heart transplant
sometimes when we’re in
too deep
we think of someone tells us
we must come up
for air
because the heart
the body
cannot live
without it
cannot live without the other thing
as well
call it by the many names
in many languages
I think each tongue has
more than one
word for it
it isn’t God
though close
and I don’t want
to leave you with a riddle
though
you show know it or
can find someone
to tell you
to remind you
nothing so deep
but this isn’t deeper
more
lasting and
in fact
the core
of each
and
dare I say of all
and I don’t think
(by the way)
that God will mind
not really
supplanting
but
investing this again
if need be
in
our lives
and if Giod minds
I’m sorry
no fault of
your
own
c l couch
photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
The Winter Mind
It’s late
Long shadows
Winter-coming ready
Longer
Sooner into darkness
Though the thing
Take
Just as long
As any other orbiting of
Earth
It is a winter mind
And winter body
And the
Spirit
We’d like to think
Ready
Always adaptable
But
There is
SAD
And something older
Something eldritch
In the residence
Of spirit
The reason for the bonfire
And the special words
The dancing
After
Knowing that our planet must
Turn the other way
For melting
Seeds
And more
Come spring
Don’t abrogate our lights
The gifts
Of artificial power
Any more than wood and oil
Have shown our way
At night
And yet
Remember we are
Evening people
Too
Affected by the twilight
As it ebbs
And flows
The seasons
Of our kind
And with so many
Sibling species of
The world
C L Couch
Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash
Dear Heart
What shall I
Say
What shall I
Do
Today
I ask and ask
While there are no letters
In the sky
What shall I
Pray then
For an answer
A direction
If not
A plan
How about the next
Step
Only
How about an inclination
Certainly a push
Should help
A small one
Maybe
I won’t
Tell your supervisors
Or maybe you could help
With this
Great weight
That seems
To be weighing more
Today
Some small lightness
Which
I’ll take for
Freedom
To move along
Dear angel
Thank you
Knowing you are there
Is
Of course
Something good
More than
You know
You know
C L Couch
Photo by Jason marquis on Unsplash
Ancient of Days
God
As God
Requires
That we love God
With our minds
With our hearts
With our souls
And that
We love our neighbors
As ourselves
Which does mean
Self-love
Must be in there
Too
It isn’t a request
It is a command
From God
First command
Second command
At least as Deuteronomy
And Jesus
Has arranged
What we are told
To do
I know we see all this
As optional
As if God required less
Than the military
Or our bosses
Or out contracts
Though these came first
And do not change
With rank
Or a new job
It is a
God who commands
For whom blood was required
And a nation follow
Or be brought down
Be outcast
By the power of
Worldly forces
That won the day
Because the people had
Abandoned
God
And faith
And certainly
Obedience
It all seems ancient
Irrelevant
And at best
Relative
Doesn’t it
We moderns do not live
This way
We don’t fret over altars
Or unblemished offerings
Not of animals
And certainly not
Ourselves
We take the dross of doctrine
Leave the rest
Inside the book
Inside the church or temple
That we enter and exit
Now and then
Even weekly
Without doubt for holidays
Yes
Without doubt
This year
God loves
God waits
God invites
God doesn’t require
Fancy dress
Or best behavior
God love us as we are
Wants no change
Might wait for deathbeds
For confessions
And an
Affirmation
Guaranteeing heaven
Or God’s our pal
And pals don’t leave other pals
Out in the dark
The rain
By the gate
That we’re sure will open for us
God’s our pal
The dross of doctrine
Looks
Behavior
What we give
Whom we serve
Tangential faith
Appreciation for the invitation
Please stand by
The modern spiritual life
Lukewarm at best
And it seems
God doesn’t cotton to
Lukewarm
Or bits of this or that
That might be good
If only by
Our arguments
Or statements
To the press
Or whoever might be listening
In the mirror
We’ll get around to God
Perhaps
The way God is
And what God wants
After work
And after home
And after neighborhood
Relations
Maybe during vacation
Or really
After
Maybe when we’re there
And hear a sermon
We could instead
Think about what God wants
Think in our own way
Decide
In our own way
Maybe after entertainment
And by the way
For a show I pay with some money
In the plate
