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Simon Says

(x = space)

x

x

Simon Says

(based in part on verses)

x

Is that the pie-man

Or Simon Peter?

Anyone

Who’d rather simonize

A game

x

We know what Simon Peter says

He wrote letters

We have two

He fished

One kind and then the other

It seems he went back and forth

Between despair

And inspiration

His is a good cause

For reconciliation

Saying the one thing

You are Christ

Then falling, failing

Into water

(he is rescued)

First refusing foot-washing

Then wanting it all over

x

Yet somehow he is the rock

A name

A metaphor

For church

Jesus says so

Then there’s the episode

Chapter and verse for us

When it is night

And his rabbi, his leader,

And his friend is arrested

xxxxxtaken away

xxxxxto the authorities

xxxxxwho can determine

xxxxxtemporal and real

xxxxxcontinued life

xxxxxor death

And when he’s near

To everything

And asked about it

Says he doesn’t know

He doesn’t know the man

And upon the last

Of three of these

He curses

And the rooster crows

And he sees

Maybe in every way

The savior

Who was his teacher

And his friend

And it’s over

No paradox remains

The holes have been dug

Into conviction

Into faith

And practice

In some new ways perhaps

At least on the inside

Where it matters

Unless feeding others

That is an outside matter

x

What faith,

The joy he had

Have gone into the void

Like mortality

Into the entrance of a tomb

He goes away

He’s out of everything

For a chapter

Or two chapters

His own story

Torn out by the tearing actions

Of denial

Help my unbelief

He could have remembered

The cry of the parent

For the healing of the child

He could have wept

For Jerusalem

And for his friend

x

Peter, Peter

Denier

Pumpkin-eater

Follower and friend

He said so

Jesus said so

Then everything was gone

He was gone

With the other one

Sometimes we lose our way

With the other

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C L Couch

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Matthew 26:69-75

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(the letters that are 1 and 2 Peter)

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nursery rhymes that are the stuff of ages, now

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Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

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1

LoveSpeak

(x = speak)

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LoveSpeak

x

What does God’s love say

In the face of danger?

Through many dangers,

Toils, and snares

God’s love says

I’m here

The love is here

The source is here

The host is here

We’re here

x

Though there be anger,

Scorn, and fear

From enemies and friends

Alike

Because doubt and unbelief

Might have to have

Their way,

The love of God is first

And follows

Like the currents inside Earth

And over,

The moving pillars

Cloud or fire

That are before

And after

x

Alongside in

The truth of companionship

But I can’t see that

You can

It’s more than senses

With which we perceive

As best we can

x

Presence and love are better

They are inside

And out

They speak without words

Until it’s time for words

x

When we have ears to hear

And cannot hear,

Count on the company

Of the divine

To know us better,

Pick us up

If fallen,

Go with us onward

Leading, should we ask

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

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“Amazing Grace” (the hymn) referenced above

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1

Rocking

(x = space)

x

x

Rocking

x

God is with me

As I tilt back and forth

Considering the day

The possibilities

Though first counting

What is real

In the atmosphere

In my awareness

As the spheres pass through

Vibrating oh, so slowly,

With the timing of creation

Slow with majesty

And an offer

To commune

And (much more) slowly get it

Then to rise

Into the day

And its new hour

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Syed Hussaini on Unsplash

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Shaping the Word of God

(x = space)

x

x

Shaping the Word of God

x

You know,

It didn’t come with numbers

Chapters and verses

I guess the whole thing was recited

As a book, we say

x

Then we moved on to another

The community

x

The interpreting community

Setting doctrine

As a group,

A denomination

Or on our own

Without a magisterium

x

Tricky doctrine-setters

How do they avoid a lie

In designation?

x

Maybe with the humility

Of Pietists

Or the Amish who

Set salvation as

A conditional process

We hope we’re saved

x

Meanwhile, we have

A book of books

Providing order,

Which is fine

Except when God is wild

In the wilderness,

Awaiting Moses

Beside the symbol and reality

(one comes first)

Of the burning tree

That will not consume

x

Remove your shoes,

Moses,

This is not a nine to five

This is a place above the desert

Thin blue air

For food

And doctrine from a flame

And from the words

One hears

Through the host

That is speaking

x

And if the order is to play,

Then be grateful

For bare feet

x

And we believe?

Our committees

And our meetings

All things gilt or burnished

For the Sunday best

To be best?

x

Might we go to Sinai

In a Thoreauvian way

Take all the time we need

Outside of shoes

To think it through

The bush will burn

There’s time

x

If need be,

Chronos will slip into kairos

For a while

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash

Saint Catherine Monastery, Mount Sinai, Egypt

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1

Genesism

(x = space)

x

x

Genesism

x

We were thrown out:

Don’t blame Eve,

I don’t;

The serpent could have

Just as easily

Caught Adam first

And both fall

After choosing to take bites

x

And if you believe

The woman had such power,

Go ahead—I

Wouldn’t stop you

x

Did they see the angel,

Looking back?

The orange or the yellow

Of a blade on fire?

Feel the heat?

Did they know for sure

They must go another way,

Not to return

For ages?

x

Well, they were given

Clothing,

They were given curses

Also callings,

They knew what they’d have to do

To live;

And so with their descendants,

So with us,

The myth goes on

For hunters and for music;

We build a tower

To do better than the curses

x

The tower falls;

We cannot speak to each other,

Anymore

x

So we build in separation;

Cities rise

And as must follow

Empire:

Strong people rule somehow

And we let their children rule

x

Was it worship

Or respect

Or indifference?

