knowing how to live
O God
on a sunny day
I could wish I were
in
Bible study
I know
some would say I don’t know how
to live
much less how to prize a sunny day
but
I don’t know
clean room
a group of us
we
act clean
the words of Scripture clearly on the page
and we hear and we
discuss
kind interaction and somehow
authentic for
our
loves
and for our growth
for the beauty of the Earth
glory
in the skies
we will see through the window
sorry
there should be a window
and
feel after when we take part
in the outside world
God had
made
and about which we have the story
with
a gospel
c l couch
(“For the Beauty of the Earth” is the hymn cited and to which alluded; the author of the hymn is Folliott Sandford Pierpoint)
Earth Day
photo by Dima Serafin on Unsplash
“A Bee in Snowdrops”
2 poems for a Friday in Lent
the ungood Friday
well through Lent
it could be Good Friday
since it is
the season so we’ll be associating
anyway
and this is an irony of good as
well
as there’s a featureless covering of gray
lacking definition
and for a word
would mean no meaning
gray to hear
gray inside as well
there is no joy under here
we scurry
rather
not like rats
rats scurry like us
a blank day without mercy like
that good
day
enacted
coming in two Fridays or so
above all other
word
the word is genesis
to tell the story
and
to have the story happen
first enacting
word that makes
that made
and keeps on creating
the word that is a person
and a telling
with
an action
all words subserve
as all matter underserves the perfect
omnipresent
a word
who is
such power in a unit of some letters
though from the alphabet
of God and should
there be another word
well
there could be three words
to realize
all others
and
by way of existing first
for all should offer meaning
as
words do
though taking care
as these words insist
and if you want
read
the first of John and following
aware of oddity regarding
words that
act
with nothing but the word
to make things happen
one little word shall fell him.
4 That Word above all earthly powers
no thanks to them abideth;
(translated) Martin Luther contending with “prince of darkness”
c l couch
photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash
the work of art
maybe it’s the tension of creation
of sensing
something different
to be
remade
and so reconsidered
there’s simply the beauty
in the difference
of the thing
colors
angles used in other ways
untypical
exhibiting by protest no matter
how
genial
the showing and
the gathering
the sips of wine and such
the room décor
the thing
once owned
should complement
though there was the making
and the message with
remains
to rise
time and again
through the risks of close
appreciation
and
reaction
c l couch
photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
praying about creations
God
are you out there
are you
in here
there is matter
there are spirits
there
is energy
and how many planes
through which
to live
we have this
self
we look through skin
with eyes and more than eyes
and less
we are alive
Earth is
alive
with even rock that moves
though let science determine
investiture
by measurement
and let us live
with
what we have
the wonders of exchange
cohabitation
of
matter and movement
oxygen
and carbon
a touch of supernal creation
to begin
and to carry into what is next
mystery
miracle
energy and matter
in
the exchange we know
and then a language with translation
only yours to speak
to generate
to sing into existence
afterward
maybe
first
a paradise to bear of explanation
and if you say
amen
c l couch
photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
in the big inning
in Jewish and in Christian
lores
there are creation stories told
more than once
and in parts
many times
even Jesus
said to be there
calling the beginning of the essences
become
reality
and there are stories of us
and how we came to be
and way
made one perhaps
made two
without doubt
a sin of consumption
followed by
what might be more a problem of
division
then to rationalize mistakes and so
prescribe the direction
they must follow
all three
all four
for God had made that rock
that God could not
move
because like biased gravity
God’s will
must be mediated
by God’s will
that is leant by God’s
love
in love
and in joy’s promise
all was made by God and to the host
and to the cosmos
and to us
and after all the dreadful plan must work
there is like
Pandora
one thing left
the second thing of tripartite
things
being faith
and love
and to fix the world
is hope
say
faith the reason
love the means
hope
the vision
as in why bother in the first place
and this is lore
and this is
myth
and we interpret as we guess
from our experience
and there are many stories
we should read and respect them all
to know
beginnings
explain the present
situations
and
(via
hope)
respect the promise of the future
that
tells us how to believe
and think
and act
respecting all traditions
in their dovetailing
and as they work out
to reveal in time
(both
ways)
the first and final reasons
revelations
n.b.
