Confession on the Edge of Something
I want
To know you
Walk with you
I want
To hear you
Though I guess
I want
To hear you my way
In a gentle conversation
Though we could
Talk
Of anything
Not the stentorian
Some are sure you are
Your voice
Must be
Your posture in
The cosmos
Leaning over planets
You have made
Course-correcting
Comets
For the timing of foreboding
Forestalling barbarians
At the gate
Maybe for a time
And I
And mine
Only a step above
Because
Well
How many of us
Feared for Y2K
And should we listen
Should we read judiciously
Of nature
And the pages
Of our own
The stories that like pillows
We might stitch across
The centers
So to say
Here is something
Please hear it
We might understand
The tones of God
Of you
Early morning
By the heat of day
Or when it’s freezing
In the evening when
We celebrate
Or come to rest
And could hear
If we wanted
Still
Small voices
If like the peace
That has gone by understanding
Like the hare
We could catch up
With you
Not by racing
But by stopping
Now and then
An easy SVE
And have a thought or two
For where we are
To find out
We surpass the hare
Expenditure
Or tangled in something
It could not be free of
By the road
Distraction
I guess
Of many something shiny
So we win
The course
By persisting
Simply moving on
Then stopping
When we need to
To hear
To look
To touch
To smell
To taste
Trying the sense of time
As well
That the world waits
Not waiting
And how about
That spiritual sense
Of things
The thing inside
The presence
The thing outside
Another kind
Of presence
Bidding come inside
The invitation
Made
The knock is given
And shall we open
Shall I open
To have you come inside
To talk with me
In chairs
With drinks
And over time
To stay
So that I wonder whose is whose
And make mistakes through
Fear of that
While you wait
Wherever inside
I let you
Until you have free reign
(I wonder where that came from)
Over everything inside
Even through my senses
Even through my
Will
That seems to be the challenge
The big deal
Enough to have
Broke Eden
Enough to make me tussle with my own
The wrestling with desire
And the fear
Of desire
‘Til I might get that right with you
By you
As well
And all be well
(dear Julian
with cat)
Though there’s that peace
That goes ahead
Of all the understanding
All the limits by
Mortal conveyance
Lest we sit with you
And listen
Also speak
Of truth
And also love
So many things to get right
Even in
A final hour
Thank you for responding
To my invitation
Poor for time and talking space
Only my own
And rudely certainly
Against worldly or heavenly
Refinement
That you know
But we could
If we may
If rather shapelessly
In words
And plans
Get things started
For good faith
And living
Anyway
C L Couch
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
in church
I tuned in
they don’t know I’m here
but the God of electrons
which is too small
too residual
for that
to make a difference
to me
except now when I’m thinking of
electrons
and God
c l couch
photo by Ronaldo de Oliveira on Unsplash
on line, online—get it?
Evangelion
By God
All things are possible
Though likely
Parametered
By will
And obligation
For God won’t do
Or let anything be done
But that which goes
As love
And for us
Prepares apocalypse
Someday
For
Frankly a final shot at reconciliation
And so
(before)
If moving mountains
Helps the cause
Then we
Will move them
Too
With our mustard seed of faith
For proof
Or reconstructing parks
West of Eden
Where
We
Or anywhere
Shall move
The peaks
Talk about God
And then go home
C L Couch
Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27; Matthew 17:20
Photo by Alakesh Baniya on Unsplash
The Shape of Day
(especially for anyone who’s disabled)
God keep
Us
This day of
Blue-white moderation
A day for
Breathing well
Unlike the closeness
In the hours
Of a heatwave
I drove
I walked
My limitations easier
For a while
I got some farmer’s food
Came back town
Right-angled through
The traffic grid
Not knowing
Any other mindset
Over the wheel
Set aside
Behind
And all the walkers
On an official summer’s day
Though this day was good
Breathy
Flavorful
Easy on robotic work inside
If in a fancy
Over the life of batteries
I have a year or so
Until
Sources must
Be switched out
But for now
I have today
Before we’re told
The next heatwave
Should arrive
By
Thursday
Sigh
C L Couch
Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash
The Ascent
Creation
Foundation
