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The Way to God

(x = space)

x

x

The Way to God

(or, Mystics Are Confounding)

x

God guide us

Does God guide us

Seems

We decide

To take the step

To the right

Or to the left

x

How much is up to us

Why

(and then)

Why

Just about everything

I think

We might want

To go on the path of God

To God

And there might be clues

Insight

Perhaps

Bristly sensation

‘Cause a treasure hunt

If run

And this would be

The richest one

To have

To hoard

Perhaps

(though hoarding really

is no fun)

Better to share

Especially as some of it

Is news

x

But

Come on

Too much is invisible

A code

Without an artifact

Some books that might be changing

And we argue all the time

x

So maybe we hope

For approval

On the way and afterward

Which isn’t gold

But is heaven

That in jazz of virtue

Sometimes perplexing

Ain’t all bad

x

Don’t mean a thing

If it ain’t got that

Je ne se pas

Karl someone said that

(with an “It” as in “It don’t”)

Paas (like eggs)

Haas

Or who is Schickele

A syllable

A couple of Es away

From an adverb

x

Well

Someone

Something

Help us

Please

Maybe a map

On the pages

Or inside a leaf

Inspired (for the books)

By the leaf

That falls

These days

From trees

And set some kind of standard

x

They

Often fall on paths

While one path of the paths

We seek

Who knows

Nature might show the way

Overall

x

Or at least in part

Or parts

Sigh

Where are the arrows

Where is the angel

Pointing

Not much for a duty

But then

One has been assigned

To raise a flaming sword

Outside of Eden

Since the

Lapsarian

Moment

x

So many mysteries

And what we want

Is God-directed

Without mystic

Understanding

(though Ms Underhill

teaches

we all might

have it to use)

x

Well

We find our way

We do our best

Maybe we rather

Act like blocks

Sculpted

Undivinely

Because we favor

Hammers

Of agendas

x

The rest of us

Then

Try

To find a way

To go a way

To find the treasure

Of the Lord

Which is the same

As one who’s somehow

With us

Now

x

C L Couch

x

x

Karl Haas composed and hosted a radio show about Classical music; he was famous for his deeply-intoned greeting, “Hello, everyone.”  Peter Schickele also hosted (hosts) a radio show wherein (for the closing) he told us to remember that, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that je ne se pas.”  (A comic re-rendering of the line (and title) “I don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing” by Duke Ellington.)

Evelyn Underhill was a mystic and writer who composed Practical Mysticism: A Little Book for Normal People.

And may I annotate myself?

x

Photo by Gabriel Jimenez on Unsplash

Ancient Stump

x

1

The Heart

(x = space)

x

x

The Heart

x

I breathe a little

Saturday morning

Last moments

Before noon

When I would be called upon

For chores

Last free moments

Watching another show

As an excuse

Pretending its significance

x

Did I have a heart defect

Back then

We’ll never know

Or was I put to work

Too soon

Or was it the lesson that

Work is bad

And I should only be glad

When it’s done

x

Whichever way

I was a child who

Wanted to

Escape

And on rainy days

I sat in a chair next to a lamp

In the room saved for

Official company

And rather than

All that

I took the quiet

And went into books

With

Stories that saved

x

The mind

The heart

Everything that mattered

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Matt Seymour on Unsplash

x

0

excerpt from “The Heart”

(x = space)

x

x

excerpt from “The Heart”

x

I was a child who

Wanted to

Escape

And on rainy days

I sat in a chair next to a lamp

In the room saved for

Official company

And rather than

All that

I took the quiet

And went into books

With

Stories that saved

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Amaan Ali on Unsplash

x

3

Good Books

(x = space)

x

x

Good Books

x

You know,

It is a good book

x

The pastor also quoted

From The Quran

Today;

Maybe I missed

The intent

(there was some talk about it, after),

But for me

It was a good

Refreshing moment

x

And I imagine there are good (refreshing) things

In The Upanishads

x

How about The Mishnah?