and
yes
I know that you might want
to say that God’s not part of this
no more
and we are on our own
and maybe always
eschewing partnership
as if Michelangelo should have no faith
and the lone
wolf
an honest perception
though it’s not
wolves living together
monogamous
in families
that
despite the isolation earnestly
perspective
there is more joining than a separation
more
that are joined
than all the pages of betrayal attempt
to testify
and
the main message that
we’re on our own
we’re not
c l couch
photo by Shishir Iyer on Unsplash
a telling of creation
what is the sense of things
in creation
first nothing
we suppose
and then something
a sound
perhaps
and then some light
to they
could see
what they were doing
though I imagine
angels who were
blind
or deaf
could know something
was happening
the light from dark
or light and
dark
that is
two halves
both being worthy
then some water
black
and barely lit
and then some land
pushed up
somehow
by a hand
that might like molding
or making
in another way
and the land shall need
the sun and moon
water already
extant
and now some creatures
on the land
there already being
beings
in the water
and everyone will need fed
and so have plants
for food
as well as beauty
and we shall say that
this is good
and who shall say
hmm
we need someone
on Earth
to day
and so we make some people
mold them wondrously
such beauty
from the ground
and they shall have five senses
mainly
though not all
with all
and they shall speak
who can
or gesture
or express in another way
everything
to say the act of making
to a lesser degree
but make that noise
anyway
and then settle into
utterances
that God can understand
(having made language)
and they
and we
can understand each other
understanding
being a first feature
in the mind
of creation
and to degrees
our own
based on something else
the riskiest thing
to have been made
and how the angels
might have argue
over this
a thing
it seems
they do not have
though
once beholding
might argue
for
in angel-workers
negotiating with
the boss
and it’s will
of course
the wish
the dream
the mind
the spirit
and the choice
to think
and also feel
to decide
and first
one’s course through Eden
and then
the names of animals
then after
all the sadnesses
a course on Earth
and all the things on Earth
to get
to know
c l couch
photo by Elvis Bekmanis on Unsplash
The Ascent
Creation
Foundation
Re-creation
What remains the same
What changes
We cycle through
We break the cycles
Or they’re broken
For us
Inventions all around
Adaptations
Also what is newly made
With materials of Earth
Sometimes of us
The controversy
What might we interject
Though we haven’t changed a generation
On our own
Except in that
We have more things
Sometimes for more time
And then fill the time with
Pursuits
Playful
Progressive
Or vainglorious
Are we stages
Phases
Headed toward a final place
A seeing place
A hearing place
A place to touch
And on
Which could be battlefield
Or a launching platform
To meet divinity’s wider hand
As we are
Able
Having chosen virtues
Carefully
And as a better planet’s people
A world
That we made better
Also
Maybe first
In
And of ourselves
C L Couch
Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash
Manic Monday
(and don’t panic)
God sang
The song into creation
The lion did as much
And our holy words
In works
Imply
We are created
We are that song
Or its interpretation
In darkness
And in light
And the bestowal
Of a garden
With the first object lesson
For the teachers
That the garden
Stands
For something we
No longer have
While we must work
In labor
And in labor
For
What we got
Each era is a lesson
We could say
And maybe they progress
The human ages
Which is why
We say
They’re ages
(we get older)
We grow
Some
We adapt
Physically
Some
Though not as much
As one might think
For as long as we’ve
Been here
And this might not be
So much by us
As by
The touch of God
God knowing
We’ll need adaptive parts
As we go on
(grow on)
What do I know
It’s Monday
And I’m feeling existential
With the blues on electric pages
Making less sense
To me
(than could it be
our music style)
Than paper
With its white
And off-white
Receiving of
Our pen strokes
Painting
With black ink
C L Couch
[note to me and now to us
so what’s this poem about?—it’s about thinking and writing, yes, really about both]
I am having trouble with the blue lights on computers. Or the part of the lights that are blue. Or maybe feeling blue. I think it’s both.
The result is that I’m even more recalcitrant in using this thing. This vital thing. I’ve had to use it for a while then rest my eyes. Rest my eyes upon the rest of the world.
So if I’m worse about responding than is typical (and typically it can be pretty bad), then I’m sorry. But as the emperor said quite uselessly, there it is.
--Christopher
Photo by Marija Zaric on Unsplash
Nous existons. Vraiment.
Apology of the Annoyed
Immortal
Invisible
And sometimes
That’s annoying
And at other
Times
It hurts so much
Not to see anything
Hear anything
By what is pressed upon us
That we can see
And hear
Even emotions
And our thoughts
Seem more real
More touchable
More holdable
Sometimes
Ghosts
You know
In stories
Seem more palpable
Than your presence
As we say
Everywhere
Why must you be unseen
Why must we count
On evidence
In nature
So that our faith is challenged
By a storm
Or flood
Or quake that kills
Why we might have to guess
At your approbation
The source of an eruption
While we must flee
The valleys
Where we live
Below
You are inside
Somehow
We say
And how really
Does that work
Unless we invent them
Or turn out
To be
One of the few
Who hear them
Say
Joan Dark
There are no voices
Inside
But our own
And we fill up the inside
With organs
Thoughts
And feelings
So where is
The space for you
We say
Your word is in a book
In many books
Though books are still
Unrevealing
‘Til we open
And read from them
On our own
Or in the forum
Hear
Someone officially
Say
This is the word of God
And truly
Is it so
The glass is dark
Which might be the metaphor
That helps
You’re there
You’re on one side
We might see movement
Guess at mystery
Find faith
Ill-shaped
By what we see
And cannot see
Or hear
Should there be sound
As well
And could we guess
That you might be
On our side
Of the glass as well
And by your presence
(guessed at)
Might believe
You favor us
Not our side
As politics
But simply being here
And you are here
Was there love
In your making
Things
And making us
With apparatus
For induction
Deduction
To figure out
That is
Through impulse
Too
And instinct
Gained
Conditioned from each day
We encounter
We experience
Make wisdom
Or simply know
Without knowing
How bits
Of the world are
Through what we have
And what we use
And what is used
Of us
So much a kind of
Instrumentation
And what for
To know there’s something more
Than us
We know
By simply
Living life
As its own evidence
And proof
Within
What there is
In all forms
And shapes
And differences
And energies
It might seem
Life proves
That you exist
And because
We are more
Than what’s inside the shell
(the blood and such)
In faith
There is more than us
And this more
Might be you
C L Couch
“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise” is a hymn.
In addition to I’m sorry, apology also means explanation and defense.
Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash
clcouch123 
Recent Comments