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Four Score

(x = space)

x

x

Four Score

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I’m not sure what to say

Today

A day for remembrance

To respect a President

Who said so

And all the boys

And girls

To men and women

And civilians of all kinds

(were children killed?)

Who died

x

We can’t seek vengeance

Though we went for victory

And that tragically

Is fair to say

We made a war at home

That wasn’t there

Between the rubber drives

And paper drives

And rationed sugar

That was the war at home

We imprisoned

Our own

Now

Remembrance might

Be for learning, too

x

So we are always ready

For the next time

Properly vigilant

With reason

And with passion

x

Victory

Deserved

Marshall plans

After

Win

Too high a cost

We all agree

Rebuild the world

After

Bless the nation

Bless the world

x

Ready at war, which

Has been the

Burden of

A nation

Seek peace

Every day

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Ryan Stone on Unsplash

World War II Memorial, Independence Avenue Southwest

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The Peaceable Kingdom

(x = space)

x

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The Peaceable Kingdom

(Isaiah 11:1-9)

x

Cheetahs wouldn’t have

To kill,

And they could run with their

Great speed for delight

x

There would not be war,

For everything we wanted

Could be gotten

In a better way

x

We’d have peace with each other;

We’d have so much

Extra time

To do good things

x

Peaceable admittedly

Is an antique word,

But it speaks to potential

To talent

And to quantity

x

Who makes this peace?

God does–

But what shall we have

In the mean time?

x

It’s in our time,

Our will

To make it happen

From able to have peace

To having it;

The worth is us and

Our mortal talents

x

The Earth burns,

Weapons are secretly supplied

To war:

It is crazed comfort

(in both aspects)

To wait for an apocalypse

x

We have now–

Heaven, in fact,

Might be waiting for us

x

C L Couch

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x

Photo by Hari Nandakumar on Unsplash

Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

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Advent 2

(x = space)

x

x

Advent 2

x

Shall we light

Two lights from

One light

To move the meaning out

A little

To say this is a season, now

x

As the light is shared

So should we share

Our hopes

And dream

Intentions

For more light

Of our own making

For mercy

And a thoughtfulness

Toward love

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Carson Arias on Unsplash

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Four Candles

(x = space)

x

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Four Candles

(Hanukkah)

x

Four candles

In the evening

Halfway through

The miracle,

Each moment’s

Marvel

x

Faith after

Occupying armies

Desecrated sacred space,

The focal point for

Freedom and

For worship

x

Manna

Or like water from a rock

The people had been given

Light when

Darkness by the rules

Should have returned

x

Praise the Lord

Who needs insufficient

Oil to light lamps,

Who can

Feed the hungry

Without what we count on

As real food,

Water by divining

(for being divine)

x

Who sponsors home

And time

And holy life

When and where there

Had been none for

So long, now all in safety

And in light

x

C L Couch

x

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The Star of David with blossoms on a fruit tree in spring.

Photo by David Holifield on Unsplash

Waco, TX, USA

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Merry Whichever

(x = space)

x

x

Merry Whichever

(greeting)

x

Merry Whichever

Happy New Year to your calendar

And all your months,

However they are named

May each day be ingested

With wisdom and

Delight,

Wisdom for the ages,

Delight in the pleasures

Of the day

x

May you know love

More than in the abstract

Some good learning beforehand

Wouldn’t hurt;

Might you have peace,

If the worlds great and small

Agree

x

Most of all, may

All of you

And any

Know the presence

Over us

So great,

So small as to be

Working inside

Our capillaries

x

Call it God

Or the Spirit

Or the impulse of the ages

The human push

Toward improvement

And a symphony of

Maybe out-of-tune,

Asynchronous

Possibility

x

May the one

Or many there

Protect you

And keep you

In each other

x

C L Couch

x

x

Part of the painting “my take on an ion.”

Photo by Jené Stephaniuk on Unsplash

Los Angeles, CA, USA

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Ready or Not

(x = space)

x

x

Ready or Not

x

God is coming

God is here

God is a child

God is a teen

God is a grownup

God is a spirit

God is love

Everything at once

The Medievals didn’t mind

Neither should we

It is a time

Of amazement

Dare I say, magic

x

Each year God comes down

While angels rise

We look up

And on the Earth

Feel our investment firmer

x

Prophecy

And miracle

A merging of all tenses

Where

And when

God is involved

All things

Work for good

x

It is our age

Sick, healthy

Corrupt and even

We merge tenses, too,

Hoping for

Everything

To work out right

What’s left is

What there is

Illuminated by a star

The gift

The trash

The holes

The holes filled in

x

Whether or not

We are ready

For the light

It is an age of light

It was

It will be

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Krissana Porto on Unsplash

Paris, France

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Spiced Life

(x = space)

x

x

Spiced Life

(Advent)

x

A season starts

Tomorrow

On my grandmother’s

Birthday

She would be

Well over a hundred

The season’s been around

Since

I imagine

Medieval times

x

We light candles,

One Sunday

By one

Four candles

We might use another candle

Lighting the four

Or a candle might

Appear later

Set in or near the others

Call it

The Christ candle

x

A circle

A wreath

Is a common design

And practice

Into which we set the candles

All four there

(light them

one by one)

There are songs

I think my favorite

Is the song about

Keeping mortal flesh

Silent

To stand rather

In fear and trembling

Because it’s God who comes to

Earth

And is near

As at creation,

First birth of everything

x

It is typically

A darker season

Church rooms slowly rebuilt

With light

Ideally, it is a quiet

Time, though

The world gets noisier

All the time

And in our

Insides, too

A challenge it might be to find

Minutes

Inside hours

Inside and out

To sip, to think

To have quiet words

With company

Or for oneself

x

Not that Christmas noise is bad

Because it’s not

With bells

And open presents

Come enjoyment

And, if we have it right,

Joy itself

I hope joy arrives for you

Starting in the quiet

Building toward a jubilee,

Even a

New year with

All menacing overthrown

All things allowed

That need to

To begin again

Or simply better days

In coming

x

C L Couch

x

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Three candles lit for the three first Sundays of advent.

Photo: Niklas Nordblad – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1488786

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The Once King without a Future

(x = space)

x

x

The Once King without a Future

(23 November 1963)

x

We were told he was a king

Who lived in Camelot

I didn’t know

I was a child and

At home

We didn’t talk about the king

I have a memory from school

Then at home

In following days

In front of the TV

My mother ironing, behind

x

A king

A coup d’état

The vice-king became king

The jesters all moved over

And up one

x

Mostly, he was killed

His wife picked up a piece of him

For the doctors

The killer then was killed

And that killer died

x

And we all moved over in the nation

Though we did not move up

There was no domino

There was a funeral

That everyone attended

For me

And children like me,

It was in black and white

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

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0

This Autumn Morning

(x = space)

x

x

This Autumn Morning

x

Gray with

A patch

Of red

Inside black

Branches

Red leaves

Attached

Maybe until

A winter wind

Comes to

Take them

Through the

Air until the

Breath’s expired

Then gravity

Must have

Its way and

Like the roots

We can see

And-or touch

Must lie upon the

Earth

And inside

For a while

x

C L Couch

x

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Joshua Tree National Park

Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash

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