Search

clcouch123

I talk you talk we'll talk

Open Search
Category

Uncategorized

Faithful Skeptic

(x = space)

x

x

Faithful Skeptic

(spiritual humanist)

x

I sin

And then I go to church

How does that work?

We sing that it is well,

Which Saint Julian proposes

We pray for the world

And for concerns

In the parish

We sing some more

We’ll pray some more

Then there will be teaching

(word and sacrament

for those who have sacraments)

Through it all,

We’re singing now

And thank goodness there is

Justice in that

Mingled with grace and mercy

x

Through sin and virtue

Through indifference and zeal

Through exhaustion and desire

There is something

Going on,

Something moving

Call it spirit

Call it the orbit of the Earth

And the pressing down of gravity

Call it God’s

Call it nature’s

Call it ours

x

And, yes, through it all

It is well

x

C L Couch

x

x

Saint Julian of Norwich is a saint in the Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches.  Other traditional Protestant churches recognize her standing.  Many Christians of all kinds respect her work in parish service and the service of the Christian Church, overall.  Her name is not known:  she is called Julian because that was the name of the church in Norwich, England where she lived.  She had a cell there, not a jail cell but a hermit’s.  She had a cat.  Each day people of the town would come to her to speak with her through a window, asking her for wisdom and advice.  I’m sorry, I should have mentioned that she lived and worked from the latter decades of the fourteenth century into the first years of the fifteenth century.

She wrote Revelations of Divine Love, a widely-read spiritual text.  It is also taken as the oldest book written in English by a woman.  Two things Julian is popularly known for asserting are the metaphor of the world as a hazelnut (long before William Blake asserted perceiving the world as and through a grain of sand).  And she claimed that, no matter how grim or unhopeful or destructive the world might seem, all shall be well.  She says this many times.

And all shall be well.

x

Photo by Külli Kittus on Unsplash

Tallinn, Estonia

x

0

Peaceify

(x = space)

x

x

Peaceify

x

I should pray for love

I’ll pray for peace

I should pray for faith

But I’ll take respect

To keep the world

From exploding

x

There are molecules

Of everything

In everything

We do our best to clean

The rest is undiffused

Or do I mean

Defused

x

There is you in me

And as naturally

Me in you

We have each other

And the answer

To my sibling’s keep

Is yes

x

I’ll butter your bread

You’ll butter mine

We will nosh

Then later sit down

For a meal

x

This is better than

Negotiation

We can assure

That each one has

What each one has

Better than

Mizpah

x

May the Lord watch

Between me and thee

While we are absent

One from another

Mizpah, church fashion

x

Nothing is better

For thee than me

Quaker Oats version

x

I’ve heard

Golda Meir made deals

In her kitchen

Over bread

I hope it’s true

But we can make it true

x

If adversaries sit

In homely comfort

Come to my country

I’ll come to yours

Sit with me

x

C L Couch

x

x

Bridge

Photo by Ronaldo de Oliveira on Unsplash

Iporanga, Brazil

x

0

3 haiku about age

(x = space)

x

x

These are haiku.  I understand that haiku go untitled.  Maybe the series itself could be considered “The Modern Theban Riddle.”

x

x

[haiku on old]

x

I rock without a

chair and dream of golden age

when I’m nearing done

x

x

[haiku on youth]

x

I am new to Earth

and of my own volition

prizes on the way

x

x

[haiku on middle age]

x

they are on either

side, and I don’t know my own

inside anymore

x

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by zoe lin on Unsplash

Wellington, New Zealand

x

2

A Quiet Place

(x = space)

x

x

A Quiet Place

(a sequel)

x

A song

A horror movie

A hyped-up culture

Maybe doesn’t want one

But I do

x

Something calm

With windows large enough

To witness nature

As it passes

With sun or wind

Or snow or rain,

Things better watched

And heard

From inside

With ceilings high enough

So I could imagine a cathedral

Rather than

A cave

(it’s all right—I am imaginative)

