the poet-friend
I heard it from a poet
once
that there was no following
because
grace was dispensed
by
those who claimed authority
to give it
and
by their terms
I’m imagining a water-cooler with
a foreign hand on
the tap
a line that goes away
from
there of those to drink
who
are bestowed with an upside-down
triangle of a cup
inside
of which are stips of official
pardon and
toward
the price of another metaphor
a ticket
to
the show
while grace if free
and
has no agency but God
if I may say
three parts to
one
with grace soaring everywhere
and everywhere it’s
needed
to cover and to heal as
that song-balm
the sin-
sick soul
and why not fly by music
of
the spheres
an angel chorus to announce
and
to remind us
freely given is the love and salvation
of the Lord
and
is the vision made
the poetry
perverse
and I don’t know but that it’s better than
the tyranny of will that despots
try
and yet prohibited by better will
and inside each
of us
a part
as if to fuse with our own
elements
our spirits to
save
grace
angels
our own will
and we are saved
if
against the world
and
those disillusioned and me
angered in
their
favor for who dispenses
grace
and blessing but
the Lord
and not the red
and black
the gold of breaking majesty
while
what we have
on our own
even alone if need be
faith
and love
forever
freely
grace like justice flowing
even better
c l couch
photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
full of grace
Tuesday’s child
what
kind of grace
I wonder
doctrinal or
looks or
manners as in good at dinner
or knows the steps
for
a party
maybe it’s the kind of luck
that person shall
have
the good kind if not
grand
as things fall together
for school
or work
or family
by belief the certainty of heaven
after
such an afterlife secured for
in feeling by the clear and
dovetailed angel
management
of
life
full of woe
(a Wednesday poem)
finally
some color outside both windows
nothing brilliant but
tingeworthy
and shall there be honest fall
or shall this aspect of climate change
cause too many to fall brown and
withered
from too-soon dessicated
branches the season
unseasonal
went
too hot too long
for riotous autumnal virtue
c l couch
photo by Ahmad Odeh on Unsplash
Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival 2018
like the psalmist foe-surrounded
poverty
or
surfeit
which we find by the world
by the devil
have betrayed us
what is left
despite the industries
I
do not know
and
who shall help me
say
with parameters
to break them as I can’t
while I invest my energy instead
on
what I thought I had back then
and didn’t
though I keep going back to
find
and then fix everything
to break the barriers
as bars
not with energy
deserved
but
with the strength shared me
resources to
freedom
by grace that
is
the merit going
graciously
unasked
yet
to be caught
and looped
and unbelieving and still
asking
too often without listening
of
who shall help with the problems
I can’t
breathe through
who shall help me more than
I know how to ask
then
so by asking
once
in forever
though there are the stories
delivered
by
Reverend Henderson
in
sermons and who knows
what anthology from which
came
the accounts
regardless
of the people in a raft
having survived
the wreck
maybe abandoned for another
reason
and what they know
all they know is ocean all around
until
the rescuers
arrive
then tell survivors that
for temerity
or
the lack
they could have reached
down and
drunk at anytime
for they were in the great
releasing of fresh water by the unseen
Amazon
too far the given land
on either side
to spy
or of the woman who had won
a trip
a cruise
(that
did not wreck)
and she was poor
and so ate crackers in her stateroom
for her meals
until
one day the captain should find her
to say
the meals were included in the prize
you should have been dining at
my table
every night
sufficiency
and then amazed abundance
without
question of deserving
to drink fresh water
to
dine with the captain
of the sound
ship
questing all the time
so try
but do not condemn oneself for merit
not canceled but
fulfilled
by grace
that
reminds us
even takes us to salvation
so that the last thing we might worry
over
might be perfection
or to have lost everything by
failing
when like water
like
the feast close by
before us
are set
yes
there is a judgment
and each time for each one
a mercy
clc
(Reverend Henderson was the preacher whose messages I received in church while I was a child)
photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash
verse (and prose) poems that could be sermons for tomorrow
1
no more than we can handle
is that in Scripture
don’t be anxious
do not worry over things you don’t
worry over
anyway
such as the numbers of small
nearly
might as well be
microscopic things
sands in
by the sea
the smallest and the largest love
of God
even that we try to emulate
then for the things we can and should
do
well
do them
pray
and live life in prayer
not autonomically
only a series of reflexes and right words
