if there were great expectations
what is expected of us old
which
I’m still trying
to tell
(both kinds
of
telling)
because the line in me goes back
to childhood
with what is remembered
keenly felt
too
often
against which
I think I am supposed to be invisible
by
youthful society
of all those whippersnappers
who
don’t know
I think I’m pushed to say
how good
things are for them
yet they might know
while
I have some whipping
(unliteral but
sharp)
and some
(whatever)
snapping still to
snap
new robes of office
like those honestly
wary
by the lords in Macbeth
or
the pretending gift of Medea’s
poisoned cloak
that
once worn bursts in flame
for
all our sins
piled on to curse
to prove energy
though
delight can become danger
when
expended
if like the artist
no longer young yet
working out
significance in what is now
(again
obliged)
the dry time of
the day
so then try
untry
if not unfeared the journey not
untrapped
by who is the child
who
is older
c l couch
photo by Lisa Yount on Unsplash
[still wanting to fly]
uneasy under the sun
(maybe a Prufrockian telling)
it’s hot
I drive under the sun
hoping to leave the car
once
parked
to get inside
before the heat
sights too directly and too
much on me while I
in turn am
targeting
the heated keyhole
with
keys already warm
so
it seems
and hopefully soon out
of my pocket
on
their way to
the old
dense
green wooden door of
the eccentric-angled yellow house
with the broken portico under
hopefully
again to navigate
which
is not the heat
but every day
and there it is the rounded poorly-matted
stoop
the lock
key inside beneath the wave
yet
breathing
maybe to sneeze
in fact
from the central air
only on the first floor
not
on mine
(sadly the solar crests do not
engender
mermaids on waved rocks
or
on my street by
sunlit bricks)
c l couch
photo by NASA on Unsplash
ev’ry time
the Spirit of God moved
and there was
water
then a world
and God lives in each one
of
us
as we allow
fearful
creator God
yet also living inside
in
intimacy
which is the part of God
that should amaze
and
does sometimes in songs and
testimony
many and great
O God
are thy works
as
in the hand
that
planetwide presses out plains and
valleys with mountain ranges
rising
between fingers
and yet
God indwells
all
who want
and closely forever
which must be one of those
many
and great works
and is
c l couch
“Many and Great” is a hymn based on Dakota tribal understanding and language
the title is taken from the hymn “Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit”
photograph by Nick Moore at Unsplash
When Sunday Is the First
Tridecaphobes beware
This should not
Be your day
A day for black
Cats
Ladders
Broken mirrors
Cracked backs
(awful!)
Bad thirteens
Judas
The thirteenth follower
Somehow
With Christ dying
On a Friday
Too
Though the bad
Day that pegs it is
Just inside
The fourteenth century
When on a Friday the
Thirteenth
A trap was sprung
Upon
The Templars
Arrested
Tortured
Executed
And the king of France
Who started the campaign
No longer
He decided
Had to pay the ruined Templars
Back
Then again
The origin could be African
Or India
Or from the Americas
Ancient Greece
Or Atabia
Where the numbers were invented
So
Good
Day
Inside
Or should you dare outside
Where black
Cats will be set on ladder steps
To sing in fiddled fashion
Of
The hours
C L Couch
Photo by Zhen H on Unsplash
[not unlike “Croatoan” on a certain tree, also a subject of suspicion]
In Vigil Hours
Light and shadow
Move across the ceiling
We know this
In so many ways
By living near the street
Or with a passing
Storm
Or
Oh
So slowly
Moonlight moving in the night
Shadow and light
To make illusions with
Our help
While
We lie below
And
Frightened or inspired
Have the hours
Of night pass
C L Couch
Photo by Augustine Wong on Unsplash
A Little Fancifully
I don’t know why I’m
Thinking about dragons
And then about
Stories from
Sunday School
Like the story about Gideon
Who broke pitchers
Inside which were fires
Having surrounded
Even a greater
Force
But through the effect
Defeated foes
With faith
And then with fear
And fire
Is the connection
I suppose
The fire from the dragon
And also from the pitchers
And it’s the weekend
Time for wondering
Perhaps
Of characters and stories that are
Fanciful
And that also
Invite us
Fictively and
Non
To keep the faith
I guess these
Break the tension
Just a little
