(x = space)
x
x
Provision
(from Psalm 23)
x
Still waters
But not stagnant
There is movement
Of the Earth
And provision by
Earth’s Spirit
x
The saints
And other essences
Provide gentle
And fulfilling currents
And sponsor peace
Beneath, above
Where water moves
And air
And all good things
For that we might rest
Beside the water
And sometimes go in
For cleanliness
Or fun
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Mathias P.R. Reding on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
If All Were a Leg
x
The pain is rising from
My foot and
Shooting through my leg,
Because my leg is trying
To replace my ankle
While
Doing its own job
x
Not working out so well
I think my ankle’s
Bored, and my leg doesn’t
Need a second job
So
Here’s hoping everything
Will have its own back
Soon,
Because healing has the overarching
Task of taking chaos due to injury:
x
To signal a
Rearranging necessary
For the moment, which is
Fragile,
Toward a time when the body will be
Less
Sore and
More sensible for managing
x
C L Couch
x
x
17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? . . . 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21 The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
1 Corinthians 12:17, 20-21
New Living Translation
x
Photo by Guilherme Stecanella on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
3 poems about room
x
x
Waiting Room
x
Lately, I’ve been angry in my dreams
I’m not sure what that means
I’ve argued with my mother
I’ve argued with former coworkers
Then I’ve left each encounter
To find a peaceful place, all my own
x
x
Wanting Room
x
I’ve not argued with God
In my dreams
I’ve not argued with God
When awake
I don’t argue with God
x
Though I imagine
There was a time
When I must have argued,
When
Hurts were all
Too awful in the bearing
Of them,
And I didn’t want
To bear them
x
Wanting relief, instead
Or at least a reason—
No, a reason
Wouldn’t be enough
x
I wanted relief
From God
x
x
Room
x
I want room from the landlord*
Who makes me live
With paper-peeling walls
And ceiling and says he can do
Nothing
x
I want room from doctors who
Don’t respond
To their own tests,
To tell me how to deal with
Possibly a broken bone
And certainly with broken flesh
x
I want room
From people who don’t recognize
Me anyway
Because they don’t recognize
Anyone, anyway
x
Each is in a world of one
While the rest of us are landscape
Statues in performance,
Performing when invoked
With snapping fingers or something
x
I’ll take room
From that
From those,
Thank you
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Holy Maria Lala on Unsplash
x
*(room, landlord = pun, sorry)
x
(x = space)
x
x
Prognostic Thursday
x
Sprained or splintered,
I wait to hear
What the x-rays tell
Some kind of brace
To wear for a while
Nothing stronger
Than Tylenol
For the pain (sigh)
It’s not the worst pain
Bearable except for walking
Of standing
Or sitting down
All right, well,
It’s frustrating
There’s not much else
To do for a while
But to stay still
Very contemplative, I’m sure
Except for finding
The quiet, ecstatic joy
The mystics found
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Vismay Krishna on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Wednesday Diagnosis
x
I’ll see the doctor today
At 2:20
A friend will drive me there
The pain is sharp
And then it’s dull
The dull kind, naturally enough,
Harder for persistence
Making
Night
Difficult and ongoing,
Rest made into
Dreamless chore
x
But one thing I have forgotten
In sharing what is going
On with me,
And that is to ask of you
How are you?
What’s happening with you?
I hope that you are well
And having a fine day
x
I had a student
Who entered buoyantly
Each Wednesday day,
It’s hump day! she would cry
Each time
And now I think of her
Each time
x
C L Couch
x
x
A ball of energy with electricity beaming all over the place.
Photo by HalGatewood.com on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Unelegant Petition
x
God,
Will you give me a good day
This day?
x
This is whining,
And it isn’t:
There’s real pain, confusion,
And frustration
x
And I’m not certain
Of my way
x
Maybe bad days can show
The way as well;
But I’m asking for a
Good day simply,
Well,
Because it hurts
x
But if a prophet’s
Tortured way
Is necessary,
Then so be it
(amen)
Though I’d like the way
To be smoothed soon
x
And so you know,
I’m glad to work
In the be-thankful-for-small-
Favors
Department
Anytime
x
C L Couch
x
x
Old Train Tracks
Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
toward summer sun gods
x
early morning, and
I think
the sun and I
shall track each
other through
the day
x
I slept in fits
and starts but
have blood tests
this morning
(ongoing diagnosis)
and should not
miss them
simply because
I’m tired
x
I’m sure you understand
x
hello, day,
let’s give it a go: a
fourteen-hour
treasure hunt
calling us
toward riding,
running, or pedestrian
pursuits
for pleasure and
for profit
x
then we shall
set
together into night
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by Olya /Voloshka on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Favor Hesiod
(writer of Theogony)
x
Remember
Myths aren’t lies
That’s for conversation
x
Fables are
For teaching, which means
They are
For learning
x
The more fantastic
Stretches
With gods and
Agencies for gods
And such
Are a try
At understanding
Truth to questions
Without
Conversation’s answers
x
What is time?
Why are their seasons?
Why is this
A good year?
What about
The next one?
What happens after
Death? What is our
Purpose while we’re here?
How might we live
With passion?
Why do we have it
In the first place?
x
Not lies
But tries at truth
Without the words
Or understanding
Motivations of
Forces outside
Ourselves and
Ourselves
x
What happens when
Someone climbs
Parnassus or Olympus
Has a reason, too,
And a story
x
For all we’re told
And tell ourselves
Old stories are foolish
If not stupid,
We still ask questions,
Same questions
x
Some answers
Will be chemical
Now,
But elements
Persist above
The table in a
Ring of sky
(or under
Earth)
That we cannot find
For all our wishing
All our striving
All our talking
For a purpose
x
So we return to stories
And make new ones
x
C L Couch
x
x
Theogony, myths about gods, creation, and more
x
A Rendition of Life on Planet Earth
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6638499
x
(x = space)
x
x
Extraordinary Contract
x
And should there be
Devotion
Not for a deal
Though “if my people”
Sounds that way
x
But simply for love
There shall be healing
In the land
In the hearts of waves
And inside trees
And inside us
x
It sounds as if there’s
A contract
I suppose our avatars
Could act as agents
Though what creators
Might be needing
I can’t say,
Though gods have died,
We tell each other
For the lack
Of followers
x
Thus happened to Apollo,
Artemis,
Hephaestus
x
Creators need creations
Is that it?
Is that what’s to be believed?
If so, we bring material
To the table
In ourselves
For negotiation
x
A mingling of mortality
With divinity,
Flesh with spirit
Not Nephilim
But honestly
Our callings come together
So that there is today
And a promise of
The next day and the next
x
Flesh and spirit
Bargain of the ages
x
C L Couch
x
x
After German reunification, the Neue Wache was rededicated as the “Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Dictatorship.” The sculpture (by Käthe Kollwitz) shows a Mother with her Dead Son. The pietà-style sculpture is directly placed under the oculus, and so is exposed to the rain, snow and cold of the Berlin climate, symbolizing the suffering of civilians during World War II.
Photo by Marie Bellando-Mitjans on Unsplash
x
clcouch123 
Recent Comments