Out from Under
I get tunnel-visioned
Don’t we all
Or maybe not
Maybe there are those
Who are clear
Nearly all the time
Who have the sight
Beyond seeing
Hear the message
More than sound
Touch
And taste
The living water in
Life-giving air
Who get the magic
In the doctrine
Or without any word
That’s formal
Who get it
While we don’t
Who understand the Earth
With that kind of listening
That touch
Who also understand the pain
And do not give it
Or if a little
Ask for pardon
Promising
Enacting
Some
(not all)
Penance
C L Couch
Photo by rashid khreiss on Unsplash
the right hand doesn’t know
(sometimes left people have it right)
God
I haven’t mentioned you
though I know
you’re there
we are in dialogue
it seems
I hope it is an angel
who negotiates
like the bush that burned
and spoke
and the angel who held
Abram’s hand
and changed him
in the harshest lesson of
obedience
and mercy
and not the voice of one
erstwhile
who cackles now
so subtly
so quiet-like
to say
do this
do that
my master calls
and through it
we will ruin everything
‘til everything become
inferno
and subservience
without the pleasure
from a lord
who gives none
which is a lot
to parse
while deciding
to go right
or to go left
listening to one
the angelic
and other one
the sinister
like the shoulders
in cartoons
only the stakes
though small
could become a trend
of listening
to one leaning
or the other
I might have let the demon in
so long ago
and while want the angel-voice
alone
have struggled ‘tween the two
two wills represented
and how long
‘til we know better
easily
domestically
or cosmically
while the stakes are only
turning right
or left
the angelic
or the sinister
which makes a left hand
of theology
and will
to work
and to believe
and within these
grace
to have it right
(or left)
and so be saved
c l couch
photo by Nguyen Minh on Unsplash
gifted
I’d like to give you each
a present
though I’m poor
and not the kind of poverty
that saints admire
for I have little
mystic understanding
and what I have
is tied
to nothing like
how much
how little
I have
I’d like to say
go slowly
as the Buddhists
say
especially
when parting
I’d like to say
remember all your loves
made up of
reason
practicality
and balance
not that passion
doesn’t count
it does
but there should be a measure
in most things
of what is right
and what is easy
(like
Jack’s pieces
well
maybe not so much)
which is
(really)
to say
let all good things
have their place
and do not rearrange
from the heaven
of creation
and the philosophy
inside all things made
for there is
certainty
as well as confusion
the way this world works
and don’t deny
the sure things
that you
and others
who are smart
and might be trusted
might ally
I’d like to say
think God
(like another movie)
though I know
that’s not enough
or I could say
love
and let love
not frilly silly
(‘til the day)
but steady
and trustworthy
have its say
and guide
however trite it sounds
each day
I guess
some things are cliché
like the way we use
iconic
meaning not a symbol
but celebrity
believe
and love
so common
(a cliché)
and yet maybe
we can still ourselves
and our sophistications
to accept
that some things
important things
the most important things
are commonplace
no secrets
no requirements
but to accept
what is instilled
(installed
as it were)
within internal palaces
or offices
or bungalows
(I’ll take a wooded cabin)
in the mind
in what we call the heart
in what really is
the spirit
might be
an alliance of the spirits
one by one
within
between
our groups
our nations
for an errant world
on its quest
our quest
to grow
to acquire
and to save
good things
and we could have rituals
and easiness
(not mindlessness)
in what passes
from the Earth of now
into
the next
of now
c l couch
photo by Luca Pennacchioni on Unsplash
time and temporality
(for dreamers and for planners)
we look
we hear
we wonder
as we wander
like the song
out under the sky
or being still
having gone nowhere
perforce
or by design
the need to have some time
an hour or a day
in which we do not move
but traverse everything
inside
and inside
where shall we go
what shall we
hear
what shall we
see
what shall we smell
or get a taste of
what is the other sense
what shall we taste
though we may
also travel throughout
time
slip into other states of being
as our possibilities
visit other worlds
that we make
for moments
that never happened
though we may go there
for the possibility
the changes
the resolutions
never having taken place
except there
in what we visit
on the inside
that time and life
under the sun
never allowed
waking issues
that are not solved
out here
but we should
do this
this is good
a friend of mine might say
about ideas
when we planned things
together
in the day
this added time to dream
might engender
visions
three dimensions
only
but good experiences for
our constituencies
starting with
those of
one
then two
and who’s to say
the dimension of the spirit
or the spirits
will not be joining us
the outer life
the inner life
somehow touched and satisfied
through dreaming and
then
through waking
c l couch
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky,
how Jesus the Savior did come for to die
for poor ordinary people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky.
