Search

clcouch123

I talk you talk we'll talk

Open Search

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

Devotionism

(x = space)

x

x

Devotionism

x

I talk with God

God talks back

Sometimes through

The trees,

As happened last night

When I went out

Encountering a roar

From a single tree

Near the garage,

A tree that always

Reaches

x

With the wind,

Maybe someone

From someone

Wanting to take notice

Of the night

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Florian Hesse on Unsplash

Vegårshei, Norway

x

0

An Excuse Not to Ask Directions

(x = space)

x

x

An Excuse Not to Ask Directions

(you know electrics fail from time to time)

x

Back roads are best

They still need

Paving

Until I get

My Jeep or an ATV

x

State routes are

Good

Try Route 8 in

Western Pennsylvania or

Route 22, across

x

Or any road

Inviting small adventure

Maybe there are

Trees

Or a turn,

The end of which

We cannot espy

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Adam Thomas on Unsplash

Utah, USA

x

2

Wounding Time

(x = space)

x

x

Wounding Time

x

Hot, rainy day

I could be in Brazil

Except for lack of

Verdure

Did you know that the

Big mark of the equator

In Ecuador

Is wrong?

There is another line,

A smaller line,

A ways away

x

I’ve never been

To Greenwich,

And I don’t know

What might be wrong

There

Or in Geneva

x

In the planetarium

When I was young

(it has been

moved),

There was

A Foucault pendulum

Enormous,

Knocking down pegs

So faithfully

Marking through collapse

The hours in the day

x

Atomic clock?

I’ll take a sundial

But then

I don’t need

Tactical precision

In my day

Microseconds for transactions

Bids and buys for Wall Street

Testy parents

Watching watches

x

Olympics

Boats skimming water

Shoes on tracks

So many things need

Measurement

Of time

I’m sure

I hope

The athletes have joy

In their work

Pleasure in the wind

Running under the sun

x

There is a tower

Somewhere,

Where four faces are

Four clocks

Each clock noting time

Each clock a little off in minutes

From the other

So that

When people meet

There,

No one is late

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Goodwood Festival Of Speed , Chichester , U.K.

x

4

There’s a Story at the End

(x = space)

x

x

There’s a Story at the End

x

I don’t know what to say.

I need the birds to

dance across the

page

with their feet dipped in ink.

It’s a medieval riddle’s

answer,

though it would be cruel

to force birds’ feet

into wells.

x

I guess we take their feathers,

turn them into quills;

maybe we could wait

to find quills

inside forests:

gifts from the sources of stories

and the desert

and the sky

and moving waters

taking the shape

of earth below.

That’s what I want to tell,

a story!

Something for everyone.  And

is there such a thing?

x

Once there was a child

in a forest

Who came upon a grown-up

clearly starving.

The child gave the grown-up

the only piece of

bread

in the child’s bag.

The adult rose up and thanked

the child.

Then they noticed that

the child’s bag

had a hole through which

crumbs had fallen—and through

forest-magic

had not been eaten

by birds or other creatures!

x

They knew certainly where the

crumbs

would take them,

so they went home

where everyone was

known,

because everyone was

home.

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Jan Kopřiva on Unsplash

x

1

Sidewalk

(x = space)

x

x

Sidewalk

x

Leaves and parts

Of leaves

Here and there

Brown from fall

Pressed down

By winter

Mission accomplished

x

Green from spring

Ready to scoot

Along

Time for discovery

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by max fuchs on Unsplash

x

0

Uncertainty Principle

(x = space)

x

x

Uncertainty Principle

x

God,

We have the day

And I’m thankful

x

Things must make

You thankful, too

x

Not surprises, I suppose

Though in Christ

It’s said that you are human

x

So maybe you can

Be taken in

By something that we choose

To say or do

x

Free will

Would be really free

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Katie Gerrard on Unsplash

Ramsgate, UK

x

2

Victory at Sea

(x = space)

x

x

Victory at Sea

x

The sadness

That so much is done,

So much never started

But then I’d want

Eternity here and now

Everything

All possibilities

From which to choose

And choose again

To get it right

x

Would that Earth

Could turn peacefully

So that choices might

Be made from

Wisdom and from joy

x

But too many

Steal podiums to say

Beat the other side,

Don’t hesitate

To shoot

x

The second problem is

That hate will shoot back,

And when our

Magazines are empty

There is only peace

In death, that is,

Lives taken

x

Sibling murder

We pretend the other

Is not human

But a target for our rage,

For demon-stoked

Disapproval

x

This is so the world is mine,

Rendered in my own image

With death the medium

x

Would that

Famous people

Would shut up

And listen to the Earth

For a while

Then listen to us,

Which is nearly all of us

x

Pain, thirst

All kinds of ideas

And agendas

Find them

Find the stories

Hear them

x

Let change happen

Speak to it

Let peace prevail

And every other goodness

x

Favorite recipes

Homemade holidays

Comfortable shoes

Barefoot where the Earth

Is welcoming

x

We welcome each other

Sparing the lives that only

Insanity demands

And criminality

x

There is little more to say

Stop destroying

Leave self-righteousness to God

From whom we can learn about

Justice

And safe water

And living as if everything

Is home

For everyone

x

C L Couch

x

The title is taken from a TV series about bravery in war.  Music by Richard Rodgers.

To be at sea also means to be adrift.  Wanting to head for home.

(Not that the ship in the image is adrift, as in having no control. I don’t know.  The ship looks lonely, though.)

x

Photo by Javier Balseiro on Unsplash

x

2

Ancient Chores

(x = space)

x

x

Ancient Chores

x

I imagine

Standing vigil

Is no fun

To be a soldier

On the wall

Even with peers

And a fire

In a brazier

Now and then

x

Maybe we

Call out the hours,

Which could keep

Us alert

In counting time

And I guess

The fires should be

Shielded away

From away

So that we might

Look out upon the field

To suss what

Might be stirring

x

But then

Comes the dawn

We are there

For the arrival,

Change in shift

Maybe change in orders

x

And is this

Holy, set apart

For godly purposes?

Does God arrive

In the dawn,

Apollo in a chariot

As our neighbor

Greeks might say?

x

Well, I should

Head back to

The space in which

I live

When I’m at home

x

This duty’s

Not so bad

Even as I wonder

Where is God

If in the sun

Or the chill wind

That blows

As if

Another wind

Had never

Crossed the yard

Before

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Alex Plesovskich on Unsplash

Marrakesh, Morocco

x

4

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