After the Day Before
(Holy Saturday 2024)
It must have been terrible
For those in sadness
And in terror
Who forgot
Or forsook
The prophecies were shared with them
The new ways to live
That scandalized
Now turned into fodder
For new charges
And arrests
It must have seemed
That everything was over
One and done
And extraordinary
Story
Abruptly ended
Like a battle
In blood and
Death
And loss or victory
While hades had the victory
And underneath
The devil had to laugh
While all they could
Do
Was peel in hiding heat
Freeze the blood from moving
Every hope
Removed
Left on that trash heap
For a hill
Three deaths
The day before
And now
Did anyone count
Toward
After
Or maybe there was only dust
Thrown on the synapse
Of the mind
Heavy stones upon
Like confession
The heart
C L Couch
Photo by Ian Keefe on Unsplash
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
Ancient of Days
God
As God
Requires
That we love God
With our minds
With our hearts
With our souls
And that
We love our neighbors
As ourselves
Which does mean
Self-love
Must be in there
Too
It isn’t a request
It is a command
From God
First command
Second command
At least as Deuteronomy
And Jesus
Has arranged
What we are told
To do
I know we see all this
As optional
As if God required less
Than the military
Or our bosses
Or out contracts
Though these came first
And do not change
With rank
Or a new job
It is a
God who commands
For whom blood was required
And a nation follow
Or be brought down
Be outcast
By the power of
Worldly forces
That won the day
Because the people had
Abandoned
God
And faith
And certainly
Obedience
It all seems ancient
Irrelevant
And at best
Relative
Doesn’t it
We moderns do not live
This way
We don’t fret over altars
Or unblemished offerings
Not of animals
And certainly not
Ourselves
We take the dross of doctrine
Leave the rest
Inside the book
Inside the church or temple
That we enter and exit
Now and then
Even weekly
Without doubt for holidays
Yes
Without doubt
This year
God loves
God waits
God invites
God doesn’t require
Fancy dress
Or best behavior
God love us as we are
Wants no change
Might wait for deathbeds
For confessions
And an
Affirmation
Guaranteeing heaven
Or God’s our pal
And pals don’t leave other pals
Out in the dark
The rain
By the gate
That we’re sure will open for us
God’s our pal
The dross of doctrine
Looks
Behavior
What we give
Whom we serve
Tangential faith
Appreciation for the invitation
Please stand by
The modern spiritual life
Lukewarm at best
And it seems
God doesn’t cotton to
Lukewarm
Or bits of this or that
That might be good
If only by
Our arguments
Or statements
To the press
Or whoever might be listening
In the mirror
We’ll get around to God
Perhaps
The way God is
And what God wants
After work
And after home
And after neighborhood
Relations
Maybe during vacation
Or really
After
Maybe when we’re there
And hear a sermon
We could instead
Think about what God wants
Think in our own way
Decide
In our own way
Maybe after entertainment
And by the way
For a show I pay with some money
In the plate
This should all be more
Impressive
Than it is
On my own
I might do better
Find better
Maybe I don’t have to come back
So much
A touch of religion
Less of faith
Nothing like
The mind
The heart
The spirit
After all
Faith is not that smart
It’s not material
Enough
It doesn’t admire
What I do
And what I have
Enough
And I don’t see faith
Changing wars
Or floods
Or earthquakes
After all
And how did people
Used to believe
With dead animals on altars
No
Thank you
I’ll take life as it is
As it’s progressed
As it’s civilized
With all the medicines
And the technology
With the better weapons on our side
How relevant
Is a faith in God
How necessary
Children know what to do
They have Mister Rogers
Sesame Street
And everything else
Approved
For their good growth
They are healthy
I’m sure
And if not all of them
Well
They were slipped through
The loop
Somehow
And that’s too bad
But most of them are fine
As most of us are fine
What more
Can we want
And God
Well
God
An invitation
Well
That’s nice
Maybe when I’m older
Have less to do
Fewer things
To worry over
Figure out
Make plans for
Yes
Then I’ll have time
Really to think about
Religion
And what a God
Might really want
That I could give
I’ll have less money then
But I’ll time
Yes
I’ll have time
To give you
That’s all right
Isn’t it
I mean
You’re a loving God
Which means your patient
Right
You’ll give me all the time
I need
C L Couch
Photo by WILLIAN REIS on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Slingshot without a Rock
x
A sure defense
In time of trouble
xxxxxit comes to mind
xxxxxwhen thinking on the news
xxxxxquotation? lyric?
