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giftly exchange

(x = space)

x

x

giftly exchange

x

there is no morning rush

where to

after all

x

the rush remains

inside our heads

and challenged

if not sated

by what’s going on

not on the street

but inside

all our homes

or

alternatively-shifted places

x

it might be nothing

might be plenty

lights

ribboned boxes

food

the ordinary

mixed with special

become special

everything

because the time

is measured

and remembered

differently

x

it might mean something

we might go to church

there might

be presents

and be meals

with some things that we do

most days

with just a hint of special

in the room

and in the air

traversing

x

singers

say

it’s Christmas

if we let them

if we play the radio

or playlists

from our system

x

we might remember

anyway

and think on it

relaxing into

maybe

the day off

and maybe one more

to sip

to sigh

to say

that’s all right

enjoy that

merry Christmas

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by Dušan veverkolog on Unsplash

x

4

having been incarnated

(x = space)

x

x

having been incarnated

x

oh

God

we say

you’re born

you’ve slipped inside

the pacing

of the world

flesh cells

adapting

to our measure

to our growth

and our decay

three score and ten

how does it

feel

x

I guess you knew

what this was

and is the human part

surprised

by mortal beats

the skipping

of the heart

outside

the rhythm

as we say

of the spheres

x

and are you well

will you

catch cold

or get mumps

have influenza

as our children must

from time to time

it seems

x

and you

will endure

(you must)

though it won’t be

so comfortable

with chicken pox

x

and then

grown-up

to feel

all that we feel

and think inside the vacuum

the shell

of thoughts

inhabiting the skull

and not much further on

nothing like

the mindset

you must know

inside eternity

and Godhead

x

and there are feelings

in the chest

desire

for the nation

yes

and only

for your own

because you are

humanly

entitled

x

yet what shall you have

when your body

it turns out

is for a cause

even

perhaps part of a plan

to cheat mortality

like the stratagems

of Pharisees

or statues of

self-styled kings

or emperors

x

Rome and Judea

and there is Parthia

and Britain

way-off China

and there’s India

and there are first people

everywhere

who belong

where they have moved

and stopped

and finally

no place to move

with what they have

for moving

x

all the people

of the Earth

post-Alexander

and never having known

Alexandrian expansion

or Roman roads

connecting

a known world

x

yet

are you here

for these

everywhere

which means

you might be here for us

here and now

x

I suppose

the other two

of you

will out

while you alone

are limited

while you must live here

with only us

for easy company

and reaching out

like us

often alone

sometimes in groups

though only through the shell

as we must beseech

mortally

unto the Lord

with questions

asking of a will

we do not understand

yet we believe

is there

x

how frustrating to be human

welcome here

we wish you well

we really do

because should we encounter you

there are stories

about something special

from you

something even

we don’t know

rescuing

about you

even in the flesh

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash

x

0

Babe

(x = space)

x

x

Babe

x

Advent 4

That sometimes falls on Christmas Eve

Smooshing our liturgies

Though sometimes it is Christmas day

For greater smooshing

x

We light four candles now

From sources

Matches

Friction inside brass cases

Long metal sticks with flames

Other candles

x

There is a fifth candle

Waiting

Which doesn’t stand for anything

No merging of symbols

Or guesses at tradition

It is Christ’s candle

It means Christ

Alone

x

The baby born at last

Who came to term

In Advent

And in that

A hurrying of the season

One month

While eight months somehow

Happened somewhere else

In ordinary time

Perhaps

A mother

Would know how to count

x

But Christ

Soon will be born

Another season

Lasting something like

Twelve days

Twelve days to celebrate

To sing like angels

With the fact they sing

Though nothing

Like their song

Their heavenly keys

Supernal rhythms

x

So this is the last

Before he comes

Anticipation’s nearly done

And (nearly) all our candles lit

We know

We are illumined

As much as we shall have

Before arrival

This final lesson

Only

x

In that

Christ arrives

Christ arrives

Not only once a year

Though once

As a liturgical

Baby

x

There’s

Dedication

While the rest of the time

He’s pretty grown

With grown-up things to say

x

Though he elevates

Other children

In the notion that

Innocence

Unworldly honesty

Make the way to lead

As well as

How to live

x

So ask for blessings

On the child

For we might not know

Where God ends

And the human part begins

x

There might be surprise

And pain

To have come into the world

The way as all

Like us

Who arrive

And now to live here

With us

For us all

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Anna Vander Stel on Unsplash

x

2

some poems for you today

(x = space)