but
truly
as if truth matters as an old friend
as well as a new guide
care is not
indifference
nor is it fretting to become an occupation
for
Mary and Martha both got it right
though spending time at the foot of God
should set the tone and be the reason
why
everything else gets done
as for worry
well
some of it’s escapable
and we are human
there is the fear of the unknown
and what
to do when we feel we must do something
yet
if we could slip some worry as a piece
of paper
or a candy
into the pocket of whatever God is wearing
then
even the worry
needed
not needed
should go better
what is the old song
we tend to sing in a tired way
take it
to the Lord in prayer
and then
as in other antheming
so
march on
even
ride on
in majesty
but it’s
so much homelier than this
go to God
expect and answer
and
some timing
then do everything there is to do
that’s
ours to do
even a little more
like the persecuted follower
and never
think we have to move
without help
because for all the isolation we might feel
or
how tired
emptied out we might become
there is presence
and assistance
as of
the grace and majesty of angels
while
sometimes
seeming more than angels
it’s us
with the help of agencies
and God
2
so the Bible might not say we are given more than we can handle, since sacrifice in service might lead to giving up one’s life (harsh, I know) but that God is with us in our struggles, always inspiring, sometimes more directly helping as with miracles and always with grace (the free offer of God’s love and salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus)
so we worry, though we don’t have to or, in franker reality, don’t have to so much; not that loving mindlessly—any more than doing in that way—is called for; it’s our hearts and minds that should be turned toward God and in the love of God (those two commandments) to each other
my eyes hurt and my nose hurts
I feel isolated
put upon
by the world’s lies
and sometimes by my own
it’s not enough
simply to say
we got it wrong because we’re human
then learn
nothing then go on
we should not excuse ourselves
so easily
though we should look toward
reliving others of supernal responsibility
even worked out as
the small things of the day
we have to love each other
otherwise
it’s enmity
indifference
or shoddy showing of regard
because
we’re supposed to
though we want
to get out of service
as quickly as possible
not that
leaving for a while
to wander the hills
or the Hundred Acre Wood
is not
desirable
since such wandering’s preferred
and might be called for
to walk about
and also be alone
then
to be with each other
it’s like the mother who said
to Christopher
her boy
don’t walk with me
but be here
when I return
and greet me as if I had been gone
a long
long while
so love
when necessary
learn to live without even
what we’re sure we must have
to do it
like the stump at the end of the story
the tree is useful
honestly
I feel so alone as I write
maybe you’ll come to see me
we’ll see each other
better
than with eyes
with awareness of each other’s terms
practically
and sentimentally
of each other’s love
with the guidance of the source
who speaks to us like mountains
or like
sparrows
knowing God loves you
then
and so do I
c l couch
some sources cited
1 Corinthians 10:13
Matthew 10:29-31
Psalm 16:11
Exodus 33:14
a few old hymns
The Enchanted Places by Christopher Milne
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
photo by P A on Unsplash
Grace Fully
So believe
If you will
And only as you will
Grace
That makes faith real
Is offered freely
And
Exists regardless
Believe in God or do not
Same
With the life of faith
After and
With belief
And
Don’t let any tell you
Another person
Anyway
That he or she dispenses grace
If only you subscribe
Grace
And also faith
Don’t work
That way
The first need being only
You and God
Should you choose
And
Should you accept
Then there is the life of faith
In which you might choose
Healthy
Earthly affiliation
And while to have and keep
Sadly
It’s not
To say the faithful life is easy all the time
While
Through it all
The obstacles
Worldly
Self-styled
Do promise
Spiritually
Well
The Spirit’s ease
And even peace and joy
Be the judge of grace
And faith
To start with God or
Not
And
Don’t let any other take the judging role
Except God
And then remember God is truth
And also
God
Is love
I heard once that church should be rejected because it claims to dispense grace—and also, as such, the church charges something (membership, money, doctrinal adherence) in order to receive the grace if offers, if not dangles. But grace is not or ever owned this way. (Or owed, either.) Grace is from God, and grace is free. It is the free means to receive the saving favor of the Lord. As means or to exist at all, grace comes at no cost of ours, the price for grace, so to say, having in fact been paid by God. We are saved by faith in God. And as if faith were great art, grace is the frame.
