my word
(as some say)
I have Bibles around
though having
well
that’s nothing like opening them
and
it’s been an awful summer
and
maybe had I opened one of these more often
I’d have had
not no problems
but closer
to solutions
which
I know sounds quaint
if not
antique to some
but since life and
death
is described and taken on
maybe not such work for doilies
after all
with humor
look up
Balaam
and sex
look at the words
the works
of Solomon
also
Judith
with
all the violence
finally
an end to Earth
with the promise of what comes next
c l couch
photo by Jessica Mangano on Unsplash
uncommon unsense
the prophet helps
a widow
and
when the prophet needs
ravens helps with food
making up for that business
with the ark
all the people needed food
and so food
fell
needed water
too
which poured for them
from barren places
and so
wandering the wilderness
still cannot
be comfortable
but
at least keep folk alive
meanwhile
by
basics
David thinks he needs Bathsheba
though that is
another kind of interest
not
like food and water
whatever the king might feel
he needs
as he wants
food and
drink
from her
blind
needing sight
the lame to walk
the awful sick to have some healing
that
provides a reason
there are stories
too
of prodigals repenting and returning home
of
good Samaritans while
Samaritans are not credited
so much
of parents withholding stones from children
so that giving
bread
has fulsome space as
well as love
need
and response
and
I suppose when honest
still the answer might be
no
or no
for now
frustrating how the interactions
go
in our relationship with divine
whose terms are
to
keep the evidence
of such
unseen or
otherwise unsensed
c l couch
photo by Vadym on Unsplash
you, the season, and the Bible (3 poems)
the Tuesday verse
it’s Tuesday
how
are you
well
I hope
and
if not on your way toward
becoming well
and more
I don’t know what kind
of day you’ll have
today
maybe one of actual prosperity
or
to refine only
hope for
more
maybe there will be peace
this day
though there might be conflict
just
as well
the world as it is
we know
here it happens to be
raining and it’s
cooler
it might be raining where you are
as well
as
it falls near
everyone
even in the desert now
and
then
a happy Tuesday to you
and we try to raise our thoughts
toward
a Wednesday with
an even
better view
maybe weather
notwithstanding
or
altering
the longest day
the solstice is approaching
Midsummer
or
Saint John’s
and then the days grow shorter
though it’s
summer
and we think if in irony of longer
days
relish
in fact
the light of day that lingers as a cue
for picnics and vacations
or
simply to take in
because of the gradients of
blue
and then
the stars appear to dance
to twinkle through the atmosphere
at least
in the summer hours we have
which
will grow longer for them
maybe in the dark of only this time
of year
we’ll also think of kick-the-can and
capture-the-
flag
time and talent
Jesus wept
the reputed shortest verse
though
it’s a matter of numbering and syntax
of translators
and
then getting by the editors in
the inspired process
and maybe new translations
paraphrases
challenge other parts for that epithet
say
to write in Genesis
God made
or maybe to try
only
God
c l couch
photo by Wenying Yuan on Unsplash
house of affliction
it’s a hard story
and an odd
one
about Lazarus
who died
and Jesus delayed in coming
to the family
while Lazarus was ill
so Jesus was not there in
time
to Bethany
maybe
to heal Lazarus
while alive
and
didn’t we know by now that Jesus could
do this
though now he couldn’t fix
even with mud
or adjuration
because
Lazarus was beyond
even extraordinary healing
but his
spirit gone
the body wrapped and thus entombed
and when
Jesus got there
did he not receive some scolding
for his
lateness
though such comments borne in love no
doubt
and Jesus moved now
toward
the tomb of Lazarus
regardless
and
even though he was warned
away out of
practical considerations of
how might be the body after time
had
passed
but Jesus
as if all could know
was
sad
as if stricken for the life of Lazarus now
gone from Earth
and
we know
Jesus
wept
and then turned from crying
toward
commanding as
he might rebuke the storm at sea
or take on the Pharisees
of the day
ordering the gravestone to be pushed or pulled
away
and then
more stentorian
I think to call
to
shout
that Lazarus should
come out
and
still wrapped
in
shroud cloth
did
Lazarus
appear
and there should be fear
with reason
and then after the certainty of life
the certainty of
joy
and
for those who think
only a God
if God
can return to life
even on
Earth
well
here’s our story
of a human only human who
got to do that
not
to show us how but
to return
and then to show us how
c l couch
John 11
image provided by Europeana at Unsplash
Unlikely Sabbath
(a kind of call to worship)
We
Understand
Misunderstand
(together)
The sabbath
As a time to go to church
To pray
Officially
For things we might remember
Afterward
Then be free of all of it
For food
For games
For preparing all the real time
To follow
The next day
Or
Instantly
As we might be driven
Driving
That is
Ourselves
But is the sabbath more than services
And really
Was it ever
Well
Ancient reminders
I suppose
The priests to the people
Saying
Or as if to say
By the tent
Then by the temple
In here is the
Holy of holies
Don’t forget it
Don’t forget
Our dedication
So
What is the sabbath
We might
Wonder
Being first
A seventh day
Created
A day for God to rest
And so
A model for
Ourselves
Modeled after God
After all
And so
First week
Completed
And so
Laid out for us
Six days of creating
Then a day
This day
To keep it holy
As in set apart
For
A spiritual reason
Like the fruits of
Field and vine
Set apart
For spiritual
Remembrance
And
I don’t know what
To say
Anymore
Except that it was
Said
Thank goodness not by me
To remember
As in have
The sabbath
It’s a discipline
To rest
An invitation
To play well
To remember
The source
Of love
And everything
That’s good
C L Couch
Photo by Sai De Silva on Unsplash
A Little Monday-Morning Catechism
(from having the History Channel on)
warming up—
Did God make the rock?
