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
The Sea of Galilee
(that also goes by other names)
I’ve heard it preached:
a storm on Galilee
that must be something else
to see,
to hear,
to feel,
to smell,
to taste.
To wonder about
disciples
living fear
about the squall,
waking Jesus
for salvation,
Don’t you care?
Yes,
I care
that you are saved
(to paraphrase).
And then
Christ
commands the storm
on the water,
in the sky,
maybe at the shore
to be quiet.
And it’s quiet
over Galilee.
C L Couch
the preacher preached this morning about this sea, though anything I say above is of my own accord, especially anything doctrinally incorrect
Photo by Sylvain Brison on Unsplash
Sea of Galilee
(x = space)
x
x
White Out
x
There was hardly any winter;
Now I am nostalgic
x
As I get old
The immediacy of snow
Has sometimes frightened me
x
Am I ready?
(knowing I’m not ready)
x
But now I miss the falling
And the settling
x
Not the extremes, of course,
Or the extremes of heat in summer
But enough that says
Winter is allowed
In our land
x
And I might walk in it
Again
x
So I’m learning, still
(so are you):
I hadn’t thought more generally
And with some surprise
That the bildungsroman
Has never
Finished
x
It goes on bildung-building
(education)
And as roman
A story
Of many chapters
Or a song with many stanzas,
Key transitions,
D. S. to the coda
For life is repeated
Many times,
It seems
Or even improvised
x
And of Shangri-La philosophy
(moderation in all things)
Maybe the winter
Shall return
With some climatic glory
And less (less) fearfulness from
Me
And should anyone
Who feels this way
x
x
C L Couch
x
Photo by Mark Rabe on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
A Simple Love then Complicates in Fear
x
A simple love then complicates in fear
A lust begins a hot surrendering
We think we have it all when love is near
T’ward deeper feeling’s ember tendering
And we believe a faithful person true
We’re human, after all, possessing flaws
And may decide what is for fondness due
Those fails incumbent not unto our laws
The question is what flaws will each abide?
We fear to change, though poems say we must
‘Cause perfect love won’t find us on this side
Thus alter will or no or aging just
New and anew, decide for you and me
Then we shall be and Hamlet’s not not be
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Leo Fosdal on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Sore Afraid
x
Sometimes
I am frightened
Maybe you are,
Too
It’s not an easy
Feeling,
Though it informs
x
They are not
Coming back
This feeling means
An illness
A trust is broken
We feel alone,
At last
x
Fear of the unknown,
Sometimes the known
An impulse
From inside
An instinct
Made
From outside
Like layers
Added at the wheel
x
Fear
We should not
Work with,
Fear we must
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
A Pair of Socks
(from Philippians 4)
x
Jesus says don’t worry
Perfect present tense
No need to count
x
Flowers contain beauty
On their own
A sparrow falls
I must admit
I like to think it’s caught
Maybe that discloses lack of faith
In falling without catching
When something good
Can happen,
Anyway,
And in a plan of which
I don’t have any understanding
x
How do I understand
Victory in a plan for failure?
On a good day
Or a bad one,
I have to embrace paradox
Death for life
Peace for enemies
Even assisting them
Who wants that?
x
Blake is good
At embracing contraries
Blake is correct
To do so
South is not the bottom
North is not up here
Certain maps
Do get it right
x
We conclude that in Philippi
In a time of persecution
There were directions
Not to be anxious
Over anything
Or to be anxious
Over nothing
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Havilah Galaxy on Unsplash
socks in the street
x
Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Please
God, what shall I say
Of you today?
You are exasperating
You are all hope
You are the center of my faith
You are the labyrinth
I mean to cross
I take my comfort from you
As I take sustenance from food
You are my food
There are no empty calories,
Which on occasion is my deal
I will die
I am afraid
I think I shall meet you there
Or someone from your office
I had an episode last night
To remind me
Though there’s fear
There will be relenting, too
A last litany with Earth
A first step toward
What you deem is next
C L Couch
Froaringus – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7633775
Lent 26
Sometimes, when I’m afraid
I write
Or when I’m sad
Indecisive
Or frustrated
But if I looked back through my journal
(I haven’t done that often)
I’d find, I believe, expressions of
Thanksgiving
Sometimes for sleep that didn’t go so badly
Sometimes for coffee in the morning
Sometimes for cold water, when
I’ve arranged it
I don’t know how much happiness I can have
But it seems I can have gratitude
Which has pieces, if only whittlings,
Of the larger parts
Of joy and peace
I think somewhere in there
Might be an invitation, which is
Why I write about this now
Because maybe
You’ll find something in the formula
I didn’t plan, and
I didn’t plan
Simply saying thank you
To the universe, to God
To a spirit, to an angel
For some measure of something
That will, if only as a single pea
(sorry if you don’t like peas, for
I know those who hate them),
Yet add nourishment to the day
A pea can accomplish something
It makes a whistle work
And disturbs the sleep of the
Princess
Something small can move along the tale
If only silent thanks
C L Couch
Mateusz Tokarski, ca. 1795 (National Museum in Warsaw)
Mateusz Tokarski – cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26953289
(still life with peas)
Therapy Human
(fable with a person in the part)
The people she is speaking with
Think that it’s a hoot
And knife-like insight:
My brother-in-law helps my sister
When they’re on an airplane
Because my sister hates to fly
He gets to know the people
Sitting nearby
He’s excellent at striking up conversations
Works at exchanging seats,
When necessary
At the airport, she
Refers to him as “my therapy human”
Since therapy animals are in vogue
But we can do this for each other,
And it’s good to say so
C L Couch
By Liabilly Wildflower – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29461877
Allee is a Labrador who acts as an assistance dog for someone with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
clcouch123 
Recent Comments