We had our farms to tend;

Soon there would be machines

x

We raised walls

To keep ourselves upon the plains,

Set outposts in the mountains,

Surrounded waterways,

x

And with food

And bright blades

Secured the promises

Of generations

x

Nation went to war

Against nations;

Many gods were worshipped,

Some directed

x

We have stone

And paper manuscripts

And ruins upon ruins

That are testimonies

x

And are we rising?

We hope so;

There are awful, lateral movements

And descensions—call

Them massacres,

Call slavery,

Call rule by one

With only one served,

One living well

x

Democracy is rising;

Call it something else;

We keep at it

x

How about

Soon we grow

Without anything but growth?

x

After-Eden flaws remain;

Maybe we’ll understand at last

Divinities approving

Of mortality,

Mortal accountancy

In meeting needs,

Accountability,

Repentance,

And renewal

x

Rockets go toward the moon,

Soon with people

Who will stay awhile

While we aim for Mars,

Send rockets to the rest;

We hope the Voyagers

Will find friends

x

We’re not perfect,

We’re not even better

x

If we keep our flaws,

And we own mortality

Then we’ll do all right

For legacy:

The joy in now

x

C L Couch

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Water, Light, and Long Shutter Speeds

Photo by Ahmad Dirini on Unsplash

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transept

(x = space)

x

x

transept

x

and what presses in from outside

the church

the light of day

human noise

the natural world

the word of God

that says open the doors

and let me in

let those come too

under my arms

my coat or cloak or umbrella

those who are also

under my care

Ignorance and Want

and many others

ignorant of allegory

needing shelter and recognition

these are people

these are my creation too

let us in

then let us out

bearing what you may provide

what you have here

for their good

and mine

x

c l couch

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photo by Bcny on Unsplash

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2

The Valley of Weeping

(x = space)

x

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The Valley of Weeping

(Psalm 84)

x

Loss

Patience with loss

Endurance

Not only keeping faith

But using it

While I might not know your suffering

God does

And God loves you for it

And will go with you through

Valleys of shadows

‘Til shadows encounter shade

A comfort in the desert,

An unknown place of suffering

Become familiar

Not in which to dwell

But through which

To cool our sight

Our sense

To know the way

To leave

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash

[story that came with photograph—I think it’s apropos]

We were looking to capture a foggy sunrise view of Half-Dome in Yosemite, but the weather wasn’t cooperating with us. The fog that did show up was low-lying and moving quickly through the trees like a ghostly river meandering through the canyon, swirling around the tallest trees in small eddies. Like too many forests, the valley is infested with borers, which has killed thousands of trees. The splash of golden trees mixed with the green is actually really beautiful, but a sad reminder of how fragile the forest is.

Yosemite Valley, United States

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When Great Pain

(x = space)

x

x

When Great Pain

x

If God exists

And God does exist

And if God loves

And God does love

And if God has power

And God has the most

Then how

Then why

I don’t know,

Why are things so messed up

So screwed up

So damnably awful?

We could ask this and these

On calmer days as well

It’s fair

x

All things of substance are good

Really

You move toward evil and the devil

Then you move toward nothingness

And nothing

These will increase, day by day,

Until that’s all

(so much worse than Porky Pig)

There is nothing

Not black

(black is good)

But a void

Out of which God has created

But not us

Nothing we have will last

Except as legacy

Then memory

Then

(let a couple of beats go by)

x

We are on the side of flesh

Who value flesh

(I am ignorant about

mortification)

And what’s inside

Flesh is not bad

It is ours and was made for us

By the true owner

Of the universe

Who keeps with perfection

From the smallest moment that we know

And smaller

To the next

x

And what of pain?

Why is there pain?

How can there be a God of pain?

Well, there is

Who is the God of love

Who promises alleviation

And for you

Family

And friends and neighbors, too

For a broken

And a splitting-further world

x

Pain is a stake

(and stake)

It is on the table of the world

It is not ours

Though we can wield it

The way we can

Wield healing and solutions,

Too

These are realities and means

And we have so much to do with them

For now

We can move with

Pretty much anything we want

Inside

Outside

Toward ourselves

Toward our neighbors

Toward the world

x

Persist

Sometimes is all there is

When pain is great

The next moment

And the next

One moment

Two moments

Enough accomplishment

Until everything’s incorporated

And we stand up

And move

Not move on as in forget

Move on as in everything’s a part

Of us now

x

And I know

It’s hard

To say we’re not alone

When we are alone

Without the peace of it

But we’re not

A lesson for the speaker, too

We’re not

There is companionship

And company

For life

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Conor Sexton on Unsplash

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, United States

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We Prayed Today

(x = space)

x

x

We Prayed Today

x

“Today is a privilege” she said she’d

Embroider on a pillow

And on the other side, “I’m still

Breathing”

Because for all the despondence,

The despair we take to prayer

In our group,

There is beauty and joy

And so much to love

In fact, it’s what we love that turns

That often

Leads us to prayer

Compels us

We pray for the good things, too,

Wanting the goodness

We pray over cherishing the messed-up

World we have

And the messed-up lives we care for

And our own

We say amen

Knowing it’s never

The end

And we say thank you

With intention

We mean it

We are grateful

x

C L Couch

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Photo by KARTIK GADA on Unsplash

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