goodness

with or without a garden or an upper dining room

well
God
I’m here
and where are you
why
look
you’re here
you’ve always been
and it’s
so much
the patience to remain here
while I
prevaricate
to think a million
other things
as if
they matter more
and justify
the saddest
putting-off

for
my specific greetings
my confessions
petitions
for my needs
and needs
of others
more specific
and for the entire
world
and the whorls
of the cosmos
that need
you
out there

and I’m sure
more than
in here
in this hour
when I happen to awake
to find you here
or
in a
sleepy moment
to unlid
my eyes a little
see you
then and there
surprise
as well

always
a miracle
and I’m chagrined
to take up
your presence
and your time
the way
I do

not
to say I need a bell
or other
signal
from assemblies

(though
I like
bells
generally)

and shall you send
an angel
as an agent
for assistance
homely
and extraordinary

though it’s
especially
your Spirit
that is
needful

as a saving source
and guide

your word
you
as word
is needed
to get me there
and then
with you
and to remain
even
while here

for all my faults
and prevarications

but also
with broad hints
of there
(un-agnostically)
say
through the song says
after here
live
in your house
that follows
and is filled
with goodness and mercy
and is filled with
forever

c l couch

1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
John 14
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-14-2/

photo by Lucas Hoang on Unsplash

(x = space)

Magic Acts

The day is

Here

And I am glad

And it’s a mess

And I

Am glad

Snow would vie with rain

Ice with streets

That are only wet

The wintry mix

They say

That sounds like salad

In a bag

I could select from bags

In the store

Thank you for

Messy days

Indeterminate;

I think I see

A patch of yellow and of green

On the tree out back

And now it’s gone,

That is,

The patch of light

And not

The tree

Yes, it is

Strange magic

Or I think it is

And I have a movie on

That I barely see or hear

Because

The day itself

Is more compelling,

And I can keep the background

Images

And especially the sounds

For the distraction

Of tinnitus

While looking better

At the black and brown

And white

And listening for wind

That pushes everything

A moving day outside

With patches

Now and then

Of yellow and of green,

Brighter parts

And shaded

While the sun and moon

Trade places

And is that not

(sorry,

kinescope

and nickelodeon)

The more compelling

Magic

C L Couch

Photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash

Frozen Yellow Rose

(x = space)

Frozen Yellow Rose

Is this a prose-poem or an essay or a Sunday homily (the text would be the Good Samaritan)? I don’t know, but here it is. Something I heard at church from those who were there. I mean, were there in Houston.

here’s what happened in Houston (Texas, USA) yesterday:

most homes do not have fireplaces and instead rely on electricity to power furnaces for heat and appliances for cooking and computers, but the power grid is out, it’s blank in Houston;

in grills or in makeshift places, Duralogs were burned and any wood that could be found or any charcoal left from summer or, indeed in a deep Southern place, the last time there was a barbecue;

the feeling was post-apocalyptic

there was a certain grocery store that powered up enough generators to preserve food and to allow people inside safely, though the numbers who could enter at a time were severely limited (because there is a pandemic raging ‘round the world and through Houston); this meant that there were thousands outside the store in line, waiting for their turn;

keep in mind it’s extra winter there just now, the temperature having gone into the teens during the day;

the manager of this grocery store or maybe it was the owner, walked up and down the line outside and said to folks, if you can’t pay for your groceries just now, don’t worry—get what your family needs, bread and baby food and such;

according to those who were there, this kind of thing was happening all over the city

coda

this does not account or provide sustenance for those assailed by the crisis of collapsing glacial ice in India that has stolen the lives of scores of people; this does not take care of COVID-19 or provide vaccine, something that the world sorely needs; this does not answer all the problems and frankly all the disasters that we suffer with here and there on planet Earth; it is a single story, and maybe we could let it have the power of a single story, which like creation stories or apocalypses or “The Gift of the Magi” or “The Artist of the Beautiful,” can be, well, pretty powerful

C L Couch

Power Failure: How a Winter Storm Pushed Texas into Crisis

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Power-failure-How-a-winter-storm-pushed-Texas-15967411.php

Around 2 a.m. Monday, the full measure of the crisis Texas faced began to be apparent. Cold and ice had set in the day before, leading to spreading power outages across the state.

Photo by Vlad Busuioc on Unsplash

Downtown, Houston, Texas, United States

drone view of a city

February 21, 2021 2