xxxxxI don’t know or can’t
xxxxxrecall
A bulwark
(big thing)
Never failing
xxxxxfrom the famous hymn
xxxxxthat many know
xxxxxalso good
xxxxxfor trouble
Both assurances of faith
When we need help
From inside out
x
We’re human
Outside makes a difference
We get hurt
We need something
We are afraid
x
God is there
Though we wouldn’t mind
If God appeared with money
Or another miracle
Sudden health
A bulldozer
Whatever’s needed
That is big
And not at hand
x
Such things can happen
There are miracles
There is the ministry of angels
And sometimes
Angels of ourselves
x
Aren’t jewels resting
For the taking
Underground
Are there not billions
Of people
With doubles of billions
Hands to help
x
Where are they
I need you
And so we add new levels
Of fear
And frustration
Doubt
And unbelief
x
And God is there through that
Maybe sorry
It doesn’t work the way
We want
But that there is a way
For everything that’s needful
To be cared for
We won’t have it
Now
And our patience won’t be grateful
To be excised
x
But there are miracles
Sometimes quantum
And there is timing
Like the kind of comedy
That heals
And nothing is a farce
For there is healing
And one by one
And altogether
We are made well
In fantastic
Ways
Unplanned by us
x
Keep asking
Someone is listening
Through hellish seem the circumstance
And absence the main value
Someone is there
Someones
And one by one
And altogether
It all works out
x
And do you believe
Sometimes I don’t
There’s too much pressing
On belief
Even hope is weighted on
To breathe
x
We suffer
And that’s honest
We go without
We go in need
And others with us
Maybe our grief
In fact
Is for someone else
We cannot reach
For barriers
Of space and time
Even only
Material means
x
I want to reach you
But I can’t
I can pray
It won’t seem enough
Confessing apostacy
Another time
x
Where are you
When I know you’re here
How shall I have you
With me
How may you be with
Loved ones
Other victims
Far away
x
Accept
I guess
Believe
It’s silly but
I believe
xxxxxI think she said that in
xxxxxMiracle on 34th Street
In a small voice
It’s true
And you are there
And I believe
x
It won’t work out my way
And I might scour
My soul
For fear
I might sour on love
And take away my prayers
For doubt
But they’re in
The other book of love
And angels are at work
With or without
Our direct anticipation
x
In fact
We are allowed
To be ourselves
Absence
And a fonder heart
Once help is realized
Once we return
x
C L Couch
x
x
consider Psalm 59
x
By art_inthecity from Montréal, CA – Melsa Montagne, Le slingshot de Montréal, 2014, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=116883014
x
(x = space)
x
x
trinitarian
x
nothing shall separate us
from the love of God
which is a promise
x
so why do we feel differently
why do we shirk
why does doubt work so well
x
we can say that it’s a sin
that it’s a fallen world
well enough
x
but faith and love are so attractive
and so active
why back away
x
there is the world
the match of us that says
none of it’s real
x
that real is flesh and metal
while evidence of faith and love
has neither
x
invisibility
dark glass
land of shadows
x
these are what we have for proof
and means of proof
all of which is unconvincing
x
peace passing understanding
but it’s understanding
that we need
x
and will not get it
unadulterated
by the hard means of the world
x
a world we feel
a world we have
and must live in for now
x
and for an age
after the Anthropocene
and afterward
x
who knows
and that is it
who knows
x
promises as metaphors
streets of transparent gold
advocacy always in our favor
x
should we choose
and we must choose
from lack of evidence
x
we choose
and we do
and we believe
x
crops are promised
in our seasons
wonderful abstracts
x
turned real
and that is it
it’s all turned real
x
faith
hope
and love
x
a Celtic knot
tied and loose
three parts everywhere
x
God
Earth
and us
x
c l couch
x
nothing shall separate us from the love of God
romans 8:38-39
x
x
5,000 year-old triskelion on an orthostat at newgrange
by young shanahan – https://www.flickr.com/photos/youngshanahan/10644977574/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110911537
x
(x = space)
x
x
Faith and the General
x
And did Moses
God as the ally
Part
The Red Sea
As a miracle
More importantly
As rescue
x
General Wallace
Wanted all of it
A story
For unlearned people
Awash in ignorance
Wanting
To stay that way
Away
Wet with lies
x
Red Sea
Or Sea of Reeds
The miracle diminished
By sponges
That is
Absorbents
Of reality
x
Or is the miracle
A normal thing
(the parting
of a sea
by wind
in certain
seasons)
Nonetheless
Miraculously timed
x
General Wallace wanted
All of it
A lie
At best an illusion
And delusion
Most of all
The notion that a God
Should want to be with us
Even through
A civil war
And send to us
Something
God and us
To save us
From the monstrous
The despicable
We make
And must be
x
And so what happened
(let the Red Sea
and the
Sea of Reeds
debate go on)
Well
He wrote Ben-Hur
As a fictive response
To how he had
Changed
x
And maybe
A divine hope
In and
For the rest of us
To marshal all the parts
And
Once assembled
Find out what there is
By
The revulsive
And the hopeful
For ourselves
For faith
x
C L Couch
x
x
After extensive studies of the Bible and the Holy Land, and well before he had completed the novel, Wallace became a believer in God and Christ.