adapted by John Jacob Niles
photo by Ferdinand Stöhr on Unsplash
"Sunset in Vancouver"
Nothing to Fear
Will there be judgment
Well
Yes
Call it karma
Call it rapture
Call it the inexorable
Next thing
It will happen
As it happen
(que será
dust
in the wind)
What kind of trial
What kind of judge
What kind
Of advocate
Who stands for us
Well
It might be
That there are favored
On both sides
As the devil rides
Against our case
More than angelic
Might be those
Who argue
For us
Love
And grace
Criteria
And means
So we may say
Here
And now
Faith wins
That costs us nothing
But
Regains our souls
As if the first tragedies
Had not occurred
(though
they had)
And we are returned to God
From which
We came
Though not
Never
Without a saving story
Close at hand
Heaven
Might not be our own
Though an open door
Receive us
Forgive us
Justify us
For what has little literal matter here
But matters most
In there
And from there
Through the cosmos
Like black space
And all the wonders in between
Not to deny itself
As well
As black amazement
C L Couch
Photo by NASA on Unsplash
I Do Confess ’t
God
I feel fat
Like the fat
That Gertrude
Said of Hamlet
Meaning
Tired
Or unprepared
Or
You know
Fat
I think
You’re with me
On the inside
And guide me
From there
The presence
Of your
Spirit
Prompting
Poking
Whatever motion
Works
And I
Recalcitrant
(and fat)
Do not get it
Push back
With my own will
‘Til near
Destruction
Sometimes
And
Sometimes
Even after
You’re with me
When I’m
Slow
And wrong
Through the thickness
Of my flesh
That hides
Everything I want
To hide
Awareness of the harm
I cause
In all directions
To all souls
And do I do
So much
Or
Take too much credit
With vanity
Somehow
In deprivation
When
I know
You can ameliorate
Reach out
In dreams
Or more directly
Touching the vibrations
Of heart-wisdom
In the hurt
And maybe
For the moment
Lost
C L Couch
QUEEN He’s fat and scant of breath.— Hamlet 5.2.313
Photo by cal gao on Unsplash
Paucity
Yesterday
It dispensed easily
Like rain
Let go
From a swollen cloud
I had slept some
And daylight seemed
A welcome thing
And writing
Something natural
Instinctive
Like a salutary
Habit
Today it is forced
Word by word
Even choice in syllables
Certainly hopping
Around
Like bunnies
Or like joeys
Seeking mamas
Or small plants
While I seek
Themes
For nourishment
And all of us
Hunt space from predators
Something holy
Set apart
Something measured
Dispensing peaceful portions
Something with color and
With shape
That is also moving
Changing
Like diversity
Itself
As a
Kaleidoscopic offering
Without round lines
Bounding
Even
Weight presses down
Maybe I’ll try again
To sleep
The light is not inviting
Though it’s pretty
But pretty
Enervating
Too
Doze off a while
Maybe
For dreams enough
To help me when
I’m waking
And I’m doing this
Again
Z on
Dream on
Plenty
God help us all
This day
I know God will
The form
Is mystery
The timing
But God is good
Many say
That God is great
God is a spirit
God is love
To move us ‘round
And give us our
Discretion
Honest mystery
To treat us
As we matter
With everyone
And it’s everyone
Everything that’s made
That matters
C L Couch
Photo by Amer Alhalawani on Unsplash
half moon mid of the day
New River Beach, NB, Canada
here is a chapbooklet, as it were (and to have made up the word), a small series of poems it won’t take long to read or, please and naturally, read how much however, whenever
From Psalm 51
It’s past the sabbath time
And the spirit
Of the Lord
Stays with us
Create in me a clean heart
O God
And renew a right spirit
Within me
My favorite psalm
And it’s a good one
Anyway
Because there is a promise
It can happen
Like the washed sins
Becoming like the snow
