(x = space)
x
x
Mille Grazie per Preghiera
x
I feel as if
I should offer
A prayer
To God
For something
x
Gratitude
Confession
Promise or
At least desire
To do better
x
Petition,
Intercession
Plus my own things
x
I’m not sure
How that’s the praise
That’s called for
While it seems
Mostly like complaining
x
Except to say thank you;
Maybe there’s praise
In that
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash
x
sorry for any Italian language that I broke
x
thank you
x
(x = space)
x
x
Difficult Sky
(hard to read, to navigate)
x
Today is
Strange
In our little corner
Within corners
x
Particles are falling through
The sky
x
They could be sleet
They could be hail
x
Either way,
Like a warning
Not that we feel apocalypse
We mainly feel the strangeness
x
And that might be the warning:
Today is strange
Be ready
By not being ready
x
And it’s Ash Wednesday
So try to make
A Christian meaning
Out of that
x
Well,
Christ came to save the world
And this day needs
Saving
x
But simply go inside,
Which might be enough of
A measure
With no need to go all
Soteriological
x
Wear the ashes:
Outside, they might run
x
Inside, they might
Instruct
In safety
And in contemplation
x
Or leave your foreheads clean
And think about the ashes
On the inside
(of the inside),
The way thinking might be
Sectarian
Or universalist
x
Either way
If you permit,
Have a good, ashy
Gray day
x
Sunny where you are
Perhaps
Or raining
Or another kind of storm
Still for liturgy
Or hearts or minds
Gray day
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
Segregation Wrecking Ball
x
Separate but equal?
I think I am quoting
Equality
Some more equal than others
I have heard this
The bigot says
I want a line between us
A barrier
Easily, I want to separate
Every part of my life
Into what I want
Whatever
Due to my boxed sense of things
Some kind of superiority
Tragically
Closeted inside
Maybe waiting for a
Monolithic
Rally
x
Sigh
(or moan or growl)
Those of us who never understood
The world from above
Is yes
Without borders
How
We are one blue-green marble
Rolling in relation
To the rest
x
Segregation
Takes strange energy
Nothing at all
Like strange and wonderful
But an investment
In dreadful
In the ersatz and the eldritch
A devilish combining
To elevate
The worst of us
x
We can do so much better
And it’s easier
It’s breathing air
It’s waking up
Having meals
Walking through our days
To give each other
Without baleful thought
The time of day
The normal investment
Of our lives
In greetings
And strategies
Together
x
The normalcy
The unsung justice
Of equality
Without the need to say it
From having it
So long
x
Hope for today
And in the generations
No separation
Normal restraint
For being human
Normal modesty
x
A delight in who we are
Without thinking
Who we are
x
Not colorblind
But colorful
Tropical and polar worlds
Temperate zones
Everywhere we are
The normal grace
Through which
We live and love and
Have our being
A liturgy of ages
Let the ages fit with such
Actions and such virtues
Start now
x
We have to learn
What the future
Will not have to
x
Except in learning about us
And what happened next
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Resource Database on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
We Need You and Sometimes We Can’t
x
Help us to love you,
O Lord,
Though
You may live without us
x
Still, we can exist
Together
In a bond that is
Extraordinary:
Of energy, of will,
Of love without agenda,
All around
x
It’s hard to love invisibly
With thoughts and feelings
We can’t see
And then
Your presence, Lord
x
With things unseen
And unevidenced
In other ways,
Our senses confounded
For lack of usefulness
The kind employed in what we do
In anything—and
How may we
Sense you?
x
There is stigmata for a few
And apparitions;
There are those
Who hear your words
In air
Or those emblazoned
Understood
Upon the heart
x
We want to know;
We get frustrated
Then we worry
For offense
(offending God does not seem smart)
Or we give up
Ignore
And in internal ways
We walk away
x
But you are there
We should believe
And within parameters
Of material and abstract
Hope for more
x
That on this side
We may have in measures
That will have to do
For life
And faith
And all the things we have to do
To make things better
One by one
And altogether
x
Tolerance
And patience
Peace
And feeding
Giving water
Giving hope for more
In all the needs of life
(material and abstract)
x
Help us, Lord,
Or let us help ourselves
And the others;
Be with us
And invisibly
Leave us to choose
In respect
Of how we’re made
And otherwise arranged
Our will
That we often apply well
Even without
Preternatural accoutrements
Composing a few rituals
For service
Pledging how to live
On our own
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
A Word, Please
x
Dance
A word I hear
Inside the air
Of movement
And of possibilities
x
Let’s try to move together
Earth and sky
And us between
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi on Unsplash
. . . five pairs were dancing tango . . . sensual, savoring with every movement. . . . ordinary people . . .
