A Quiet and Unquiet Day
(rest and restive?)
Have an especially good
Day
You need one
And you deserve one
You’ve been working hard
And putting up with
Things
You need some rest from everything
That presses
Lift those burdens
For a while
Recline your mind
Loosen the strings we say
We have
Inside our hearts
Or over them
As if the organ were a base
For a lute
A frame
For a harp
Drink something you know
You enjoy
As it courses through you
And then eat something
Pleasant
Slightly indulging
Though without doubt
For nourishment
As an objective
And now companionships
Do you want any
Or is it quiet
In the day
That you prefer
That
Maybe you’ve been craving
Without knowing
‘Til you have it
For some hours
If so
Then treat yourself after
The surprise
Reading something
Writing something
Or have a day
With nothing
For a stimulus
Beyond
Mere ingestion
While you ruminate
Or not
On what’s at hand
It could be taking stock
Only if you wish
Or must
Have a need
As in counting inventory
Gauging quality
Of what is stored
By its effect
On mind or heart
Or overall condition of
Everything internal
And to an extent
External
As in
Image and perception
Whom we cast
To the world
And who we want
To play for
Real
What is real
Take a day to figure out
Think on good things
On what among them you might have
On what you need
You might already have
For another surprise
Or what you need
That’s calling
Through its absence
So maybe take the day
And let it have its
Serious parts as well
And sorry
Wake up a little after resting
Think of something
Think on good things
What you have
As well as what is good
You need
And should have
And can get
Keeping in spirit
And in mind
That love does not exist in isolation
That there is good love to keep close
And problematic love
You might need
Well
Frankly
To cut off
To free yourself
Free someone else
Liberty
At last
Which is the truth
As well as
The law of liberty
And love
And so have the day
Both
Restful
And momentous
If you will
And if God listens
When you say
Hear me
I send my words with
Thoughts
The kind that
Heaven-go
C L Couch
(3.3.98)
Photo by Sneha Chandrashekar on Unsplash
ain’t together
(roaming like clouds or cellphone signals, I apologize)
anticipation
like the ketchup
rain
should come
at any moment
through
the unrelenting gray
to the west
and south
severer things have happened
and
I think
we
shall get the dregs
of it
flooding tempests
and tornados
well
it’s windy
now
though I don’t think
shelter-driven
though
of course
I could be wrong
and I’ll
be looking for
a doorframe
after all
and you be safe
unless
you be
stormchasers
then
I don’t what
to say
how about
God speed with you
and make wings
ahead
blow you the other way
when exigent
need be
coda
I’m sorry
we aren’t going through
what you go through
in Ukraine
or in Gaza
or
in parts where the same things
happen
and we don’t hear about
so much
I’m not talking about
bullets
killing or
explosions
the terror
then the thirst
and hunger
after
the infections
and the awful
draining
fear
for families
and I’m not in Philadelphia
where someone had to shoot
at Muslims
having Eid al-Fetr
at the end
of Ramadan
and I’m not everywhere
where white folk
hate the Jews
or anyone who’s not
so white
(I guess I mean
pure
ethnic white
whatever hell that means
as a thought
or an
agenda)
anyone
that is
whom we’re afraid of
as the next
majority
in number or
otherwise in power
well
I merely
started talking
about
weather
and by
implication
climate change
but
maybe
everything’s extreme
anymore
and the peace of moderation
sometimes called
the swing vote
might be desired
more than
ever
or I’ll only speak
for me
from a kind of centered place
that I hope is not
the hurricane’s
but God’s
eye
c l couch
photo by Clay LeConey on Unsplash
with at the start a reference to a TV commercial from the '70s
the holey week
so this is
Holy Week
except for holes
we have
in planning
certain days
but come by the church
we will be open
all the time
you may kneel in darkness
or in daylight
whatever is the atmosphere
for God and you
to chat
for God will not mind
your mood
or what you have to say
if need be
God will listen
though profanity
though maybe
keep that
‘twixt yourselves
and God will answer in
a away
that most likely
will not satisfy
though there are
instant precedents
they are
in stories
mostly
though
we’ll leave
without resolve
unrecommended
maybe unbelieving
in the silence
that was shared
for God
works in God’s timing
and waiting much
is called for
or not
or something else
kairos
and a gift
we don’t know
how to ask for
and receive
in time
more than we could
ever ask
and ain’t that something
this translucent
faith business
that ain’t a business
but a gift store
without prices
where everything’s available
though we have to wait
to have it chosen
for us
what we need
in time
and we could call it
holy time
in a
holy week
c l couch
photo by Josh Eckstein on Unsplash
look out now
merest blue
it seems
with
a guess
more than a hint
of more light
behind
what do we call it
pre-pre dawn
that
spell-check
would challenge
when we
write about this
later
expect it
o be cold
and so allowably
do
what we do
a time
to pull around
more clothing
from the bed
or closet
on the chair
(maybe
the floor)
to find some extra
socks
(maybe on
the floor)
drink water
also look for something
warm
that could be from
another body
or if alone
from coffee
or if not
from both
nice morning
well
a morning
like a morning
should we not stop
by
the fence
somewhere
to look around
without our eyes
