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Errant Psalm

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Errant Psalm

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What shall I say, Lord?

I need you

I also need my friends

My family

A quiet place in which

To live

Normal noise, that is

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A covenant

‘Twixt you and me

Not like Mizpah where

We keep our weapons bound

Because we have no weapons

And, if we do,

Maybe we should

Behold them

Not to be afraid

But to be honest

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In deal-making,

Who else is there to trust?

The other contracts end

Mostly they fail

The living bonds

Sometimes they fail, too

But you are with me

And the best way

To have anyone

Or anything

Secured

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I wipe my face

And offer you the same

You will take our earthly

Molecules

And turn them with

The Spirit so that

Everything might last

Forever

And a day,

The day when we come home

To which you take us

And you greet us there

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Thank you, Lord,

For such reliance

Forever-keeping

In your gracious hand

Made out of

Everything that’s good

With which you make

Everything that’s

Going to remain

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C L Couch

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Photo by Dan-Cristian Pădureț on Unsplash

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WordPress has changed the editing procedure for images; so far I don’t like it. We’ll see how it goes. And how I go. (Grr.)

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Silent War

(x = space)

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Silent War

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Most people

Can’t see beyond

Their own perspective

And why should they

We were made

Impulsively to carry

One

Those who can see

Beyond one’s own way

Become the diplomats

Negotiating

Everyone’s self-interest

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Every now and then

We all do better

It happened famously

At Christmastime

During the

Great War

When foes came together

They had stopped firing

To take up games instead

Drink together

Have photos taken

Then afterward,

Resumed the awful,

Blooded action

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For a time,

Everyone saw more

They saw each other

The different colors didn’t matter

They saw across

The horrible divide

Saw the real fundamentals

For a while,

Which are few

Human to human

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We can get it

We can have it

We can stop the war

Better than the appointed

Though they can

They can get it, too

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Which goes for the small wars, too

Maybe we can

Instinct over impulse

Will

Look over the trench

Of a mile or inches

Take on

Protect

The other’s way

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C L Couch

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‘Pea Soup or Cocoa’, Longueval, France, World War I, Dec 1916. Taken in December, 1916, just after the brutal Somme Offensive (1 July – 18 Novemember) in the wooded area north of the Somme River. The mud of the ruined terrain covers the men and the small buffet station. A sense of humour is present in the cynical joke ‘Pea Soup or Cocoa’ – a dry comment on the quality of the limited food and drink available to troops at the frontline. Soldiers wrote with detail on food and drink conditions on the front.

Photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash

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Fractured Translationing

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Fractured Translationing

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Why can’t we

Call a city or a country

By the name its

Own natives do (native

to native)?

Why can’t we call

Florence Firenze

Spain España?

We call Bombay Mumbai,

Which is a step

Peking Beijing,

Which must be closer

I’m afraid I must agree

About the letters

English-speakers do need

English letters

An apology to the world

For that

But for the names,

We could at least

Ask the towns

And nations

What they want

That would be closer

And correct

And finally

Friendly

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C L Couch

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Photo by vikram on Unsplash

Bandra – Worli Sea Link, Mount Mary, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

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Missioning

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Missioning

(for Mandy Shunnarah)

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It’s Wednesday

And a hump day

Too many cases breaking out

Al-Qaeda talking up Afghanistan

Fires in California

New Apple phones

Unveiled there

I need shoes

More importantly a place to live

Local friends are helping

And good thoughts

Come from everywhere

Faroff family stands by

I’m eaten up with nerves

They eat me

Consume the calm

Like the noise above

That means I’m leaving

After many years

Too many jobs

That took up all

My energy allotment

Concentration

And my attempts to rest

And now

Semi-retired

Accosted with all that

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My heart needs fixing up

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This should not

Be all for me

Too many people

Have revocable need

I pray

Others help

With worldly substance

So much more than I have

But this should not be for me

In what I cannot do

It’s to put out fires

Help first-responders

Let go those

Who have no perspective

Build up health

Yes

It’s true

And I must ask

For all of us

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C L Couch

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Mandy Shunnarah has been writing about skateboarding and skateboarding—forthcoming book, Midwest Shreds: Skaters and Skateparks of Middle America from Belt Publishing (fall 2022).  Hers is a positive, inclusive, encouraging voice.