Wikipedia (citing sources)
x
Photo by Evan Brockett on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Everyone and Everything
x
Our God
Our God
Why do we forsake you?
x
Well,
We can’t see you
That doesn’t help
We have great stories
They’re not ours
We can imagine heaven
Get it wrong
We have you
Because we say so?
Not to invent you
But to have you
Nothing required
But a choice
No initiation
Though we have written rituals
And applied water
And
A party
(and why not)
x
Then there’s
Metanoia
The changed life
That could cost
Something of mortality
What we think we want
And really want
Again
To have for taking
Like the food
Upon the table
That is
For everyone
x
New life
That dresses like the old one
Sounds the same
Tastes different
Taste and see
The Lord is good
We do not eat the Lord
But consume
All the same
x
We may break
With ingestion
Live on our own
And what we think is food
Is good
(usually, we know)
Molecules to eat
In such a way
To threaten finite balance
In the universe
x
Yes, sometimes
We are that important
x
Back to God
Or forward
Mostly forward
Though repentance
Is kairotic
One day into another
Until the day is perfect
With
Perfect night
x
Questions are important
Doubt is part
Faith isn’t stupid
Isn’t tricky, either
Have it
Eat it
Live it
If you want
x
Then ready for the world
(as is)
With, as we say
Or someone says,
Truth and understanding
x
An amen
Without the end
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Ryunosuke Kikuno on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Devilry
(the passing mischief)
x
I suppose the devil
Is after me
In a suburban way
After you, too,
I imagine
Maybe there’s a strategy
Maybe the strategy
Is chaos
Lack of plan
To ruin all the plans
x
Temptation, certainly
And also despair
A bright life
Too bright
To cover all the rest
The real pain
The real faith
To get us through
x
The real hope
That’s in the jar
After all the evils
Have escaped
That move around
Outside
And try to set up
House or shop
Church or
Place of work
Lanes of traffic
Bars
Or at the store
x
More so the aim
To find a place inside
To take our rest
And better
Resolutions
x
It’s not a grand
Or grandiose
Establishment,
A studio
With garish sets
Ringed
By biggish cameras
Managed
By phantoms
x
It might look like
The nicest place
We know
Only off in ways
We can identify
Should we be ready
And aware
If only of ourselves,
Our close-in loves
x
Deviation
Hell
The hell of it
Is that it is a trick
As all the stories say
The diabolical
Looks like everything
And is
Nothing
Maybe sound and fury
For a while
‘Til the ending
As the better stories
Say
x
Give in
Or not
It seems easy, I suppose
The wider path
The golden opportunities
The promise of
A winning ticket
While the other way
Purportedly
Is narrow
But certainly accessible
And it gets wider,
Wide enough
For two or more
x
Not to moralize
But moralize
One way is always easy
Joyless
But easy
The other way gets hard
But promises
The peace, we know,
That passes
Understanding
x
Though we always
Understand enough
For the
Irascibility
(and ability)
Of will
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Sometimes Agnostically Yours
x
God, what shall I pray
To you?
I’m sorry for my sins
And I mean that
I ask for forgiveness that
Frankly
I struggle in receiving
x
I ask for daily bread
That might be
Bread
Or
Something else
I need
Pretty much right now
x
And I shall wait
Probably
Pretty badly
While I wait
x
Since need often
Feels punished
And faith
Is much
From an invisible God
To wait for
x
And yet
Stones for bread
Is inhumane
And undivine
And so
I’ll try to anticipate
Exactly the right thing
Provided
x
Sorry
Thank you
Amen
x
C L Couch
x
x
Matthew 6:9
x
Photo by Dave Hoefler on Unsplash
x
clcouch123 
Recent Comments