Re-creation
What remains the same
What changes
We cycle through
We break the cycles
Or they’re broken
For us
Inventions all around
Adaptations
Also what is newly made
With materials of Earth
Sometimes of us
The controversy
What might we interject
Though we haven’t changed a generation
On our own
Except in that
We have more things
Sometimes for more time
And then fill the time with
Pursuits
Playful
Progressive
Or vainglorious
Are we stages
Phases
Headed toward a final place
A seeing place
A hearing place
A place to touch
And on
Which could be battlefield
Or a launching platform
To meet divinity’s wider hand
As we are
Able
Having chosen virtues
Carefully
And as a better planet’s people
A world
That we made better
Also
Maybe first
In
And of ourselves
C L Couch
Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash
Wondrous
I love you
Says the Lord
Which is
Why
I made you a world
With stars around it
And isn’t it
Grand
The starlight
To give you something
Wonderful
To dream
C L Couch
Photo by Tengyart on Unsplash
Kind Brief Invocation
O God
Be our Tuesday help
Forgive us our
Mistakes
Our other-side-of
Edenness
‘Cause
Sometimes
We let fall
Or we forget
Without malice
But our flaws
Pervade
There is
The Kintsugi of wisdom
Help us fix
And even beautify
The scars
By
Gold understanding
C L Couch
Photo by Brian Pappel on Unsplash
[sun and dew transform—goldify, as it were]
2 poems about presence
Quantum Theory
God
You are around
Visiting nuclei
Somehow
Also gliding with
The quanta
Inside
Colliders
In the air
Presentable
In earth and sea
All the igneous
Layers
Of creation
Riding the rings
And showing where they meet
Between
Well
Galaxies
Connected by comets
As Hermes runners
With
You know
Cosmic messages
We’re still
Trying
To interpret
So that one day
We might message back
Words that Rise
I am alive
So are you
You might be reading on my shoulder
Waiting for the final words
To calculate
And then
More importantly
Go outside to play
Then later on
More words
Inexorable
For you
Inexorable
A readership
A friend
A nemesis
When
Necessary in revision
Or keep it
To yourself
And we’ll discuss
The other things
Inside
Or outside
Should it be
A fall day
Accommodating
Certain kinds
Of ease
Enough
Between us
C L Couch
Photo by NASA on Unsplash
Jupiter as Seen from the Hubble Space Telescope
Love’s Labors
I rock
While cross-legged
On the bed
I think it helps
To stretch out small parts
Of my lower back
I think
I breathe
Like thinking
I am quiet
Letting the world go around me
While I think about
The very thing
The world
All its troubles
All the better possibilities
With
Faith
Hope
And love
Sorry if that’s trite
As I should sound cleverer
Uniquer
In a poem
But these are the answers
Have been for two thousand years
Reflecting older teaching
And the laws
From Deuteronomy
That now
You don’t have to read
Though it wouldn’t hurt you
(much)
To know that love has come from God
And was the goodness in creation
And the reason
For first promises
Even for provisions when
We were cast out of Eden
Though the sweat of labor
For the man
And the real sweat of labor
For the woman
Wasn’t fun
And maybe still within the garden
We’d have worked
We’d have birthed
Without all the sweat
And all the pain
That we’ve learned to make
Philosophy
And a marketplace
To say that sweat and pain are actually
Good things
And you should buy our
Reasoning
Along with our products
And our memberships
But then
As far as relegation
Goes
Why not accept
And make the most of things
We must work
We must bear children
As we do
And while the process hurts
The product of pay
Is all right
And certainly
What comes with woman’s labor
Is a source
For joy
Delight in the present
While remarkable has happened
Toward the future
And maybe God and angels
Sweat and even
Hurt with us
Through everything
And there are
Times
When it’s hard
When I imagine we don’t care about
Divine sponsorship
Maybe after
Maybe not
Though we could thank the Lord
And the angels
When the job goes well
When a child is born
And for the mother
We work under a curse in all endeavors
Which sounds terrible
But that’s
You know
The way things are
‘Til dawning
Of the new age
When all pain is tabulated
Health restored
Hurt dismissed
And then
All the apologies in heaven
Divine
With what was mortal
May begin
C L Couch
Photo by eze cmf on Unsplash
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