together

find gentle,

overwhelming power in that

we don’t know that

not anymore

not since the last time

and the time to come

and meantime?

we are together all the time

we only need to turn

to find each other

share the tiny glory

in that

the tiny victories

that add up

or they don’t

breathe in

breathe out

let life happen

as it’s supposed to happen

our alone times

our together state

the glory of the Lord

shine through

all shapes and sizes

everything and everyone

inside creation

not the devil

that gave up all right

to enter realms instead

of nothingness

x

x

elements

x

matter merges

xxxxxspiritual and fleshly

xxxxxmaterial

xxxxxgrain and grapes

xxxxxtogether

xxxxxeach part

xxxxxand together

xxxxxchanged

xxxxxinto finer things

xxxxxcloser to purpose

xxxxxcloser to creation

xxxxxand creation

xxxxxand what is finer than

xxxxxa smidgeon more intentional?

xxxxxall the wonder

xxxxxsimple and refined

xxxxxis here

xxxxxmade from the start

xxxxxmade full

xxxxxby God

xxxxxJesus

xxxxxand the Spirit

xxxxxwho are here

xxxxxwhose substance

xxxxxwhose presence

xxxxxis in here

xxxxxand is in you

x

x

notes

x

I’m sorry, while drafting I couldn’t think of women in the Bible who stood or prayed or fled to be alone; now I think that Mary could have been by herself when encountered by the angel and in her response to the announcement and the will of God; Judith might have prayed on her own, away, as well; and Esther might have planned the salvation of Israel in the same way

x

Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash

x

0

Gestation

(x = space)

x

x

Gestation

x

I don’t know

It’s Friday

It’s raining

We need the rain

The clouds have little texture

At least from here

x

Nothing much to look at

A wet street

Spatter on the windows

We need the rain

x

There is war

In Ukraine

More death today

More wounded

And in Sudan

We’re drawing up our diplomats

Telling tourists

To go home

Choose another

(for now)

x

We know there’s trafficking

Where

Here

Of drugs

Of people

Contraband things that

Otherwise

Could be all right

x

But you know

People

Never people

Sold

Which means someone is

Buying

Where

Here

x

Struggles for freedom’s

Hard enough

On good days in

(relative)

Safe places

x

And they

The captured

Kidnapped

Bought and sold

Are not all

But tend to be

Children

Women

Who

We know

Struggle for freedom

Already

Hard enough

More than should be

Enough

x

On Friday I could cry

But the sky

Provides

As if behooving

I could say

Nature weeps for me

As in

Instead of me

And that

Nature weeps for all of us

In distress

But it is nature’s

Well

Nature

x

That’s all

And that’s enough

The rain

Provides

Other good things

x

But I’m thinking now

There should be

Laws

For freedom

To work within one’s

Bearing

Bearing

Who we are

What can we do

x

And freedom of our bodes

Politic

Personal

That many of us

Think we have

x

Let’s check the laws of nature

And our charters

I think it’s there

Many

Freedoms

Already

There

Officially

And by

Who made rain

x

We may read wet leaves

Or our own pages

Fearfully

Consider

Wonderfully made

And what

To do

With what and whom

When made

When with accountability

Co-making

x

Rain

Tears

Freedoms

Fridays

Notions

Not like the old

Department-store

Departments

(but) Full-blown

Like glass

Full-grown

Into ideas

x

We do

Need these

A good weekend

Please

For you

You deserve it

It’s deserved

x

Does rain mean freedom

I don’t think so

Sometimes

It’s relaxing to watch

To hear

Sometimes

It’s fearful

The median response

Might have something to do

With inconvenience

Maybe this is part

Part Friday

Too

Of freedom

x

C L Couch

x

x

Psalm 139:14

x

Photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash

x

1

Imaginaria

Imaginaria

(insight, sci-fi, speculation)

x

x

Machine Life

x

Ain’t devices grand

Until they’re not

And how long is

A generation, anyway

Things work

They slow down

There is no message

Though the problems could be

Indications as they are

In old age

The old age of us,

That is

x

Machine life

Oxymoron

Maybe

Maybe with A-I for real

The opposite are nearer

To the same thing

In us all

Man and machine

They (ubiquitous) used to say

But let the women try

All shall be well

As a woman said

x

x

note

x

Saint Julian of Norwich

(we ubiquitous do not know her name—maybe her cat sussed it through any sublimation)

x

x

Visitors

x

They landed

And found a plethora

Of DNA

On our machines

On the insides

Even blood

Inside

Who were these people, then,

Was soon discovered

Helixes reconstructed

And their features

And their colors

And the shapes of

So many of them

x

The machines they talk to

And brought them here

In fact

Shall interpret

And reconstitute

Everything

Planetside

As well as

From the things in orbit

That have been falling

While a few remain

For boarding

Or retrieval

x

This was a race

Or races

Many kinds of one race

They covered themselves

For the atmospheres

And seasons

Up to four of these

It seems

They were preventive

Though mostly reactive,

Waiting for a crisis

Then responding

x

There might have been those

(translating documents

reshaping the shaping

of their flesh

and all the things they made

for prosperity

or expression)