A place to live with my own noise

That is modified respectfully

With regard to

Neighbors whom

I might get to know

x

C L Couch

x

x

New Forest Lane

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

New Forest National Park, United Kingdom

[cathedral]

x

1

Apology in Irony

(x = space)

x

x

Apology in Irony

x

I can’t think of anything to say

That doesn’t sound

Mansplaining

Rightly named

About my take

On ideas or events

x

Maybe I should just shut up,

Take instead the day

Until there’s something decent

Open-ended

Offering

Half-engagement should

We wish

To take it further

x

I’ll talk with you

Tomorrow then,

Not tomorrow and tomorrow

But tomorrow

x

C L Couch

x

x

Old Iron

Photo by Malik Skydsgaard on Unsplash

x

2

circling

(x = space)

x

x

circling

x

today good people

met

they talked

and prayed

maybe did the praying

first

it’s Sunday

but it could be on a Friday

or a Wednesday

or a Tuesday

you know, any day

I’m sure

in any hour

x

they pray for other people

for the Earth

for peace

for wisdom

for discretion

when it truly is

the better part of valor

x

they won’t quit,

these folk

they’ll meet again

talk and pray

or maybe pray first

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

x

0

Speak for a Nation

(x = space)

x

x

Speak for a Nation

x

Receiving a message from the Lord

was rare in those days; revelatory

visions were infrequent.

(1 Samuel 3:1b)

x

Prophets have jobs

Usually doing something else

Until the words are called for,

Until the wind

Blows through

Every atom

We think of them as crazy,

But they’re not

There is relentless urgency

Is all

Repent, while you’re alive

Don’t wait for judgment

And the fire

Leaders, most of all

You are double-cursed

If you do it wrong

Return to the temple

Pray in litany

And all humility

For a change and

For a change,

Recovering the modesty

In service that dressed you

Before fame

x

We think they’re crazy, sometimes

Maybe they are

From time to time

But there is authenticity

And love of service,

Such as those in stadiums

At podiums

Behind the microphones

Must have

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Pavel Brodsky on Unsplash

A slow shutter-speed rendition of a BBQ fire.

Meron Mountain

x

(New English Translation

verse indentations by me)

x

0

A Lost World

(x = space)

x

x

A Lost World

x

I took my .22,

Shot at paper targets

I wasn’t very good

There were

I’m sure

Excuses

x

I could not shoot Bambi

There are those who could

And use the food

At home or to give

To other,

Hungry people

x

A bullet from a distance

What might Cain

Have devised?

With such Indiscretion

And the safety off,

He might have gone

After Seth

x

Then where would we be

For progeny

With only wives surviving, were

They out of range?

x

They might retrieve

The guns

Then learn to shoot for life,

Maybe instructed by

An angel

Out of Eden

x

An imagined state

Doomed,

We’d think

Excepting life to find a way

x

C L Couch

x

x

Suspect nabbed in stray bullet slaying of 1-year-old Brooklyn boy sitting in stroller last summer

The accused shooter in last summer’s horrific stray bullet shooting of a 1-year-old boy outside a Brooklyn playground was charged Thursday in the devastating death that shocked a pandemic-stricken city and rattled Mayor de Blasio.

. . .

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-suspect-arrested-stray-bullet-brooklyn-baby-stroller-slay-20210506-nbuzgsa3xzcivdlo7t7jbwzohu-story.html

x

Photo by Omkar Jadhav on Unsplash

Bullet Marks [jallianwala bagh], Gali Number 7, Ramanand Bagh, Katra Ahluwalia, Amritsar, Punjab, India

x

The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle, then by Michael Crichton

x

1

A Pair of Socks

(x = space)

x

x

A Pair of Socks

(from Philippians 4)

x

Jesus says don’t worry

Perfect present tense

No need to count

x

Flowers contain beauty

On their own

A sparrow falls

I must admit

I like to think it’s caught

Maybe that discloses lack of faith

In falling without catching

When something good

Can happen,

Anyway,

And in a plan of which

I don’t have any understanding

x

How do I understand

Victory in a plan for failure?

On a good day

Or a bad one,

I have to embrace paradox

Death for life

Peace for enemies

Even assisting them

Who wants that?

x

Blake is good

At embracing contraries

Blake is correct

To do so

South is not the bottom

North is not up here

Certain maps

Do get it right

x

We conclude that in Philippi

In a time of persecution

There were directions

Not to be anxious

Over anything

Or to be anxious

Over nothing

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Havilah Galaxy on Unsplash

socks in the street

x

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