Outside stories
In the world of worries
That we occupy
Certainly
More often
C L Couch
(any story with a dragon, say, Farmer Giles of Ham, or a dragon of your own internal making—also Judges 6 for Gideon regarding faith and fire)
Photo by 順平 黃 on Unsplash
(the Asian dragon commands respect as an aspect of religion and what I would call real myth, because there is such a thing--and so my advice is never belittle dragons, maybe anywhere)
2 poems about the day
Fish Fry
(check the shape of stanza'd, ichthus undulation)
Friday
Fry day
Fish fry day
At the Catholic church
For penance
I suppose
Though the is
So much
One can’t complain
Of abstemious devotion
And the money
Should go somewhere
Good
And we Protestants
Can enjoy that
Too
Should we think on it
While crunching into fish with
Whatever else
Is
Provided
Yay
Catholics
Thank you for
This weekend treat
You all
Have
A great weekend
Too
After all the cooking
(the worry over getting
burned
while frying)
And all the cleaning
That frankly
We did not
Have to do
Though when it’s our turn with
A rummage sale
We’ll clean up
Afterward
For you
Thirteen O’Phobia
Today is Friday
A thirteenth
Sorry to
Triskaidekaphobes
Watch out
Black cats
They’ll be avoiding you
Which now I think it
Might be the quite suitable
Arrangement
And ladders
Mirrors
Sidewalk
Cracks
Salt containers
All the things that make
This day less
Amenable
And it’s the number
Generally
As well
The lack of such in buildings
Even
Now
And what was it
Crucifixion on a Friday
Or the barbaric
Gory dissolution of the Templars
On a Friday
Thirteenth
Early in the fourteenth century
(1307
look
another thirteen)
And Judas killed himself
Maybe on that
Friday
Being the thirteenth disciple
(once removed)
In some lore
But for me
And maybe I should apologize
I often
Find
The day goes very well
Which might be
Determination
Or
Luck
Half-Irish luck
For my mother’s family
While on my father’s
Side
There are the English
Who most likely
Do not care
About the day and
Date
As long as the flag is flying
Somewhere in a
Time zone
Over Earth
C L Couch
(9/13/2024)
Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash
Matthias, Paul, Judas—who is the thirteenth disciple/Apostle? (Rhetorical question--depends on whose tradition's answering.)
the way of all (smart, laughing, faithful) flesh
consequentially
anger
worry
fear
fear
worry
anger
they amass
and through which
we fight
each other
wisdom is not on
that list
or smarts
or joy
strategy might be applied
in fighting
but there might be something wild
like laughter
first
to apply
maybe
laughing
the kind you know
that's
with each other
laughing
we might have a chance
to diffuse
remember what we like
and for which
we hope
maybe we’ll come back
to a phantom table
(I doubt with
most folk
there’s a real table
though maybe in
more formal occasions
or ‘round
the kitchen table
or card table
of the home
and maybe we were talking
there)
maybe we’ll talk some
more
having risked some humor that
turns out
to be shared
then anger
or fear
the starting points
might mean the end
as well
with
wildest of all
the faith we might have in each other
restored
maybe the end
yet
without doubt
the new beginning
c l couch
photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Awestruck
God come through that door
And I shall be
Terrified
Which is part of the awe
That God deserves
With the reason why the angels
Say so often
Be not afraid
This might be difficult
Though it’s
Finally
Good news
That makes more officially
A gospel
Of the Lord
With us
An Immanuel
Time and again
Angels on assignments
A voice
A gesture
That could bring down Jericho
Or Midian
Or approve the execution
Of Holofernes
Nothing to see
Except in accidental daring
While most of those
Who hear
Do not see
Except in the world changed
After
Supplication
The results
An affirmation
Too
Of a holy presence
So much more than us
And also
Quite frankly
Inside us
Of a kind of molecule
Our machines
Have yet
To count
So seek the Lord
Or wait for being sought
For
We should find each other
To have experience
A history
Of faith
And what we hope for
The action
And the learning from
Tandem theology
With the only agenda
That is
Acceptable
So we may plan
With details
Then have
And then testify
To grace
As approval
C L Couch
Photo by Bamdad Norouzian on Unsplash
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