Who tried in sciences

And arts

To say something

Warn them about

How to live

And what might be coming

x

Well,

Library these

Revive some as we can

Or may

They had the rudiments

A-I and androids

We can work off of these

As templates

The name

Many references to ground

And we have encountered

Worlds named water,

Fire, and air

Smoke and fog

Pollution

And clarity

x

x

Prophecy

x

Three kinds

I was taught this

I’ve thought about it

(these)

Maybe I’ve done some

Merging

On the inside

All about it, too

x

There is the kind

That foretells the future,

Which is the kind

We think about

The most

It seems

x

There is the kind

That foretells the present

That tells the monarchs

There is invasion

Here

Or a great fire there

x

Then there is the kind

That interprets

The present

With insight

And a voice

That can serve the queen

And should they arrange it

Assist today’s administration

Well

And overall

Overall

And well

x

But then prophets

Often get into trouble

Even in democracies

Who are they

Why should we listen

Are they saying

What we want

To hear

Is prosperity promised

And God’s approval

Because God is in our side

Because

We say so

x

Go to the launchpads

Go to the modern museums

Enjoy

Be warned

Grow

Live better

x

As for disagreements

Or outraged

If not ignorant

(usually ignorant)

Confusion

Well,

Weather that

And try not to burn

The saints

x

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Nathan Duck on Unsplash

x

0

“The Smallest Things,” “Peace Relative”

(x = space)

x

x

The Smallest Things

x

It’s cold

There is a blanket

There are enough things

For morning coffee

And toast

For breakfast later on

There is sunlight

So our whole planet

Has another

Day

There is water

I can drink

x

I can wash things

I can

Wash me

x

I have trash

Lined up in bags

Somewhere to take it

I have other piles

(boxes)

By the door

That should I have the

Help

Can go away

Be useful for others who

Might need some things

I had

x

My

Neighbors

Beat the ceiling

But there are no literal explosions

We are lucky

We have things

We can share

When

We want to

We can live in peace relative

To what’s inside

But peace for war

All

The same

x

C L Couch

x

x

Peace Relative

x

Relative to war

And to shutting doors

To keep things out

As if

We hadn’t seen or heard them

Once before

Or every day

x

Relative to shining in

With sunlight

Rather than

Explosives

Something negligent

Or something planned

x

Maybe not peace everywhere

Not yet

And peace organic

Certainly not remaining

Only

Peace from graves

x

Gravesides are pretty

And they’re quiet,

Mostly

We can do so much better

We should

We must

x

We want

To be there

At the end

And how about

A single turning page

Into the story of

Today?

x

Be there for that

Lift each other

The greater adventure

Is not war

Or even matter turned to energy

(it should go

the other way around)

But matters

Of the story

Withheld until we know

We have

Today

x

Next chapter

Please God

Please

Each other

Please

Let’s have the next

Have the next

Now

x

Now

Now

And now

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Nowshad Arefin on Unsplash

x

0

Prayer Practicing

(x = space)

x

x

Prayer Practicing

x

The best place to pray

Is at church

Or at home

Or in the car

Or on the sidewalk

(watch your

step)

Or beneath a tree

Or inside a tree,

Having climbed

Up

x

With others

Or all alone

Or with numbers

In between

One and many

x

On a farm

Or in a skyscraper

On the water

On a hillside

Atop a mountain

In the valley

At the entrance to a desert

Far within

x

While walking

While

Sitting still

x

So anywhere

And when you’re feeling

Where is

Nowhere

x

Amen

x

C L Couch

x

x

View of Mount Cook, circa 1930, New Zealand, by Margaret Stoddart.