C L Couch
Photo by Eugene Chystiakov on Unsplash
“In the Park”
Kyiv, Украина
drop of love
(a phrase by GraceoftheSun)
which has me think
of the Rubaiyat
of Omar
Khayyam
(because I guess there
could
be other rubaiyats)
in which
we
famously do
read
a loaf of bread
a jug of wine
and thou
(translated)
and maybe such a drop
could be poured
from
such a jug
to share and make the love
sometimes in wine and often
in poetry
clc
Thanks, Grace!
https://graceofthesun.com/gesture/
photo by Yucel Moran on Unsplash
Bread and Un-Circuses
(respecting actual circuses)
Please don’t let them
Tell you
They own these
Or manage them
As on
Great stools
In circuses
(for ticket prices)
Grace and miracle
In miracle
There’s grace
In grace
There’s miracle
And they are free
And should go
Wild-seeming
As they may
Go
Outside
Our doctrine
Though we try to capture them
Ring them
As it were
With naming
Precepting
And merchandising
These better
Things
They happen
In the timing of the Lord
Salvation being instant
And grace
Cooperatively
Then the rest
(of grace)
And miracle
As if wild
Breathing and galloping
Over a health of possibilities
Exigence outside
Called in
By kairotic
Signals
And ugently
Once given
Salvation
Grace
And miracle
Let go by God
And without cost
Or a doctrine of control
But
Freely through
The cost
Divinely paid
Against
The worst of human means
Free of us
They turn around
And turn us around
(they turned from assigned or
unassigned
location
while us turned
by repentance
that means
turn)
To come in from the wondrousness
Of wilderness
To ordered Earth
Breaking through the ordered
Or the chaosed
To save us
So then
These
Beyond subscription
So we might do no better
Than
Simply
Marvelly
Even irascibly
Turn from the other intrusions
Rather
To open
Ourselves
Freely
To accept
Freely
Twice as much
To receive
Then
Feely
Twice as much
To give
C L Couch
(the song with “freely, freely” as I’m recalling is a hymn of forgiveness and salvation, composed by Carol Sue Owens)
Photo by Dannie Jing on Unsplash
Awestruck
God come through that door
And I shall be
Terrified
Which is part of the awe
That God deserves
With the reason why the angels
Say so often
Be not afraid
This might be difficult
Though it’s
Finally
Good news
That makes more officially
A gospel
Of the Lord
With us
An Immanuel
Time and again
Angels on assignments
A voice
A gesture
That could bring down Jericho
Or Midian
Or approve the execution
Of Holofernes
Nothing to see
Except in accidental daring
While most of those
Who hear
Do not see
Except in the world changed
After
Supplication
The results
An affirmation
Too
Of a holy presence
So much more than us
And also
Quite frankly
Inside us
Of a kind of molecule
Our machines
Have yet
To count
So seek the Lord
Or wait for being sought
For
We should find each other
To have experience
A history
Of faith
And what we hope for
The action
And the learning from
Tandem theology
With the only agenda
That is
Acceptable
So we may plan
With details
Then have
And then testify
To grace
As approval
C L Couch
Photo by Bamdad Norouzian on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
(sorry, this is long—and rather existential)
x
x
World without End except It Ends
(a kind of rhapsody)
x
And how are things
In Ukraine
And how are the Rohingya
The indigenous in
Amazonia
(where it
turns out
no tall women
cast like
Gal Gadot)
And in NZ
And the USA
x
And how are they recovering
From earthquakes in India
And Pakistan
(and give thanks for rescues
from the mines)
Plus the quakes before
In Syria
x
Dealing with the aftereffects
On Maui
And now a new spill
Of a million gallons
In our
Gulf
x
We go to war
Nature beats us down
And yet I’m quiet in a minute
(coughing slightly)
With the morning sun
And branches
Scraping a Hallowe’en hello
Against the window
x
And the kitchen sink
Is stopped
And there are fruit flies
From the bananas
That I dared to buy the other day
And sinuses
And heart disease
That go on
x
And there is not a feeling
Of assessment
Or of judgment
Things are the way they are
It is what it is
We are dust in the wind
Qué será
Será
(every generation
needs this lyric)
x
I am safe for now
That’s why
I don’t feel bitter in the world
Except sometimes
When the thought is thought
Or something happens
Even though there’s faith
x
And there is faith
Nothing extraordinary
One might think it
Feel it
Commonly
And every day
Through prayer enforced
In every hour
x
Faith in God
More than each other
Though in each other
Too
And even in the world
God help us
(and God will)
While we have the world
Not each for each one
But
(Dumas
D’Artagnan)
One for all
x
But faith
But hope and love
That’s how it goes
With the greatest
We are told
Is love
And have I love
Have you
And does it keep us
From the Trough
Of Despair
x
And to correct
That’s ancient Greek
And economics