This should all be more
Impressive
Than it is
On my own
I might do better
Find better
Maybe I don’t have to come back
So much
A touch of religion
Less of faith
Nothing like
The mind
The heart
The spirit
After all
Faith is not that smart
It’s not material
Enough
It doesn’t admire
What I do
And what I have
Enough
And I don’t see faith
Changing wars
Or floods
Or earthquakes
After all
And how did people
Used to believe
With dead animals on altars
No
Thank you
I’ll take life as it is
As it’s progressed
As it’s civilized
With all the medicines
And the technology
With the better weapons on our side
How relevant
Is a faith in God
How necessary
Children know what to do
They have Mister Rogers
Sesame Street
And everything else
Approved
For their good growth
They are healthy
I’m sure
And if not all of them
Well
They were slipped through
The loop
Somehow
And that’s too bad
But most of them are fine
As most of us are fine
What more
Can we want
And God
Well
God
An invitation
Well
That’s nice
Maybe when I’m older
Have less to do
Fewer things
To worry over
Figure out
Make plans for
Yes
Then I’ll have time
Really to think about
Religion
And what a God
Might really want
That I could give
I’ll have less money then
But I’ll time
Yes
I’ll have time
To give you
That’s all right
Isn’t it
I mean
You’re a loving God
Which means your patient
Right
You’ll give me all the time
I need
C L Couch
Photo by WILLIAN REIS on Unsplash
it is Wear Red Day
locally
it is a “Heart” day
I am told
(with all the viewers)
wear red
remember
who’s researching
how to live with
all the troubles
that might happen
to this muscle
also
standing
(symbolizing)
for so much
National Wear Red Day
especially for women
who tend to go unidentified
as victims
of heart trouble
the day
this day
is also the centennial
of the American Heart Association
so much research
so much funding
for research
and also teaching
learning how often
this might happen to women
inside women
(yes
inside men
and don’t I know)
but the symptoms
can go differently
so differently
and she
and those for she
should know
identify
and react so fast
when these might happen
to her
red day
we are red
today
and red means oxygen
which all bodies
should take in
to nourish all our parts
with freedom
though when impeded
we need
red help
the symbol
raising money
and awareness
and our hopes
starting here
with her
with him
then to the world
with all the hearts
heart-lives
out there
out here
c l couch
(and, yes, it’s been the time for Imbolc and Candlemas and Saint Brigid and the groundhog did not see his (Phil’s) shadow—and these mean more than we may know for how we observe and take part in our seasons and also all our days
but women suffer from not only heart disease but from lack of awareness of symptoms and then what to do
while heart disease kills all of us more than any other reason such as cancer or crime)
photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
gifted
I’d like to give you each
a present
though I’m poor
and not the kind of poverty
that saints admire
for I have little
mystic understanding
and what I have
is tied
to nothing like
how much
how little
I have
I’d like to say
go slowly
as the Buddhists
say
especially
when parting
I’d like to say
remember all your loves
made up of
reason
practicality
and balance
not that passion
doesn’t count
it does
but there should be a measure
in most things
of what is right
and what is easy
(like
Jack’s pieces
well
maybe not so much)
which is
(really)
to say
let all good things
have their place
and do not rearrange
from the heaven
of creation
and the philosophy
inside all things made
for there is
certainty
as well as confusion
the way this world works
and don’t deny
the sure things
that you
and others
who are smart
and might be trusted
might ally
I’d like to say
think God
(like another movie)
though I know
that’s not enough
or I could say
love
and let love
not frilly silly
(‘til the day)
but steady
and trustworthy
have its say
and guide
however trite it sounds
each day
I guess
some things are cliché
like the way we use
iconic
meaning not a symbol
but celebrity
believe
and love
so common
(a cliché)
and yet maybe
we can still ourselves
and our sophistications
to accept
that some things
important things
the most important things
are commonplace
no secrets
no requirements
but to accept
what is instilled
(installed
as it were)
