(x = space)
x
x
A Day with Rings
x
How is your day today
I want to know
Did you clean something
Or negotiate
With dust bunnies to
Back away with company
x
It’s the weekend
You might not have the weekend
Expectations change
Deadlines
And work quantities
This could be a day of play
The virtue of busyness
Our construct for a while
Notwithstanding
x
Whatever is involved
Have a good
Deserved day
Please
And thank you
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Giorgi Iremadze on Unsplash
x
(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
(x = space)
x
x
Jesus at Westminster
x
Officially,
Jesus is there—their
Liturgy and
Scripture
Say so
x
I think Jesus would show
Anyway
Without invocation
Or any
Of our invocations
x
Such as help
I need you
I love you
x
He is there
Affirmed by doctrine and
Technical language
x
And the greater fact that
A loving God is
Everywhere
x
How simple
Without flash
With oath-taking
Except
Now and then
In each life
To say
I believe;
Help my unbelief
x
There is an alleluia
Sung by eight
Fluid
Black
Wondrous
How match their music with
Movements
Of their bodies
And jubilation
In their brevity
Of ending
Introducing
Homily
x
Justin Welby
Just
x
And there is a theme
Throughout
(sav it
with me)
Not to serve
But to be served
Well,
We’ll see
It could happen
x
Meanwhile
Jesus is here
He’s everywhere
He’s here
Ms Silverman
Like magic
x
He’s there
Maybe
You have invited him
I hear he’s good at checkers
And at Go
x
C L Couch
x
x
I cite Ms Silverman in admiration
x
Photo by James Baldwin on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
La Esperanza y la Alegría
x
An unexpected victory
Against numbers
In favor of the Mexican spirit
Now
Today
Of culture
x
It’s an excuse
As with many holidays
We could respect
The reason
We could
Respect the people
Ojalá
That is
I hope we do
x
Bright colors
Food I enjoy
Most every day
Also
Tragedies at borders
And inside
x
Making
A nation of contrasts
If not opposites
And so
Like every other nation
On Earth
x
Do you know the flag
It is a vision
When sighted
It becomes
A place of origin
And also means
The struggle
Answered
Yet unfinished
Of
La vida
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Three Months
x
I miss my brother
I have no one to talk about
Old movies with
I learned from him
But mainly it was the treat
In discussing
The subject
The people mostly black and white
The fictive stories they presented
The real stories
That they were
x
Older brothers seem to come with
Mysteries
Blank spots in life that stay
That way
Stories within stories
Ways of thinking
That I’ll never know
But we had the sure thing
Of old movies
For discussion
x
And now I miss that
As part of missing him
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Susquehanna’s high
brown water like the wide wide river
west Mississippi
x
C L Couch
x
x
I drove and then walked through storms today
x
Photo by Justin Wilkens on Unsplash
x
(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
(x = space)
x
x
Aunt Bette
x
My Aunt Bette
Died
My cousin reported
And reported
Well
Inside paper
And electronic
News
After communicating
With the family
x
Bette had a long life
Much longer than
Her sister
My mother
x
There were only two of them
In fact
For a long while
Growing up
x
Each sister had children
Four and five
Bette and my mother
x
We used to get together
At what they called
The camp
By the river
x
River swimming’s
Interesting
x
The water’s dark
The river’s wide
As famously understood
x
There was an amusement park
On the other side
x
My cousin Beth
Keeps the family
Wedges doors
So we might know what’s happening
On the other side
x
I’m thankful
x
I’m sorry
My aunt Bette is
No longer here
x
Her absence is a sadness
Though
I knew her less
x
Sometimes that happens
As we age
x
Welcome
Bette
To the other side
x
Age is no longer an issue
Or health
Or other challenges
x
Everything is new
For you
x
Made ready for
The wonders of
What’s next
x
‘Bye for now
Aunt Bette
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Ashkan Forouzani on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
new breast cancer bills
pink flow’rs on a living tree
nature yeas the text
x
c l couch
x
x
today in Pennsylvania, a bipartisan passing of two bills that support research as well as life with breast cancer; I guess haikus are not supposed to serve as news reporters; but on hearing this report at noon, three lines came to mind
x
photo by Susan G. Komen 3-Day on Unsplash
x
clcouch123 
Recent Comments