x

x

some poems for you today

(some poems of the day)

x

x

night will come on

x

second full day of winter

a thoughtful day

perhaps

x

day before the night

before the day

still a blue or purple day

white or gold

in the offing

x

another yet another

gray day outside

to look at it

to feel it

too

there’s something of a chill

x

maybe it’s three ghosts

warming up

in an ethereal bullpen

before descending upon London

or wherever

whoever Scrooge

might try to sleep

inside posts of tarnished gold

having eaten

unappreciated food

and nothing for the child

Want or Ignorance

not yet

x

we can await

transition

transformation

of a night

in a great story

sometimes on Earth

the real Earth

to know

x

x

the allusion is, of course, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, often published with other Christmas stories

x

x

multiplicity

x

sigh

a great God

comes to Earth

having been here already

shooed us from the

garden

set an angel with a sword

to keep us out

should we find it

however accidently

once again

x

a God

who’s always here

already

thus begging a confusion

since we make a deal

of God arriving

though God is here

x

well

the ancients

didn’t have that problem

paradox in time

like characters

from Bible stories

costumed as one’s own

also

in Old English

for example

without a future tense

x

so that

every time is now

and the next thing

and the thing

that was

no worries

x

God is always here

always arriving

too

everything a kind of participle

or a gerund

the subject in or as

a tense

that is all timelines

all the time

x

confused mortality

perhaps

yet replicating

meter of a chaosed clock

that has numbers

that

for the sake of our philosophy

are movable

forgettable

in the exigencies

of moments’

having

and remembering

also anticipating

x

always the birth

always the apocalypse

as well

meaning that

time and meaning

have all seeds

and growth

and harvest

with all accounts

as with all stories

every gospel

all the same

with kairos room for change

here and now

and then

and what’s to come

all the same

here

and in a kind of ancient

(that means contemporary

too)

crazy and amenable

as now

x

was

is

will

as now

x

bless our ancients

for knowing something

of

the ways things magically

and really are

today

from yesterday

into divine best-guessing

for tomorrow

x

x

servile

x

what shall we say

that’s permanent

except that God is love

God is a spirit

plus all better metaphors

a rock

a lion

x

who has an investment

in every good

and reasoned thing

in need

for us to call it miracle

x

water from

desert stone

food in ravens’ mouths

that they abey

until

delivery

x

God strives

to keep the prophets

whole

for the rest of us to

hear

and to absorb

the entire

story

letting

the wisdom

and the warnings

to soak in

through all

our cells

supernal messages

easier metaphors

for meaning

x

no riddles

save for fun

sometimes erudition

(though the simple ones

are better

aren’t they

Bilbo)

no requirements

beyond a willing

and created nature

x

there being

no stars for gain

(there are no Sneetches

and there is no

McBean)

no refectories

with sainted machines

dispensing

when the answer

or indulgence

might be right

that is

Earthly correct

x

rather leave

our kitchens

for serving

real food

for need

and in a turn

for pleasure

since there’s no reason

service should not be

pleasant

as well as exigent

with even

seasons to remember

the life outside

inside

x

the gospel within

food

perhaps

though better

after

so that we might be

sated twice

with victuals

and nourishment

from stories

forgetting not

our own

x

x

the clock that smiles

x

tomorrow go to church

or last night

this evening

later the next day

until the sun

decides

to set

and an indulgent clock

must by the maker

say

it’s had enough

x

there is this morning

too

there is right now

and shall we worship

God

inside a heartbeat

savoring the next

secured

inside

the believing beat

of now

x

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by Dominic Tham on Unsplash

x

x

God bless

our in-between days

x

1

Exiled

(x = space)

x

x

Exiled

x

Oh

God

Shall we have

A good season

Together

The year has started

And now

Another season

x

Intentions

Overlap

You come into the world

And you are here

The Earth tilts

And always

Has

Far as we know

x

Turns

Like a top

A toy to such as you

Though you

Are not a giant god

That way

x

You play

But not with us as

Playthings

Upon the Earth

An unrolled

Plastic battlefield

x

We toy each other

Which is

An eldritch lesson

We came up with

On our own

x

Objectify

‘Til someone doesn’t matter

Like Cain

Like everyone in western Asia

Like anyone who’s different

Over here

x

We need a season

Need the time

But shall we be reborn

With remembrance

Of a real birth

To save the nations

Ransom

Captive Israel

Then all the rest

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Jorge Fernández Salas on Unsplash

x

1

Released

(x = space)

x

x

Released

x

Winter starts tomorrow

Summer to the south

There is no snow forecasted

(in the north)

