clcouch123

Damnably Persist
(hmm, maybe an essay or a sermon as a poem)

The wars go on
Floods and eruptions rage
Sometimes on cue
Sometimes without
Early warning
Or a warning
That is useless
For too late
Our preparation
To mean anything

Or because the prophets have been saying
This would happen
And it does
For all our art
And science
Serving rather the agendas
Of human politics
And nature’s
And so the world
Tries to teach us
Something
About what’s important

And to be ready for
In time
To use our intelligence
Technology
And all we understand to know
To have and enact toward
Making
Co-making
Preferable peace
While there is tragedy enough
To go around

And so we could better have
Some peace
All around
And celebrate the life
On planet Earth
That we were creditworthy
And talented enough
To prepare for
Meeting needs
And taking care
Of everyone
In all our seasons
All our quarter-spheres
Everything I am
Without pay
To take care of you
And you
All the yous
(youse, y’ins I know
for fun)
Human and natural
All the (as in eyes)
I-s
Which don’t you know
Make an us

And let what’s been a curse
Become a motto and
Of course
As in
A matter of our course
A global challenge

C L Couch


Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash 

small salvation

I haven’t spoken yet
to God
today
and yet that isn’t
true
God was with me
in the sip
and the blue light
atop
the small appliance

and in the swirl
that’s favored in the northern hemisphere
within the sink
as I was washing
out the cup
after
honestly
some days

and God was with me
in the steps I took
when
rising
finding slippers
sloughing
in a poor arc
toward the kitchen sink

and God was with me
in the dream
I had
I can’t recall
and in the moments after
while another
set up
like reels
in a matinee
the kind I went
to
long ago

but is that companionship
the same
as talking
to you
I don’t know
there is certainly
the ministry of presence
and do I offer
that
in each small thing
that I do
or that happens
anyway

except
you know
I think there are
words
I think I know it’s you
at least sometimes
and say
something maybe
in my sleep
and when I arch my back
to rise
and greet the morning
with
a groan
or with a sigh
or with nothing
but let’s get
to the
coffee
don’t you know

I’m saying something
all the time
and I believe
I’m even listening
as I think was established
in
the correspondence
of the
conversations
first read in
Genesis
and all the chapters
since then

which led to my interest
with encouragement
from breezes
and vistas
to make words of
and start
having conversations
with
the Lord
and you rose
from the book
to become
real
talkable
hearable
in my transactions
and receptions of
the rings and all vibrations
in the cosmos
inside
my head
of vanities
and my heart
of
brokenness

you are there
I hear you
I respond
we talk our day through
all the cues
and actual words
and
I hope
there is telepathy
in exchange
with the divine
and with
your angels and your saints
and all things
glorious
that I encounter
in such small ways
in a day
in a life
that’s not important
save you made it
and
speaking of
have saved it many times
not
through faith
or doctrine
but through miracles
I cannot count

because I do not know
how often you have
rescued me
from evil
from myself
from all the apathy
the world would rather have
on
everyone
for better exploitation

uncounted grace
salvation after choosing you
and hearing you
in everything
and
really you
throughout the day
and when
the night
is blank
and terrible
I should remember
the same
presence in
the light
and all the glory
small for me
to fit
that also saves the world
all the time
however many times
we need
until infinity
be sated

c l couch


photo by Ricky Kharawala on Unsplash