to get it
this happened
yesterday
and
it’s extraordinary
‘morning
everyone
look around
c l couch
photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
(update on the computer shutdown from a few days ago)
my computer is not working right, though it’s okay in bouts (me, too); a friend suggested I use a table fan to deal with overheating (maybe for both of us), and she’s right—the measure seems to work for now though it’s probably an unrealistic arrangement for durance
yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day, and so the following is for this day and any day we remember something larger than ourselves that still involves our responsibility in happiness or sadness to enact
day of remembrance
yesterday was for remembrance
each day is for remembrance
and recall
together
with poppies
or monuments of angles
the ceremonies we create
over what has happened
so we might remember
and not
as Santayana says
doom ourselves
to repetition
of the dire
and destructive
take it slowly on these days
don’t rush to something else
the prophet margin
will remain
in the margins
a call of justice
that is heard
might mediate
with all the other worldly matters
all our loves
the good things
the distracting things
that sometimes we must order
like new things
especially through
our days of remembrance
c l couch
photo by Pete Nuij on Unsplash
all saints day
saints small s
every day is their
followers
of God
who try
both to believe
and to act
patronage
of nothing in particular
no groups
claim our own
but the
relative
ease and simplicity
without notoriety
or beads
or rituals
simply leave it
to faith and action
anyone
believing
anyone who tries
a life of faith
with flaws
the Holy Spirit
will provide
kintsugi
c l couch
photo by Motoki Tonn on Unsplash
In the Day of the Lord
Well
God
What shall you give
Today
There is the day
There will be daylight
Well-
Insinuated
In an hour or so
There will be more
Time
In hours
Time to choose
For those
Who may choose
Who aren’t
Conscripted otherwise
Drafting
Oneself
For cause
But then
The cause
Might be a wonder
How about family
About
The partner
Who works out
In
Intimacy
As well as
What is profound
When about one’s nation
Call it people
Call it country
Group
Tribe
State
Region
Everything that has a name
Maybe a living
Constitution
For a document
For walks
The simple
And sublime
Which faces our distraction
And decisions
All the time
And certainly
Today
And God
There is more than patriotism
There is the reason for it
And the rest
That is
Well
You
And what you say
You make
What you say and make
That is creation
Whose pages form
A scripture
Every day
And then the book itself
Shelved
We take down
Perhaps
We hear someone else
Reading
And from which
Some teaching
Though the hour
Is a sermon
Too
This hour
Then the next
Should we have the next
Odds say
We’ll have
Inside our complex bodies
Have a day that’s plain
Landing here or there
Pleine aire
Or chez lui
And should one
Ask oneself
About salvation
Or get the question
From another
Answer
We hope so
C L Couch
Photo by Alex Guillaume on Unsplash
[photographer’s caption] In New York, in a little shop, those watches where there, hanging in front of me!
(x = space)
x
x
but choose any day
x
and it’s Friday
how are you
really well
I hope
(well and more
that is)
here the sun’s out
and it’s cool
the best of both
heat and cold
for a while
and when it changes
as it must
the sun and sky
wind and air
decide
choose any day
there are its merits
good parts
that don’t need the bad
for understanding
but take us through
until we’re back
to just
or mostly
good for a while
x
the bugs
prefer the sun
when it’s gray
they tend to stay away
meaning
I think
that sometimes bugs are smart
and I mean to say
they might augur
how we might be
today
and further equipped
depending on
and if
we read the signs
x
new days
should follow
and I hope this one
knows you well
or gets you better
with its attributes
and gifts
some might say
miracle and grace
I’ll say that
for you
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Mikhail Vasilyev on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
First Frost
x
1
Last night
x
It kills some things
Blankets others for the night
That is the final season
x
Nature knows
What we try to control
Knowing that relenting is
The final lesson
x
2
Ally ourselves
Withal
The nature of our lives
With the nature
Steadfast all around
Whose
Perturbations are
A part of all of it
x
Rhythms
Cycles
Seasons
Storms and quakes
Floods and eruptions
Take too many
Should have their own
Rhythms
Cycles
Seasons
x
Try to dance
Like skaters
Swimmers
Climbers
They all fall
And rise again
x
We could take care
Of all of us
This way
And let us grow
Into work as play
And play as work
(if we take in both parts)
Into retirement
What comes next after
Seed and bloom
Trunk and ever after
Life again
Life ever after
Goes the story
x
Join with the movement
Of the seasons
Of the spheres
While together
Work it out
For better times
Reasoned
Lives today
Living ahead
The generations of the forest
x
We are the forest
Too
x
C L Couch
x
x
(the briefest of bibliographies)
x
The Word for World Is Forest
Ursula K. Le Guin
x
Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
To God the Creator triumphantly raise,
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
Who guideth us on to the end of our days.
Katherine Davis
x
x
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
x
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