Photo by Museum of New Zealand – Te Papa Tongarewa on Unsplash

x

0

While Rhapsodizing Feeling Sick Today

(x = space)

x

x

While Rhapsodizing Feeling Sick Today

x

I woke up sick

The kind of sick

That barely functions

For the rest

I got up

Moved around

Which made me feel

How sick I am

Sinuses rebelling

They really want to be

Somewhere else

Elysia

Or another

Warmer, health-filled

Paradise

Knots at the base of my neck

I can feel them

Protesting

On both sides

x

I was feeling better

Going in

All right, it was too late

But thanks to stress and pain

I do not sleep well

Until I do

Hours into night

x

Poor me

It is not war

There are no explosions

Nearby

Well, except the cosmic kind

Neighborly

Like protesting planets

Yearning to be heard

Across space

And time

x

So visual

Aural

Also abstract

Where is the peace

The pastor observed

There is no peace on Earth

But then were heard

The bells

Calling, winter bells

Across amazing stillness

Unanticipating

x

Surprising health

Surprising

On the Earth

Healing

Miracle

And grace

x

It’s doesn’t matter

Call it magic

Call it autonomic

Say that tokens

And mixtures

Brought it on

x

What’s in a name

Or sometimes an object

x

then

x

Mass shooting at a birthday party

Who needs to feel sick

Who needs a war across the world

This is the news

After the commercial

They’ll say something

While I’m drafting

When I’m feeling miserable already

Though this really

Is misery

And is there so much cheating

So much money

To say these losses

By unploughshared arms

Are worth it

Is one worth it

x

They smile because

It’s the bottom of the hour

And ratings needs

Need

To drag us along

Here is the weather

x

But what about the war

The war there

The war at home

More than drives for

Domestic supplies

x

Back to the hunt

It’s in our networks

Sweet sixteen

Down South

It could happen anywhere

It’s happening anywhere

Shall we outlaw crowds

All assemblies

x

Welcome the dead home

Heal the living

Maybe I’ve had enough

For a while

We’ve had enough

x

Beck and call

Wanting to run away

Forgetting to think about

Where we’d go

Look at the maps

They should down here

Up there

Like those who school

For home

And back because

They can’t stand one place

Or the other

(ask the poets)

x

There is no final

Summation

No lesson from

A kind man in a chair

We can look instead

At the booked as in books

Set

To leave it empty

The upholstered chairs

While we’re open

To ideas

x

Let’s be open

Maybe it’s time

For something old

Like virtue

Or something new

Like voyages

To Mars

x

I’m done now

Suffering succotash

For sinuses

Your turn

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Evie S. on Unsplash

x

1

2 disclosing pieces

(x = space)

x

x

2 disclosing pieces

x

x

In the Mood

x

I am not sure what

To say

I never am

There is an empty page

(there you are)

I look away sometimes

Then start to write

I say

What there is to say

My mind is on God

And hoping

Frankly

For a good day

In all persons

I and you and we

And shall God give us (all)

A good day

Or something like

Often the wish is

To have the means

To get through

The bad

The means material

And abstract

Miracles

Would be gladly received

Material and abstract

Material would mean

What

Money

Treasure in the cave

Or sometimes simply

(miraculously)

A way out

While abstract is a good thought

A steady faith the medium

For good thoughts

Hope

How about

Dealing here not there

Founding philosophies

Of virtue

Values

(life has value)

Everything based on a directive

To

Love and be loved

Meaning

And gratitude

And when everything is wrecked

What seems what must be

The chance for living well

Living at all

Around us

Or inside us

Due to wrecks

Outside inside

Inside outside

War and the fear of war

Fire

Ruined ground

Where there was verdure

Even where we used to live

Our habitats

Are gone

With how we thought

To be social

To be at all well-knit inside

There are wounds

With the pain and stress

In healing, too

The burdens and ennui

Of getting by

At best

When we need something better

In both places

External

And internal

Grant us peace

Grant us hope

Grant us enough satiation

We could day

This day was gratefully asked for

And received

Thank you

Divinity

Each other

And ourselves

x

x

x

A String of Pearls

x

For me when I was young

A horn was

Chosen

For me by someone

Who

Merely looked

At my lips

x

Whose sound

(the horn)

I liked

But did not to play

Success was only in first chair (first)

Driven to drive

And park there,

Which I did

I could have been

First second

Or given up

Not bothered in the first place

Maybe piano

Sung instead

Once I discovered these

And then for me

The joy in conducting

x

I could have compromised

With the world

Stayed quiet

When

Go noisy

When not

Stopped being told to settle down

As if Greeley were talking to

A young man in the east

Contemplating west

x

I could have had

A few things that I liked

Not so many things

That broke too easily

Things

Of all kinds

Or I could have learned more

Experimented

With taking parts of things I had

To meld

Them into the new and odd

Setting an eccentric path

On which I find

Or receive

Pieces on the way

Look, feel

For beauty in what’s there

What might be the possibilities

In new combinations

New whole things

x

Had I adolesced this way

I’d be on a weird way,

I suppose

Accepted enough by the world

With all my second places

On a creative way

Releasing rock

You know

From the unformed statue

Or other work

For senses

And appreciation

x

Thanks

How about

Safe drinks all around

x

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Marin Tulard on Unsplash

x

titles of Big Band songs made popular by Glenn Miller (Glenn Miller and His Orchestra)

x

2

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