For a while

Another drier

Warmer

Winter time

Which is all right

For fear of snow

Blizzard and ice

That keep us in

With or without

The victuals we might need

(for all precautions)

But in terms of sleeping ground

The frozen seeds

The insects

Everything that hibernates

The warmth unseasonal

Won’t help

And we’ll awake to spring

Plus winter in the south

That isn’t right

That imbalances

That takes away the timing

That Earth needs

And all upon it

x

Yes

There’s climate change

And eldritch melting

At the poles

Interesting for observation

And for extracting mammoth bones

Maybe not so promising

For what else

Might be released

Into the air

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by yasin hemmati on Unsplash

x

2

Lean To

(x = space)

x

x

Lean To

x

Tomorrow is the solstice

Light a fire

At least inside

To illuminate

The difference should

We notice

The Earth

Starting to lean

The other way

x

Toward spring

But through the winter

First

At least in this

Our half the sphere

With summer

To the south

Where

Who might also wonder

What we’re doing

Upside-down

x

A fire

To light up

To redefine the shadows

Make them sharper

And more welcoming

For shadow-beings

And the

Shadow parts of us

x

The Earth should turn

All worlds should turn

Since

In turning

There is gravity

And life

And with so many

Moving

Lights

Boundaried by dark

So that both

May show the way

x

Through the seasons

Of the cosmos

Back to our minds

For reasoning

And imagining

Our place

Ringed inside everything

And the part

We cannot contain

Even inside ourselves

Because the abstract

Hook

Containers

With the infinite

For reason

And imagination

x

Rendering all borders

Malleable

If not changeable

The way the seasons

Change

Yet look

To stay the same

x

We are changeable

Unchangeable

Like Earth

And everything we lean on

While it leans

Like an invitation

To try something

Maybe straight

Like equinoxes

Maybe bent

Like the invitation

In the solstices

And all the life

Moving foundation

As it were

For the inventing

Co-creation

Inside

In between

All the round

Seasons

Leaned into

Also

Broken

Wondrously by

New days

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Sarah Tona on Unsplash

x

2

Sci-Fied

(x = space)

x

x

Partly inspired by “There Will Come Soft Rains,” a chapter in The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.  This part of the story speaks to what is left of us.  The chapter’s sad.  Nonetheless I often think upon it.

x

x

Sci-Fied

x

Should the bombs fall

And I am atomized

And you

And the insects shall find

Nourishment

Not through flesh

(I’m atomized

so are you)

But through bits of trash

I had not the time

To take our back

x

And shall the Earth survive

To have another age

x

I remember

In the days of Strontium

We said we could

Destroy the planet’s crust

And so leave

The molten mass

The could heave

Or be

Settled down

x

Nostalgia

For a future guess

x

The Earth might have

Its own

As it once held us

There could be bees

And flowers for the bees

Or something

For pollen

So that something could

Pollenate

And there be land

With flora

Feeding

And softening

What’s left of our platforms

For another age

Of Earth

x

Arthropodic

Or could it be with feathers

Things that move

And have their being

Avoiding shadows

Form which

There used to be

Something in charge

Though now

The lesson’s different

This time

The arthropods

And feathered things

Have sentience

And speak gospel

x

While the Earth

In its own way

We never got

Though it was there

Shall smile

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash

x

0

the deep

(x = space)

x

x

the deep

x

and God

I know you’re here

you’re always here

thank goodness

in

the quiet

and noise

sometimes the shame

or simply the embarrassment

in doubt

in pride

in vanity

x

I learned

no height

or pit

no place

either

where you are

are not

x

you’ll find me

where I am

and as I am

not so much

because of me

but because

of who you are

the spirit

and the way

x

life

direction

comfort in the cold

shade in heat

clearness

when in doubt

identity

when everything

inside is lost

and no one knows

the goodness

in creation

or the facts

of the next day

x

you are there

you are here

we have a chance

and better

roll the dice

palm the token

‘round the neck

or in the pocket

x

they are not needed

but we like

our things

x

comfort in the cold

shade when it is hot

water

when it’s necessary

and all the rest

while

we are here

in dreams

or vanity of waking

x

no height

or depth

so far

we do not know you

or you don’t reach

to take us

anyway

x

c l couch

x

“There is no pit so deep God’s love is not deeper still.“

Betsie ten Boom to Corrie

x

x

photo by Eric Muhr on Unsplash

x

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