soul power
let us break bread and
drink
wine together
breaking hate for whatever
reason
we saw justified
wine as blood
to know that blood is poured
and
has been poured
and except
by the one must be
bled no
longer for the rest
to say today
and
how
shall we rejoin
(or if
rejoin)
tomorrow
if
we could
remember on our
knees
in faith
to the one
and then in service
also
to each other
then
that we study war no more
but
let peace prevail and
a feast
by love
by love
tempered by wisdom as
mercy tempers
justice
unafraid
overcome
if afraid
still overcome
c l couch
for Juneteenth
photo by Ian Kiragu on Unsplash
you, the season, and the Bible (3 poems)
the Tuesday verse
it’s Tuesday
how
are you
well
I hope
and
if not on your way toward
becoming well
and more
I don’t know what kind
of day you’ll have
today
maybe one of actual prosperity
or
to refine only
hope for
more
maybe there will be peace
this day
though there might be conflict
just
as well
the world as it is
we know
here it happens to be
raining and it’s
cooler
it might be raining where you are
as well
as
it falls near
everyone
even in the desert now
and
then
a happy Tuesday to you
and we try to raise our thoughts
toward
a Wednesday with
an even
better view
maybe weather
notwithstanding
or
altering
the longest day
the solstice is approaching
Midsummer
or
Saint John’s
and then the days grow shorter
though it’s
summer
and we think if in irony of longer
days
relish
in fact
the light of day that lingers as a cue
for picnics and vacations
or
simply to take in
because of the gradients of
blue
and then
the stars appear to dance
to twinkle through the atmosphere
at least
in the summer hours we have
which
will grow longer for them
maybe in the dark of only this time
of year
we’ll also think of kick-the-can and
capture-the-
flag
time and talent
Jesus wept
the reputed shortest verse
though
it’s a matter of numbering and syntax
of translators
and
then getting by the editors in
the inspired process
and maybe new translations
paraphrases
challenge other parts for that epithet
say
to write in Genesis
God made
or maybe to try
only
God
c l couch
photo by Wenying Yuan on Unsplash
good and plenty
(not that I’m a fan of licorice)
God is good
and God is here
we reach out
to God
while we are here
wishing ours were better
when it’s
not
and also taking time
and sharing words of thanksgiving
for part of that
good
we have
and life goes mingled this way
even
with the Lord
and we persist in this adulterated life
because we should and is
our impulse to go
on
not
to wish ourselves to heaven
way before it’s time
or
whenever
the surprise to know
with
sadness left behind
while on the way toward joy in paradise
and this
is how it goes
as well
a mingled afterlife
and
not
to say this life is a rehearsal only
for it’s not
while it is for what comes after
it is its own
for dreaming and for realizing dreams
with
accountability along the way
so if frustrating
not
to have virtue instantly
rewarded
there is nonetheless
far-down peace that rises
through our flesh and to
our eyes
and mouths
to exude and share
what
we might know of lasting joy
that like the class activity to tell and
show
even the love of God and love as God
on Earth
c l couch
(allusion aside, the candy licorice fan would be my sister)
photo by The Nix Company 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
simplicity itself
something
short and simple
if not sweet
for
God is long and complex
but likes short and simple
too
I’m thinking
I love you
I made you
I made you out of love
and now for love
fallen
as the Calvinists propound
and sorry that
that happened though
not sorry
for the will in your
and so
love struggles
not in me
though I mourn
and
yes
and anger in perfection
that is mine
still hoping for love
each time
on Earth
as is
and as we might be waiting
all of us
‘til time
c l couch
photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash
the old anthem I can’t find
(but used to sing)
an old anthem
leads from Ecclesiastes
into James
a strange splicing
though it indicates progression
beginning with a celebration
and a caution
for youth to find joy
in being
youth
and also concern
since
one day there is judgment
James
then goes further
asking youth or anyone
really
to consider
the wrong aspects of desire
when we ask
we ask awry and even
kill
thinking to satisfy our wants
yet
there is the claim of the perfect law of liberty
that
whoever lives into this law
shall be blessed