Theogony by Hesiod who

Believed

And

(yes, it’s cheek)

The House at Pooh Corner,

Which is not religious

But is pleasant

And spiritual

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Masjid Pogung Dalangan on Unsplash

x

3

Banned Books Week

(x = space)

x

x

Banned Books Week

x

We put the titles

On a cup

And I see books I have enjoyed

And those I could have

Lived without,

Which means discretion

Not the better part of valor

The valor is in standing up for books

With earnest stories

And a style

And all of us

Won’t like all of them

And that’s all right

That is democracy

That I hear is a fine thing

For neighborhoods and nations

And a floating planet

Wanting the approval of gravity

In the cosmos

x

Banning books

Is a step

Not an easy step, I hope,

To burning books

And, you know, books of religion

Should they be read

Are the first ones to go

Books of the human spirit—well,

That might be all of them—go

Next

And we are left

Without touchstones,

The things that keep ideas for us

From slipping unanchored

Into a seastorm and the winds

Of every doctrine

x

If there is beauty in a book

We should preserve it

If there is truth as well,

That’s better

(Keats is on to something)

If it’s dull, it won’t matter

In the thought

And will ban itself

x

Children are not stupid

They’re not grown-up, either

There are grown-ups all around

Who must be wise

Keep matches from the books

Keep censoring away

Don’t throw everything

At everyone

Let children be children

Let them learn

Let them grow

Rethink the considerations of them

As a laborforce

For ideas

They are Cook

Without agenda

We are Endeavour

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

x

1

Prized

(x = space)

x

x

Prized

x

God’s will

I treat it like a puzzle

A mystery

A riddle

x

The prize

For being smart enough

For endurance

For cleverness I don’t really possess

Is success and later on

Salvation

I win at last

x

Except I think, liturgically,

That the truth is not in me

Or anyone who thinks and contrives

Philosophy this way

x

God is not a puzzle

(I like puzzles

and I hope you do)

There is a clarity

Like the still waters

God takes us beside

Willing

To point out the deep parts

x

Skywriting isn’t necessary

(relief for Dorothy)

Read the code for life inside the books

Or listen

Listen, anyway

It’s easy

As it’s easy

x

There are commandments

There are two prioritized

There is a parable of sheep and goats

(poor goats)

x

These are enough

To take us through the day

A season

A life

And should we like to choose

Life after

x

Mysticism, symbolism

Are for other verses

So to coin a phrase

That serves the here and now

x

That’s all, folks

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by dylan nolte on Unsplash

x

3

First Story

(x = space)

x

x

First Story

x

The Bible is a book

Stories, sometimes

Told in poetry

The thinking of a people

And, certainly, their feelings

Faith based on

Invisibility

Not to be fanciful

But there’s a lack of evidence

That is the design

x

A collection of books,

We say

Sixty-six or seventy-two

There are reasons

For the difference, we’re told

But some of us

Are wondering if

Judith was left out

By the Protestants

Because she is so heroic

While also

Scolding

Cowering men

x

But take our pick, it’s still

An impressive collection

There is truth in it

In the one story, overall

Parts of the world

That point to it

Pages on leaves,

Waves telling it aloud

And other texts

And other storytellers

x

It’s a book of faith

Behind that, it’s a book of love

That was the first purpose

The pleasure in the making,

We can only guess

The peace,

We’re told, is passing understanding,

Too

But maybe we can take

A guess at love

We can think it

We can think it through

We can feel it

We can feel it through

x

The story is compelling

As it is pervasive

We can enjoy it

(try the creating)

We can be persuaded

We can be grossed out from

Time to time

We can be changed

We can be saved

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Aleksei Ieshkin on Unsplash

x

1

Following

Following

 

I have to get rid of things

So many books in boxes

Don’t worry, I’ve got some

Hundreds still, around

 

If they should take in mold

And mildew, well, they will

Though I’ve taken to

Dry atmospheres as well

 

Too many than I’ll read

They’ll live in piles, waiting

For the ones who will come

After—eager or indifferent

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Venice, Italy

 

11

A Holiday Carrel

A Holiday Carrel

 

Stacks of books

I’m moving them around

And culling some

To say I have too many is

To understate

They have meaning inside

Also understates

They have meaning on the outside, too

Color, texture, haptic sensations

Simply looking

Reminders that the world

Is bigger than the walls

That freedom is intentional

It takes a process

To be published

 

C L Couch

 

 

Bibliomania

Di tabaluga – Opera propria, GPL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5800206

Da Wikipedia, l’enciclopedia libera.

 

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