Yes
Is God the rock?
No
now the heart of it—
Is the Bible real?
Yes
Is the Bible true?
Yes
Is the Bible story?
Is it myth?
Yes and Yes
Did the things in it happen
(ark and ark and such)?
Why, yes
Is the Bible also metaphor?
You bet
And fable (fabula), allegory,
song, and liturgy
It’s all these things
and more
It’s also real and true
a storybook
a manual for life
by first prescribing faith
Mostly, the Bible is
a story about God and us
How God moved
How everything was made
(and was good
work)
The morally static
cosmos
and then us
and then the sabbath
When God rested
showing us
that we should do the same
It is a special book
A series of books
A book of life
Truth or consequences
A book not without humor
too
(ask Balaam’s ass)
A book that saves
though
like most books
only through engagement
Meaning
read the thing
hear it
try to own it
even with all of its absurdities
that one might think
a holy book
should not have
but this one does
As it is
a book of faith
and love
C L Couch
Photo by Daniel Morton on Unsplash
One of the Least
I’m sorry
But
I feel badly for
The goats
Though I suppose
We should
Think of them
Like the Dwarfs in Narnia
In the last
Battle
Which is not
To think of them
At all
For their will
Leaves them behind
While we run on
To real
After-judgment
Narnia
But what if we
Had fed
The goats
Clothed them
Visited them
In prison
And was that all for naught
Nothing worthwhile
Investing
For their intransigence
Regarding
Faith
Beyond what was the walls
They knew
I don’t know
Presuming
We who do the asking
Are all sheep
As well
And are we saved
So securely
Well
Yes
We are
Which is not the issue
Being that
Of superiority
Of calling
And of giving
In that
We can’t guarantee
A thing
For an outcome
And
Don’t bother trying
Keep giving
With the basic things
Maybe the abstract
Sometimes
Should the goats
Want
A conversation
I don’t know
Poor goats
I’m sorry
Poor sheep
Too
I guess
For knowing
And for loving
A goat
Or abstractly
All the goats
Matthew 25:31-41
C L Couch
Photo by Devon Wilson on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Rhapsody in Bible
x
God
You are good
You love us
Always
And anyway
x
I’m sure it’s in there
Though I can make
Only pages with
Neat typing
Of blurred letters
As I try
x
And then the stream
The invitation
And a wall of rooms
That somehow
Turn into mansions
Promise of two verses
About paradise
About
You know
Dwelling in the house
Of the Lord
x
There are numbers on the pages
Small headlines
Aids from time
Which were not in
The original
Black pages
Into mod
(it was the sixties
into seventies
for us)
And now the church
All wood
And mullions
With a clock that I could see
When in the choir
Set in the center
So the pastor be reminded
(by the clock
committee)
Of the time
For preaching
And when
To wrap it up
x
I received my Bible there
I think
Or in the rooms
For Sunday School
Which had checked floors
Of tile
Room dividers
In the wing
That had been built
Before I got there
And a breezeway
Over the drive
x
But this is building stuff
And the pages
Pages stuff
What of the truth that’s in there
And it’s in there
I can recall without the images
Though they come
Anyway
The verses and the truth inside
x
Create in me
A clean heart
O God
And renew a right spirit
Within me
x
And that’s only to begin
The faith
And transformation
Needed
That we learn about
In there
x
C L Couch
x
x
from Psalm 51
(followed by
Cast me not away
from thy presence
and take not thy holy spirit
from me
x
which happened to Saul
by the way
at the nadir
of his life
as king
appointed by the prophet
who got directions
from the Lord
to look for someone tall
and
well
kingly
for a tragic irony
as things turned out)
x
sorry, I got into a kind of coda
(that a kind of song, could be a psalm, might have)
x
x
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
women’s Bible study
x
I should mention the women
Eve
Rebecca
Rachel
Sarah
Miriam
Jezebel
Ruth
Esther
Judith
(whom for strength
perhaps
the Protestants
excoriate)
Susanna
Mary
Elizabeth
the woman at table
the woman at the well
(without a name)
the woman in adultery
(without the man)
Mary
Martha
Mary
Mary
Sapporah
Priscilla
the women in
the final revelation
x
they shouldn’t have to be a block
a ledger of names
and credits after
though we treat the men the same
and maybe God
matters of categories
x
and are these women metaphors
yes
in addition to blood-and-muscled lives
one by one
to save the rest
and
sacred
and secular
bring salvation
into light
and also night
all the hours
all the real stories
toward eternity
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Prince Akachi on Unsplash
x
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