x
So over three days there have been three poems for Valentine’s. A study of love, a tribute to my mother, and thoughts about how a couple might move together.
x
(x = space)
x
x
Facets
x
1
x
What is love
But ether
And it’s action
We feel what we feel
We want to feel good
We have
Responsibilities
Sometimes some stoicism’s
Called for
Pink and red
Silliness, devotion
Both are good
And necessary
x
Love means doing things
Everyday things
And then there’s
Exigency
Something urgent happens
We respond
x
We argue
And we’re sorry
We’re afraid
There is a challenge
To have others
Believe in themselves
x
If there’s only selfishness
In you
Change you
x
And if you want all this
Have love
It is lasting
And delightful
It is solid
And it’s fluid
It changes us
Love changes
It’s supposed to
We have fun with it
We grow
And if it’s good love
It should last
Grow up with it
Grow old
x
2
x
Remember also
Let the circle widen
There are good people
Standing by
It is a lattice
A shiny, moving web
A honeycomb
The marble of the Earth
That turns
That displays wonder
With the movement
Of the atmosphere
x
Keep breathing
It is wonderful
Let love be oxygen
For muscles
That do work
That offer passion
That do play
That understand devotion
Pledge-keeping
Even without a pledge
In mind
x
Love is fair
There should be justice
In the house
In the yard
In the office
On the playground
With our friends
With strangers
Yes, be careful
Love needs time
And air
And food
Real food
And of the gods
And God
x
Devotion’s play
Love’s work
So many parts
Live them through
Live through them
Delight
Evolve
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Honestly
x
O God
You are so good
I say this when the sun is out
Will I say it
In the storm
When I am losing everything I’ve had
Maybe a person
x
While my people are shattered
Or even when the sun
Comes out
After
x
I won’t believe the sun
May I believe you
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
A Kindness
(Rosa Parks)
x
Because she was tired
And had enough
Of being tired
And the bus was not a charter
It was public transportation
She paid her money
Not a special fee
There was a seat
And she was tired
And had had enough
Of being tired
x
The kind of pain
Inside and out
And all she wants to do
It have it
Live it
Normally
The way
Anyone might bear
The pain
Of living
x
Though especially
The colored people
Colored brown
And paying for it
Without payment
In a place they did not sail to
Like Europeans
Who told the stories
Of their difficulties
Forgetting
(looking away)
About the holds beneath
In which the colored people
Had been pushed
And chained
And many of them
Died
On a journey of abduction
x
Can you imagine
Starting out this way?
This is their legacy
So let her have the vinyl seat
That she had rented
For a while
x
Let her have the whole bus
A fleet of buses
Let the people ride for free
And charge admission
For the lighter folk,
Which might began
To pay her back
And all her people
Who had the worse luck
Like the Indians
Already living here
x
Everyone with un-pale skin
Who met the Europeans
x
Not me
I wasn’t there
The rejoinder
Fair enough
But you’re here now
We’re here
We’re all here
Now
With small choices
And enormous ones
For how to live a country
Filled with all the colors
Hearts
And minds
And souls
x
You know,
Sometimes we stand
To let the lady sit
Or someone older
Someone bearing burdens
Or simply to be kind
Call it
Chivalry aside,
We can live this way
Kindly and civilly
Again
And for the first time
x
Might bring peace
(yes, there will be disgruntled)
On the bus
At the doorways
Going in
And going out
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Peter Orsel on Unsplash
Intersection in the Middle of the Desert
x
(x = space)
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
Pointers
x
What shall we say
That life goes on?
It does
Life goes on
As we say a lot
Without the import
x
Better over there
That is the promise
There are hints over here
Should we see them
Should we not
Or choose not
They are there, anyway
x
Funny thing
About the faith
Almost in anything—
Nothing is presumed
By our believing
If it’s big
And good
If it’s small
And good
It is there, anyway
x
Our choice does not affect
Its existence
Or its offering
Nature still spirals everywhere
And persists
In mysteries of hexagons
x
Nature does not predicate
Or faith in that
From that
Or anything
Or ask for
Our predication,
Either
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Kevin Bergen on Unsplash
x
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