(x = space)
x
x
sure things
x
the child
dressed up as a cowboy
or a football player
dream and irony
x
even then
the heart
might be folded badly
not closing right
or opening
for blood and air
x
and did I feel it?
ask the child
I’m asking later
I don’t know
no one told me
maybe no one knew
until later
x
when the heart attacks
and surgeries
and the device implanted
were and are
sure things in
the older self
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by elias maurer on unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Sides
x
If God is for us
Whom shall stand against us
Well, they will
They are they
They will
These are not shadows
Except in meaning,
Haunting for a while
Our better selves and motives
x
They are there
They are ghosts
(with apologies to ghosts)
Who look as if
They are substantial
And their weapons
Somehow
Wound and even kill
x
They (with those)
Tempt us from our fate
One by one
And altogether as
People loved by God
Who have a purpose covered
For the moment
Until the glass
Is clear
x
The battle won
Life prefigures death,
Better shows the shape
Of life again
x
C L Couch
x
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31
x
x
Earth Is Ours
x
Do you hate the sides?
I often do
Jerusalem and Antioch
East and west
(Istanbul and Rome
as part of that)
China and Taiwan
Town and gown
City and countryside
North and south
And much, much worse
Cain and Abel
So that only Seth remains
For legacy
One without three
x
We need our groups
We don’t need the borders
In between
We should have the joy
To have our own
The strength in defending
Everyone
The Earth
Our own
Everyone’s Earth
To own
x
What does this mean?
It’s right to ask
Since we ask
And everything is lent
And legacy is life that
We cannot gift ourselves
But there’s a promise
Prophecy
Assurance in or as
What we believe
x
What we shall own
Though frankly we must share
The bigger parts
x
C L Couch
x
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Conditions of the Prophet
x
What shall God say today?
Not to me
I am not a vessel
Until God doesn’t mind the cracks
And grime
Under the rim
And maybe not:
Maybe God calls on us
To call
Who are not unblemished alabaster
Uncracked
Ancient yet young
To appreciate
x
Well, there are no museums here
Not inside the person
If there is a purpose
And I’m told
Rather explicitly,
I’ll follow
Though there are conditions
x
I can’t be crazy
Or made crazy
There must be gentle tones allowed
Simplicity
Would be instructive
While dignity
Would be grand
x
If these can be traits
In a manifesto
Then I’ll call it
x
And if these traits
Cannot be followed, well,
I’ll follow
Share the word
With the same conviction
Sigh,
No conditions
And apologizing for
Conditions
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Cancerous
x
We’ve been five
Soon we will be four
That is the prognosis
Palliation
Hospice
These are discussed
And sought
For him
x
Out of order
Since he’s not the oldest
In mere math of life
It could have been me
I’m the one with the machine
To keep me going
But I guess
(today’s not over)
It’s not me
(for now)
x
The math doesn’t matter
Not important
Math matters elsewhere
In the dosage
Of his medication
In the number of his place
In the hospital
His apartment number
To which they say
He will not be returning
x
It’s not me
It’s him
He is important now
But I have to say
It’s been a problem all along,
Frankly, with me
I don’t know how to lose
A brother
x
And has he ever learned
To live with this
I’d say so
A mystery he did resolve
Through work
Through home
Maybe through old movies
He knows so well
x
And one day
All shall be all
God bless everyone
Who tries
Who’s trying now
One by one
Who practices with grace,
Each fitness for heaven
That shall be judged
By perfect love intending
Hoping that
Full health to be restored
x
God bless everyone
God bless each one
God bless Rick
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
dream state
x
shall I write on a dream?
dreams work out subconscious
so I guess there’s something there
in mine
in my dreams
there have been nightmares
mostly, I hope they’re good
while I’m inside
the world changes in there,
naturally
sometimes I know my way
sometimes that’s not an issue
it’s the people I encounter
from the past
from the present
people I do not know
as for color, I don’t know
we’re told we dream in black and white
so if I say that’s yellow
is the truth of it in what I see
or what I’ve convinced myself
I’m seeing?
dreams are strange
I guess I need them
they might have been the first visitations
formless forms given form,
hidden words revealed
all because we sleep
confusions for
an easy price
x
I’m thinking now
I should have made this formless
or changed the shape many times
or something
as a waking example
but then when I’m awake
like many who dream
and recall anything,
I’m trying to clarify
unlike a scientist
but one to whom
everything had happened
x
as far as I know,
I’ve never died in dreams
I’ve fallen without an ending
to the fall;
sometimes I’ve fallen and then flown
and, after, felt the use
between my shoulder blades,
the stiffness from the muscles there
that that would be needed
for the use of wings
x
sometimes I’m frightened, after
most often, I’m sad
sometimes nostalgic
warmth or sometimes hope
worked its way through
the pastiche
x
I don’t know
how God’s involved in dreams
mine are a mess:
I don’t see how
an angel as an agent
could be talking through them
but we have precedents
in messages of prophecy;
to have a dream with clarity
must be something
as impressive it must be
troubling,
a contemporary (waking)
source for fear and trembling
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by Tamara Menzi on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Dreaming Impossibly
x
This is for real
But every now and then
I must imagine
Like one Lewis or the other
Things that cannot happen
Happening
x
A hole
Through which
The world is further out
Horizons wider
Air that moves just right
Enhancing breath
Progressive fields
That do not have to tire
We can take them slowly
Discovering
Along the way
x
Water we can take
It’s safe
And not worry
About returning
About returning overall,
Well, that’s another matter
After exploration
After delight
And rest
And learning
From this impossible day
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Florian Rieder on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Rank and File
x
Thank goodness
For the discipline
Of fire and cloud
And water
And the path
The faithless wonder
x
There is a promise
When we forget
There is a promise
x
There’s prophecy
To mingle with
What is before us
In contention,
All the other parts
That make up everything
x
The everything we know,
The things we must
Believe in anyway
Sometimes from apostacy
Of fact,
Worse from the inside
Out
x
Before external judgment,
We sentence ourselves
For lack of faith
When, reasonably,
How much is there to believe in?
Evidence of what’s unseen–
Thank you,
Says our agnostic
x
The normalcy
Of matter and dimension
Fairly
Imposing,
Building what we stand on
For belief
And unbelief
x
The believer is the doubter
x
We go through this,
We are this
x
Often there is more of us
On the other side
Of chrysalis
x
C L Couch
x
x
Hebrews 11:1
x
Photo by Ruth Paradis on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Trick or Treat
x
Simply put
And because I cannot count
Not knowing all the places
With the numbers
Too many died
This past week
From war
From sickness
From hunger
Or from thirst
From having something safe to drink
From crime
And corruption
(there are many sources)
From hate
Because hate, in fact, can kill
It takes the life
It leaves us with a zombie-like illusion
We can blame the movies
For the monsters
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Arno Senoner on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Warplanes
x
Almost antique word
That brings to mind
The bombers in the movies
The models on a tray
I worked on
When I was sick
x
But these are real
Metal and tall,
Plastic in the systems
Electronics
And then there are
All the explosives, loaded,
Ready to send
Here or there
x
Warplanes
That was the word used on the news
Long, official,
And romantic
Scarves and leather jackets
Indiscreet
From up so high
While on the ground
Where we live
The war takes out
Our fields and homes
While a threat
x
Maybe
Only anxiety,
A state that has its own
Consequences
In the air
On the land
Where the bombs hit
Or there are UXBs
If only in the mind
When we look up
And then look at each other
Side to side
x
Or it’s the real thing
The planes we cannot trust
Unleashing
Some kind of hell
Upon the Earth
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Kevin Den Heijer on Unsplash
x
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