within internal palaces
or offices
or bungalows
(I’ll take a wooded cabin)
in the mind
in what we call the heart
in what really is
the spirit
might be
an alliance of the spirits
one by one
within
between
our groups
our nations
for an errant world
on its quest
our quest
to grow
to acquire
and to save
good things
and we could have rituals
and easiness
(not mindlessness)
in what passes
from the Earth of now
into
the next
of now
c l couch
photo by Luca Pennacchioni on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
The Real Thing
x
I am not in the war
Except
With my mind and heart
My contributions
Here and there
Not for a winner
But for everything
To cease
While there are citizens
And innocence
To count
x
I can’t imagine an explosion
(over me
and I am done)
Next to me
So that I live
But everything is changed
x
For what
And whom I’ve lost
All basic things
And anything
Refined
x
A world that’s there
Even to know
The risks in temporality
And to persist
Then what I know
Is gone
And I am hurt
My body
And my mind
x
I might get fixed
But something will not mend
Something broken
That the screws
And prayers
Cannot reward
With success
x
Some part of me
Who wonders now
A beggar on the plane
Of dreams
And real hours
When I dance
With hate
And seeming
Justification
x
For it all
To have happened
And it’s happened
So that
There’s an end
Before the end
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Jeff Kingma on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Rhapsody in Bible
x
God
You are good
You love us
Always
And anyway
x
I’m sure it’s in there
Though I can make
Only pages with
Neat typing
Of blurred letters
As I try
x
And then the stream
The invitation
And a wall of rooms
That somehow
Turn into mansions
Promise of two verses
About paradise
About
You know
Dwelling in the house
Of the Lord
x
There are numbers on the pages
Small headlines
Aids from time
Which were not in
The original
Black pages
Into mod
(it was the sixties
into seventies
for us)
And now the church
All wood
And mullions
With a clock that I could see
When in the choir
Set in the center
So the pastor be reminded
(by the clock
committee)
Of the time
For preaching
And when
To wrap it up
x
I received my Bible there
I think
Or in the rooms
For Sunday School
Which had checked floors
Of tile
Room dividers
In the wing
That had been built
Before I got there
And a breezeway
Over the drive
x
But this is building stuff
And the pages
Pages stuff
What of the truth that’s in there
And it’s in there
I can recall without the images
Though they come
Anyway
The verses and the truth inside
x
Create in me
A clean heart
O God
And renew a right spirit
Within me
x
And that’s only to begin
The faith
And transformation
Needed
That we learn about
In there
x
C L Couch
x
x
from Psalm 51
(followed by
Cast me not away
from thy presence
and take not thy holy spirit
from me
x
which happened to Saul
by the way
at the nadir
of his life
as king
appointed by the prophet
who got directions
from the Lord
to look for someone tall
and
well
kingly
for a tragic irony
as things turned out)
x
sorry, I got into a kind of coda
(that a kind of song, could be a psalm, might have)
x
x
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Heartfelt
x
I haven’t slept
My computer wants to update
I won’t let it
I don’t want that now
I want to sleep
The sun is rising
I can see the V from here
(the angle
in the tree)
x
Words
Thoughts
Fears
Then turn it off
And try again to sleep
I can’t do anything today
No appointments
Only analgesics
Lack of sleep
And eating when I rise
Each time
Which sounds like fun
And passes time
But is stupid
Really
x
I’ve had this diagnostic guess
That the insomnia
Is made worse
By indigestion
Not to mention sinus problems
And
You know
Having a heart that functions
Normally for someone
Twenty years older than I am
x
Sigh
Rest
Better food
At better times
Maybe Mediterranean
Easy exercise
In pleasant ambient air
And the air at night
To move and not move
In optimal
Waves and bouts
x
Who else has these diagnostics
Who else is going through this
There is no
Lone wolf in nature
I need my pack
Something for the herd instinct
Foraging
With accountability
x
Lord
Don’t leave me alone
Company for misery
If no more
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Linda Kazares on Unsplash
x
clcouch123 
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