https://mandyshunnarah.com/

https://www.offthebeatenshelf.com/blog

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Skateboard on Dry Lakebed

Photo by Kelsey Dody on Unsplash

Alvord Desert, Oregon, USA

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Restocking

(x = space)

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Restocking

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Mid-afternoon is a good time

For grocery shopping

The pharmacists are more relaxed

More people say hello,

Sweetly apologize for guiding

Carts congenially in

Each other’s way

There’s someone close by

With whom to grieve

Products that are missing

And gripe with cordiality

To wonder what is next

For reduction if not elimination

Now, many of the shoppers have white hair

So might be moving slowly, anyway

But are the elderly polite?

Do they have to be,

Is there a law?

Rather it’s relief, I think

Knowing that the bellicose

Have already been or

Will go on later

But we can trust in these

Then there’s the way

The elderly feel deeply

That comes with age

To buffer and affirm

With civility

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In the parking lot,

Someone going in

Asked me if I were well

I said Good and you?

He said good,

Which sounds about right

To add some good to goods

Going out, the errantry

Going in

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C L Couch

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Fruit Display in Supermarket

Photo by gemma on Unsplash

Stillwater, OK, USA

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Monarch

(x = space)

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Monarch

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King Jesus is all

My all in all

I know he’ll answer

Me when I call

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In a final chapter of

The Last Battle,

A non-Narnian who was

An anti-Narnian for

A time,

Has met Aslan, the

Metaphor of

Christ and God

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And this young man

Is abashed

To know he has

Been serving faith

In another god

And way

And now must own

His condemnation

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And Aslan

(and Lewis)

Judges remarkably,

As only God-as-love

Can

To pronounce that

Service done well

In his life

Is counted as

Service unto him

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(sorry,

as a character

Aslan is male,

though we know

don’t we

that God is female

and male,

Jew and Greek

and more than

these)

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Scandalous doctrine?

Some

Might think so,

Saving

Saving welcome for

Those outside

The fold

As Aslan

(in Lewis)

Says is so

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God bless the ecumenical

Those who serve

That all might know

The glory

Living in

The realm of God

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C L Couch

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The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis

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“King Jesus Is All,” a traditional gospel song

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Galatians 3:26-29

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Matthew 6:29

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As Pretty As It Is

Photo by Calvin Mano on Unsplash

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

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Pagan Petition

(x = space)

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Pagan Petition

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Freya of the

Earth,

On your day

I ask for

Such a small part

Of the world

To borrow

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Where I stand

Where I sit

Where I might lie down

For a while

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Yes, I mean

What metaphors might mean

Yes, I need a place

As trolls need caves

Only with a door

And a wide window

And some plumbing

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It would be home

Until it’s a time again

For wandering

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Please

And thank you,

Lord and lady of

Earth and earthiness

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C L Couch

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Reliefbüste “FREYJA”, Amalienstraße 51, Fürth

Wofro – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21650063

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Hurt Locking

(x = space)

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Hurt Locking

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Sometimes sadness

Has a weight

If I knew, I had forgotten

It bears down on the face

Justifying frowns

It pushes on the inside, too

(and mainly)

Pushing things together,

Causing pain

Along with weight,

There is the freezing

An effect that has no

Temperature

What to do next in the world?

How to get there

Through the challenges

Of sadness

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And it simply hurts, you know?

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C L Couch

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Photo by Ricardo Arce on Unsplash

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Eeyore

(x = space)

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Eeyore

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Mopey

To say the least

But if all I had was

A lean-to of sticks,

I might be

Sullen, too

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Then there’s

The tack-on tail:

I used to wonder

If it hurt

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C L Couch

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Photo by George Lemon on Unsplash

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