and this law
what shall we say
what it
might be
if more context is required
the commandments
then
those
that Jesus cites
above all
and so a good place to begin
not only a life of faith
but that is satisfied
for through
these we know how to ask
aright and even get what we really
want
since
wanting is fine and it’s the twisting of want
that ruins it and
everything around it
I wish I could find that song
I used to sing it when a youth
and
as an anthem
it was loud
harmonious
and
true
c l couch
Ecclesiastes 11:9
James 1:25
James 2:4
(KJV)
Matthew 22:36-40
photo by Md Mahdi on Unsplash
This Day God
God
What do you think
I should say today
If anything
To share
For
We know that you are love
But we aren’t love
And you won’t fix us
Obviously
And we could follow you
By serving each other
Though
The world would only hurt us
Take from us
And should we all be ready
To lose that much
And
Maybe so
Yet
Sigh
I am weak
And unconnected
So what could I do to make
Things better
But
Maybe
On occasion to remind us that
You are
In truth love
And
Direct of us to be and
Do the same
C L Couch
Joshua 24:15
Photo by Magnus Östberg on Unsplash
[3 haiku about (coastal) land and water]
dawn in its first hour
gray hour at the ocean sings
gulls cry food for praise
knowing god looks out
from shore with the church folk there
looks back too through waves
gold rise red to blue
east coast sun sets into land
western sun in sea
c l couch
(3 haiku about (coastal) land and water, in part because I haven’t been to the ocean in a while; I mean for each poem to stand as each, though they are tied as well)
photo by René Molenkamp on Unsplash
sun day
I’m supposed to write of God
today
it being Sunday
and I told myself
directly about spiritual things
on
Sunday
being the day
you know
for that
then what happens tomorrow
when
it’s Monday and the untrending grudge
(or is it grunge)
returns
with six more days
‘til another break
for heaven or
at least for
heavenly consideration
well
today I think on God
because by experience it’s obvious
and I’ll even think on church
though
that bond
over time as well as exploitation
has become more and more tenuous
and what of God
whom we don’t know
or even
intimacy with Christ
which hardly seems appropriate
to think
Christ is our pal
with ironically the Spirit
the closes part
of God
we know even less
which might speak to knowing ourselves
and yet
we have the caveat
not
to dwell on self against all other
preoccupations
and yet
two sides of the equation
to love neighbor
and self
preceded by the command
not
nice suggestion
that we love God first
which sounds like law
and is
though we know
well the only kind of law we get
on Earth
that sometimes is filtered
through mercy
as well as
justice
sometimes realizing these are the same
in fact
though mostly laws and lawmakers
who serve self
not the good self
or self’s
agenda
first
well
I started back on Sunday
and it’s
still Sunday
a day of value because
it’s the now
we have
and could be Monday
any day
that’s the now
we have
and God is over us
and as we want
God
through us
and how much
so very
agonizing much
must God
be waiting
for faith to start and also faith
to live
beyond the start
sigh
so believe in God
in spite of all our
well
things of us
that get in the way
of our being us
or things of the world
that do the same
and also
take us from
the love we have in God
self
and each other
about as
simple as it gets
really
God made everything
and us
and it as “good” by God
to have done so
or add an exclamation point by
James Weldon Johnson
and
things went wrong
and
don’t blame anyone but everyone
fell to the extent
that over ages
we’re still measuring
though as far as goes
can get up
whenever
meaning whenever
ask God
for help
and even for the life
and is in thanks
to offer service
to the good
as one is able
and let one work that out
with God
not for perfection
yet
but for redemption
yes
and also frankly
the delight
in the pleasures of the moments
with having the better way
for
the other moments
then on to delight
and
did God say
(and did)
peace and joy
even
now
if in irony with the world
the promises good things yet
does not
know them
really
but life with God
now
and was it mentioned
(and it was)
a life to come
that we should know has come
already to
the saints before us
and
small “s”
that is
for the sants among us
as us
now
c l couch
photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
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