2 weekend haiku
Saturday crowds green
back and out front glisten ‘round
wider spring’s sunlight
city slides from hill
bushel claims the under-light
weekend gospel press
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photo by Ruslan Zh on Unsplash
devotion to try
(with the help of church to hope)
devotion is
thought
feeling
a decision
we follow God
we pray
and claim to God
in worship
we also learn of God
and faith
and love
agape
together so that
when apart
we might do well
we might do
better
and we take this with us
all of it
devotion overall
to inform and encourage
our response
and our initiative in
living
the six days
and how many hours
and with
a much longer view even of
years and
longer after years
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photo by Amy Tran on Unsplash
in church
I tuned in
they don’t know I’m here
but the God of electrons
which is too small
too residual
for that
to make a difference
to me
except now when I’m thinking of
electrons
and God
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photo by Ronaldo de Oliveira on Unsplash
on line, online—get it?
hymn contemporary
the church’s one foundation
(still) is Jesus Christ, her lord
the church is she
like the damsel in distress
needing rescue
Christ is the hero
drawing her
from the drowning water
cutting her ties
by the villain
to the railroad tracks
like a melodrama
and why not
we’re talking about
villains and heroes
and mortgages
and the need for something better
as in more
than who we are
and we go on to sing
that Jesus will not fail
which is not bad
which is good
in a hero
coda
next hymn
or next version
the church will be a he
and will be rescued
by a she
by the female hero
who is Christ
like Zenobia
or Boudica
but better than the Romans
defeating the inimical
forever
and other genders
or what is genderless
in life
that has life
the organic
I suppose
the inorganic
too
there is a Lord
not only over all
but who is all
to make the rest
only a little separate
in the deified scheme of things
by identity
and purpose
and will
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("The Church's One Foundation" is a Christian hymn; this morning a contemporary fusion of the hymn was shared)
photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash
Nature for Liturgy
This is your day
God
But then
So was yesterday
A litany to you
Could have been
Between the sunset
And moon
Rising
Or even closer
The response
Of branch
To wind
We could guess
The words are everywhere
And should we know
The language
We could antiphon
With
Nature
Find the circles
And to join
Them
In
Nature’s lack of need
To worship
But providing perfect places
For it
All the same
An invitation
All the same
From
The world that
We have
Gradually
Used up
Irony
And gratitude
Shall we apply
In moving
Aside
(inside
or outside)
To be
Here
In splendid
Airy
Easy
(save for awe
mountain peaks
or seeming
depthless
oceans)
Company
In unaware companionship
But offering
The same
Anyway
For our hours
In irony
And gratitude
C L Couch
Photo by Chuck Eugene on Unsplash
beginnings
church seasons
Sunday after
Easter
it will be Easter now
Easter season
for a while
up to Pentecost
the appearance of the Holy Spirit
in
fire and languages
and often thought of
as
a birthdate
for the church
from
then on
there were martyrs
also miracles
and formations
and also
debates
fighting over Antioch
or Jerusalem
and whether or not
to let the Gentiles
in
there would be conversions
teaching
sometimes with warnings
and final prophecies
to warn us
yes
more so
to encourage us
and love us with
hope
there is discipline
and code
baptisms
dedications
confirmation
the faith
begins
for good or ill
for good and ill
the Christian church
belief is risk
it always
has
a countercultural
element
choose
to be comfortable
to wear a mask
to believe
and act
and take a chance
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originally, the poem was not in triplets; but as I looked at what was the last stanza (six lines), I realized that it could and maybe should be made two stanzas of three lines each; then I went back (up) to revise the rest accordingly; I had one line at the top, remaining; I added in what was the title and subtitle to make the first stanza of three lines, then added a new title; sometimes the form comes first; this time it was more or less last
photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Hard-Fought
x
1
It’s been Christmas
x
Time for anyone
Generally
Though call it Christian
If you like
x
The good news
Being
Christmas is
For everyone
Its pagan roots supposed
If not exposed
Its re-interpretation
Now
Undoctrinaire
x
We fight to move
City to city
And then back
And while we’re there
Have only
Worldly expectations
The right recipe
The perfect
Gift
Though true believers
Outside packs
In daylight know
There’s no perfection
Please
x
Expectation
Slaying those
Inside
‘Til they escape
To ten thousand feet
Or more
With extra oxygen
Again
x
2
Quiet believing
Rather
In a country church
Before the altar
Or the table
Utilizing
Oldish forms
For worship
Or maybe
Remembrance alone
x
Faith might be small
Its absence we
Bring with us
Where it is dark by
Candlelight
x
Dim revelations only
Through
Our liturgies
x
But silence
While the world cracks
Outside
We found this hour
To remind ourselves
Within a sect
Of our
Sometimes surprised
Devotion
To the words about
The importance
Of
What’s important
x
3
We’ll take with us
Some revelation
With us
For a while
After
‘Til the urban
And suburban worlds
Shall fall on us
Again
x
Clarity lost like paradise
A cover
We had not requested
Pushing holy air
Inhaled
Out into the dust
From falling
Failing acquisition
We say
Means
Christmas morning
The hours and
Days after
Rather than faith
For acquisition
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash
x
(x= space)
x
x
Triduum-ish
x
let’s try it this way
happy trick-or-treating
get chocolate
enjoy night air
and dressing different
as against the veil
ancestors
disguised themselves
as well
x
then enjoy the day
for the saints
the followers of God
who are alive
and acting
faith and charity
all the time
or who must go
in fits and starts
x
then remember
those who are not here
anymore
but as if another veil
draw near to family
so the tradition
goes
with picnics at gravesites
brightly lit for now
while there are conversations
with the dead
in gratitude
for the proximity
x
a kind of triduum
that is
three special days
nothing incumbent or required
(priests would differ)
except that
we should enjoy
we should take part
we should remember
and also
(you know this)
show up in church
or synagogue
or temple
or mosque
or center
some place holy
every now and then
x
boo
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Cortor Media on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
at church in October in the Midwest
x
it all seems soft
maybe it’s all the sweaters
the quieter voices
fewer musicians
I am not complaining
x
it’s an autumn form
perhaps
an instinctive response
to the response
we settle down
at least a little
like the leaves
upon the ground
we retune ourselves
for a new key
that is the winter sound
the keening through the trees
or soughs
over freezing water
as it takes its time to harden
to protect
‘til summer
everything that lives beneath
x
we live protected by the Lord
beneath
above
anywhere we live
slow or fast
we breathe
we try
we pause
to worship
to ask more of our protector
and to say thanks
thank you
Lord
for slower seasons
autumn into winter
for an hour
here and there
to stop
to understand
who is Lord
(who is not)
and why
x
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x
x
photo by Lucas George Wendt on Unsplash
x
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