last of April so
I should say something to this
month of poetry
c l couch
for Poetry Month (that this has been)
photo by Clark Young on Unsplash [makes me think of Ebenezer Scrooge and maybe Bob Cratchit, while waiting for coal, penned and kept verses on the insides of his cuffs]
shall
so yesterday maybe
was
Shakespeare’s birthday
if if was on that
date and
you know
if
there were such a person
I mean
I’m pedestrian though
I have close degrees
as well
and think he was
and
was the poet and the playwright
though I
appreciate
the mysteries
no plays published until after
life
no notations of his education or any
if any
travel
no portraits done while he was living
either
the portrait that we think we know
is a guess
though
we get used to it
for him
don’t
we
the plays changed the world
they changed me
and you may believe that
they
changed you
though it was the poetry
the sonnets
that first brought him fame and money
then
acting and producing
since playwriting wasn’t given so much shrift
which might to explain a mystery
you know
and
Shall I compare thee to a summer day
when yet
Thou art more lovely and more temperate
which is
the day
rather like today
spring
and yet so green and passing
tractors blading
as
the summer season signs
and then true minds
as I shall say
then cite
against
for wisdom
Which alters when it alteration finds
that lives verse
and
our lives
and may I note resides as true love in The Princess Bride
and
that’s good learning of
good wisdom
we
don’t follow
and we
should
that’s all
we should
that is
love there without exception
of
what we think to change that by the way we
won't
and read more poetry and watch
more
plays
and note the authors as best we may
since there is more than
one
conundrum in
knowing who they
were
c l couch
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
116
photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash
William Shakespeare statue in Central Park.
Central Park, New York, NY, USA
plain or fancy
what did he
say
and this is so
the Bible says that Jesus loves us
when we’re weak
so
he is
strong
always weak
always
strong
everyone seems called to both
weak to
hear
strong to act
call weak gentle or easy
or
withholding
openness to listen
and
to heed what he should say
we have the story
and the help of spirit
and
of angels
strong to act while strong is faith
and
otherwise
to
take great care
for anger destroys
and
pride
as vanity shall fall
every time
with
consequences to learn
if not yet
experienced directly
and that is plain
I hope
for me to learn
for you to be loved by God
and Jesus and the
Spirit
loved by God and in that book
find it affirmed
and
by our instinct as we grow with God
by Jesus
and the Spirit
and by the Bible
and with each other
as
we’re faithful
and even when
we fall
the love’s not over
anymore than faith or hope
though love’s
the
quality and entity
the strength
the practicality
that
remains
the theologian was asked
and
responded
Jesus loves me
this
I know
for the Bible tells me so
may it go so simple
and
so strong
if not perfectly not yet
by us
c l couch
the song “Jesus Loves Me” was written by Anna Bartlett Warner, published in 1859 (the line breaks above were by me)
the theologian in question, at least so goes the story, is Martin Marty, asked to sum up his theology, responding with the beginning of the hymn
photo by Lauren Mitchell on Unsplash
I hope the other side of the shirts says “The Now”
knowing how to live
O God
on a sunny day
I could wish I were
in
Bible study
I know
some would say I don’t know how
to live
much less how to prize a sunny day
but
I don’t know
clean room
a group of us
we
act clean
the words of Scripture clearly on the page
and we hear and we
discuss
kind interaction and somehow
authentic for
our
loves
and for our growth
for the beauty of the Earth
glory
in the skies
we will see through the window
sorry
there should be a window
and
feel after when we take part
in the outside world
God had
made
and about which we have the story
with
a gospel
c l couch
(“For the Beauty of the Earth” is the hymn cited and to which alluded; the author of the hymn is Folliott Sandford Pierpoint)
Earth Day
photo by Dima Serafin on Unsplash
“A Bee in Snowdrops”
what kind of day
what kind of day
to look outside
‘cause I can
see
there is sunlight
easy allowing colors and
shade
in relationship that’s agreeable
as if
sun and Earth had worked it out
in a process
before dawn
and this is today
with all
the hours ahead and for all the plans
or
maybe apprehensive with no plans
what shall happen like
the Spanish song
with
surprises along with what’s expected
founded on what’s ancient
and what’s yesterday
entering new
time
with what we have and are to bring even
to a table
to negotiate with each other
like the sun
over
what should change on Earth and what
remain
the same
c l couch
photo by Spenser Sembrat on Unsplash
say it’s dawn (I have trouble telling)
love gives
what shall
love provide
but
everything we need
food
something safe to drink
families
of
all sorts constructed
homes
and peace
and if our loves won’t do this
won’t provide
then
person to family to
tribe we haven’t worked it right
not yet
and if work sounds blockish
or
exploitative
then let’s ask ourselves if
we wouldn’t say that
on an easy
day
love still requires labor
for
the loved also
receiving the same
and if
followed
by rest
for all those
loving
loved
sometimes
to hope rarely called for
except something Christlike required
then
even loving and not loved
c l couch
photo by Balint Miko on Unsplash
shall we let the shofar call
Sunday
sun rests behind the gray
while the rain
considers working
even
if Earth is called to rest
or call it Saturday
or Friday
night
the call to rest is there
cessation
take up each things
don’t drag the chair across
a dirt floor
not
for fear of retribution but because
of the gift of love
and
yes
there’s room for interpretation
as time and we have changed
though God
has not
and yet seems to meet us
where
we are
as we could track the visitations and new
miracles
a day
and if we turn recreation into a business
infested with the mock virtue of
busyness
then we should drop
those
occupations for another form
of work
and play without the need to win or shop to win
to take the rest
as we smart people
know
how it goes
an honest sabbath
day
that’s all
and should we have it
is
we know
so much
c l couch
photo by Leon Kohle on Unsplash
intimate grandeur
how nature gives then displays
graces for senses
c l couch
I’m thankful for Literary Revelations Publishing House (https://literaryrevelations.com/) that will be publishing haiku of mine with those of others, a book on the theme of soulmates
I am in pain evidently from compressed nerves, better from medication, though still hurting
I have an operation set for 6 May; the device implanted and connected to my heart will be replaced, at least the electric part will be, as it’s time
I’m still breathing bad in my place that is infested and in the long and complex process finding and affording somewhere else to live
and how are you today?
the haiku above to me seems a little rough but says what I mean to say; what’s more important is what the verse might say to you
thanks
all of you
so much
photo by Natalia Luchanko on Unsplash
dreams
mine are vivid
brought on my insomnia
helped
by
medication
and tend to dream of people whom
I know
or knew back then
and
back then was now and is now
in the experience
details
and personalities made up
with
guesses at responses
and typically there’s wandering
place to place
or
to look out in the distance sometimes
and sometimes
to see
as one might see in dreams
light upon a ridge
who knows
a city
on a hill
c l couch
photo by Alexey Demidov on Unsplash
clcouch123 
Recent Comments