While the giant is
Despair
And there is challenging
For Pilgrim
The Slough of Despond
(funny how some college readings
don’t stay with you)
x
Right or wrong
We have the world
And ourselves
We breath
Sometimes in contemplation
Seeking mysticism
Or simply get us through
The day before us
As we dread it
Or we fear it
x
There is a war zone
Though I don’t face
Maybe with you
Blood and disaster
Lack of reason
All of explosions’
Randomness
But there is a war zone
One big one everywhere
It’s spiritual
(big deal
you might say
in which
there are
no broken bones
no wishes
for a ceasefire
in so many other places)
Though it is real
x
It wants to pull us down
To smother
Or to drown us
So that we cannot
Look out clear
Or up above
For quotidian metaphor
Since underneath miasma
Or on the other side
Of despair
There is source of faith
As well
Reason to hope
Impetus to love
x
Shantih
I’m nobody
Too
Let’s not advertise
Keep it simple
Keep it quiet
Layer the world’s noise
Above
On all sides
Below
x
For on the breastplate
It is etched
That the source is everywhere
(like Savoir Faire
je ne sais quoi
and so stay
chez lui)
x
Hurry up
Please
We have no time
The Rider’s on the loose
The Dark is rising
Look for holiday scenes
Also in
Roll of Thunder
Hear My Cry
And even
Murder mysteries
(looking at you
Louise Penny)
x
And how have the spirits
Told us over ages
Still listening
By the adept
God blessing the dispossessed
Living within
Unjust environs
x
We devalue
The supernal
Yet look for it
In seminars
And everything
That tells us about God
Without God
Which is okay
I guess
Money that’s wasted
Must be wasted on something
x
Set God aside
(God is used to this)
How are we knit
Regardless
Well
Through capillaries
Synovia
All the ways our bodies
Work
More or less
x
In floors
Between skyscrapers
(yes
I know
‘til they fall)
In rivers moving through
The plains
To make grand canyons
x
Through overlays of roads
We lay of web
There are great potholders
With a better need
For infrastructure
But look at the lights
From space
The synaptic pattern
Of our world
x
For now
We got one
We have each other
x
And how are things
In Glocca Morra
I feel
I have to say that
And the tune go through my head
All day
And what is yours
x
We sing
If only through our brain cells
Maybe through memories
Or if we must
Out loud
x
As many say
(and sing)
The extraordinary
In the ordinary
We must have this
It parallels
The things made not
By us
But for us
After all
x
What crowns creation
Us or sabbath
And besides the heads
With angels dancing
For a count
Who really cares
Since God wears the crown
And that is that
x
A crown of Earth
Some think
Though it isn’t
There
x
Worlds of all kinds
Aren’t crowns
Or bear them
We visit
Truly visit
And we know
x
So let ambition
Have a better end
Reach in all directions
For what’s
Next
What is today’s
What’s in the hour
All the hours we
Are given
And have left
x
Let’s not be
Moribund
In attitude
Not while there is
So much
For us
And that we make
To make
To last
To prosper
Even in
Disposable economies
x
There is grace
With
Gracia
In the world
And intrusions of miracles
All the time
And we medically
Constructively
Artisanally
Make our own
x
What shall we make
Though
As we know
We don’t take it with us
Even cells
But leave things behind
That in eternity
Is dross
But become
Legacies
For those still
Living here
x
All the names
All the actions
All we own
Or think we own
They matter
Though all matter
Be reformed
(as in re-informed
and in
the usual kind
like Protestants
now let’s all cheer like Protestants
which is in the movie)
x
Nothing lasts
And everything lasts
It’s our memory
And God’s computer
Accounting angels
Excused from the heads of pins
To do the real
Work
In magnificent
And terrifying shape
Which is why
They’re always saying
Do not be afraid
x
Don’t be afraid
Though
There are fearful things
We can resort
To faith
Hope
Or love
Or simply
Painfully
Endure
x
Enduring’s good
(so’s faith)
For keeping us
Around
‘Til something better
Happens
And maybe resolution
For what has hurt
Has wounded us
For so long
Or a day
x
Hang on
Hurry
Or don’t hurry
We have the hour
Candlelight
Inside the mind
And with our bodies
Move ourselves
Whole or partial
Through the day
x
Dear ones
God is here
And we are here
Our touch is easier
For flesh
x
So let flesh
With spirit bless
The first
A mortal blessing
Less to bestow
But we can do it
The second
From an origin
That is not us
But like us
We are like
x
And let there be amen
If this is prayer
Or in another attitude
Say grace
That isn’t grace
But the best
We might do
x
C L Couch
x
x
(bye, bye, M—, well, you know who)
x
Photo by Justin Wilkens on Unsplash
The Yazoo River out of its banks near highway 61 North. Flood waters up to the levee road.
x
clcouch123 
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