player-manager
(sequel to yesterday’s)
if demons can get in
then angels
must
their being two sets of choices
of
the same
which leaves the ministry of saints
on which to
suppose
and yet
angels in our thoughts
waiting
like service in the outfield
and
aren’t we the luckiest alive
by
baseball
some would say an angel game
requiring grace
with
lots of space
for spirit-lives to play
while
angel-thoughts might not go ‘round
the bases though there’s
strategy
at
bat and in the field
isn’t there
then
angels and demons could play
to work out the apocalypse
not
that they will
the way
in the northwest
or
southwest
depending
a border dispute was worked out
Canada with USA
by
the score after nine innings
and
as Thurber says
you could look it
up
c l couch
(sorry, angels got me thinking about baseball, maybe because of the movies
and my dad, from Olympia, told the story about the local/international border dispute that was decided by a baseball game)
photo by Ryan Arnst on Unsplash
Who Wins, What Is the Prize
The devil never sleeps
And I’m not sure
That’s so
Do angels sleep
Do persons in the Trinity
Maybe
Take turns
Or shifts of angels
And of demons
Unless the boss of all
Infernos
Demands no rest
For its agents
Or agencies
That must be busy
In corruptions
And
Winning souls for hell
Which is
Backward evangelism
Though real enough
In goading
Forces for
An Armageddon
C L Couch
Photo by National Library of Scotland on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
A Comedy Tonight
(the raven tells)
x
x
Demons
x
I imagine they are
Real,
Waiting for an open
Door:
x
We can dismiss
The fictive accounts
As speculation
But there are
Real reasons
To avoid them through
Prayer and
Spiritual companionship
And there are other rites
x
I guess it can be gross
And feel dark,
Trucking with demons
Always
On assignment
Looking through the fissures
To take over,
Listening
x
Yes, I think they’re real
Not in a
Gothic sense
They are not luxuriant
In empty, mansioned halls
They have us
When we let them
In
I don’t think by accident
x
Maybe by believing
They are means
For desire
Or revenge of
Something like
A genie’s wish
But in the lighted, wakened,
Wounded world
x
x
Hel
x
Is there a place
Of hell?
Most likely
x
Is it flames
And unquenched heat,
Blasts of judgment
Against dissolving
Souls?
I do not know
x
Maybe it’s all
Purgatory,
A final chance
For rescue
x
Separation from God
Is a popular
Definition, and
Why not?
That would be final
Final fate
Worst of all,
To discover something after
That is good
And lasting
And not to be a part of it
x
Maybe Jesus
Walks across the fissure
To harrow, hollow hell—to
Remove all residents
Should they wish
To go
x
Since a gentle God
Even then
Must leave eternity
A choice
x
x
Paradiso
x
Nothing like
Angels on clouds
Holding harps
x
Nothing static
The most action
We have ever known
With energy
And work
x
Only with good bodies
For it all
No weakness
Though the gentle
Supervise
x
Passion
Drama
Interest
Investment of
Our muscles
And organs, say,
Our hearts and brains
Restored
To Eden’s intention
And agenda
x
We’ll have things to do
In action
And in freedom
Nothing less
Only more
x
Impulse
And instinct
Perfected
Everything we want
Is heaven
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Kevin Mueller on Unsplash
x
Then Let’s Keep Dancing
I only knew one perfect person
And he was crucified, my father said
Yes, but then he rose, I might
Have said
It was the argument beneath the argument
Not a debate about
Points of faith
I didn’t know all the demons then
There are others
To learn
My father’s got the best of him that was
His joy and anything of wisdom
I never got the teaching I deserved
Any child deserves
It’s a long way past hate
Worse, dismissal
That became the only way to get along
Stranger, either way
Never a decent conversation
Decent as in real
I can only sigh about it, now
So much of it is dust
Like the Kansas song
Or the one by Peggy Lee
Every generation needs a song,
According to my professor
Something that turns
That turns us into mortal means
Reminds us we are seasons
C L Couch
Photo by Alex Seinet on Unsplash
“Wind on Wheat”
“Is That All There Is” is a song created by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, famously recorded by Peggy Lee.
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