Though I like
The sense of plea
In this one
We reach out
To God
Invoke God
And ask for God’s involvement
We may ask for this
Each time we read
And think on it
(words with thoughts, Claudius)
Though
The Lord might say
I’ve done it
Clean heart
Right spirit
All is well
Be at peace
And the Lord
Will listen to our plea
All our pleas
Time and again
As much as need
To send over to
The perfect listening
Of the Lord
God Hears Us
Should I shout to God
Or splutter words
Between sobs
Or ask
While sitting on a chair
Before a meeting
Or whisper
God hears me
Every time
God can do that
And hear the prayers
Of everyone
Who speaks
Or thinks
Into that extraordinary network
Where angels might be working
Fast
At fever pitch
We could think
Though they must be even-handed
Being willed to perfection
But beyond fancy
Really
Or what really happens
We don’t know
God hears us
And responds
With reason
And attentiveness
Yes
With a modicum
Of mystery
God’s timing is not ours
More so the wisdom
As we are heard
And loved
Each time
Re-Tool
I wish the news were better
Stabbings in New York
After guns
We’ll have to outlaw knives
Stabbings in many places
I guess they are
Cheap guns
The wars go on
And now
We missile Houthis
And I can’t say
We shouldn’t
Though we have a State Department
That’s pretty big
And pretty busy
I think on the tall trees
And want them to remain
Or to be moved
With the kind of skill
We have
In such things
Rather than topple
Cut down
And cut apart
For tables
Spoons
And toothpicks
And so go our forests
And our oxygen
For ages
Though we might find it hard to breathe
Today
There are wonders
In the woods
And in the animals
No matter where
But so many things that live
And maybe nearly all
Have pain centers
And something for a thought
If only impulse
In something
Like a mind
We could try to relate
Before the slaughter
I really think
We could
I know it would harm industry
Though industry’s
Industrious
And should find something else
As it has
At least when successful
As it can be
Re-think
Re-tool
Re-train
Get governments
Communities
To help
While we get
To keep a world
With more
Positive prosperity
That might engender
More
Good feeling
So we keep
Our knives in drawers
From Out of Town
I am a visitor
More spectator
Than participant
These folk
Know their world
And I am visiting
Without a ticket
Except for love
Saturated
In the invitation
C L Couch
Photo by Jigar Panchal on Unsplash
Worth Keeping
I keep
Thinking
About
War
And war-like things
Like drugs in trade
And
Trafficking
Because one life
Is worthy
Even intensely
And intensely
Valuable
And who are we
To say
We’ll keep this one
Let that one
Go
By paperwork
The gold slip by
Aghast
Or sigh
For boredom
In our sins
We’ll bank another
Somewhere
Else
Conquer
Or imprison
Until
Or while
Each of us is caught
The flesh
For opportunity
Whatever else
Inside
Stays in the boxes
Where we keep
Supplies
Aside
To keep us going
Yet each
Might be a savior
No
You’re wrong
None of us
Shall save
Or even aid
To saving
Through an invention
Or a discourse
To change minds
Toward
New understanding
For a race
To have
To change
For the better
As we could have said
Even
Fantastically
To say
And have
Amazing
Opportunity
If we let each one go
To growth
And with assists
And then so much
Better
For a life
Not an investment for
Money
And for blood
Let each one
Live
Who came into this world
As we say
And say
By mortal hands
And by the Lord
As promises
To planets
And to galaxies
Home
And away
And for each other
One
Two
Keep going
Make a world
And then another one
Worth keeping
C L Couch
Photo by Aman Chaturvedi on Unsplash
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