(x = space)
x
x
Presenced
x
It should not come to this
But God
Rescue us
With miracle
Maybe miracles all around
Friend and foe alike
Even on the blooded field
Now turned
For fallow ground
Ready for
New planting
New heaven and new
Earth
x
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x
x
Photo by Quaritsch Photography on Unsplash x
(x = space)
x
x
Homers
x
A brother gone
Another brother going
Like homers from the park
What’s on the other side
Of the stadium,
We wonder
Though we know
The town outside
The city of disorganized noise
With the ritual
Inside the designed
Space
With bases and a plate
Clean lines
Maintained swarths of green
This is what we know
x
On the other side
Is chaos
And unknown
There are streets in heaven
There might be traffic patterns
Something to guide
The hit,
The sail home
x
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x
x
Photo by Andrew Jephson on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Deception
x
A devotional
Means devotion
Means devoted
Attending and obeying
A liege lord
There is one, only one
Who may pull rank
On all of us,
Stewards in the realm
x
A king, one king
Call it queen
There might be jesters in
The courts of heaven
Reminding us
That foolish to the world
Is wise
Fools for stewards,
Then
x
The world, though,
Might only get angel cacophony
From those who hear
The choirs of heaven
Over the fields
And do not believe
x
The shepherds
They are wiser
x
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x
x
“Electromagnetic Crown”
x
(x = space)
x
x
Paradisal
x
God, love us
From afar
And in our cells
From walls to nuclei
Better than gravity
Your affection
Keeps everything together
Not that the loss
Is chaos
Everyone needs chaos
From time to time
But you know that
You know us
Made us for chronos
And for kyros
x
In time
(both kinds),
We shall know all
Certainly beyond
The truth, beauty of Keats
We’ll know the beauty
In rushing fear
As well as the bridge
That rescues over
x
We’ll have something
Of the knowledge
You meant
To bend the tree
In its own time
And yours
And ours,
Once ready
We’ll have it right
And better yet
We’ll know the love
The makes it
And respects it
Living the lessons for us
x
After the nightmares
When dreams lead
To healing wakefulness
New plans for action
We may make
Together
All togetherness,
The good
The sanctioned
The unplanned
That makes a heaven and an
Earth
At first
At last
x
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x
x
Yellow Leaf Mid-Air
Photo by Sandis Helvigs on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
An Appointment with God
x
I don’t’ have so many appointments
Lately,
For which I’m grateful
In a time of my kind of PTSD,
It’s the weight of stressors
I don’t have to bear
So much
x
To get there
To show up on time
To be here when I’m called
To have everything I
Might be needing
Relieved of this
Makes for a better day
x
I’d like to live easy
I don’t have much
But to have time
And on the flip side
Lack of bother
On the A side
Coffee and toast
And morning
And a day for you
x
Someday will arrive
I keep forgetting
You will arrive
To take me to home
By then,
Maybe I shall be glad
Meanwhile, I keep my faith
With me and then I
Hope with
The Amish
Who say, one by one,
I hope so
When asked about assurance
Of salvation
x
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x
x
I think it was the poet Julia Kasdorf, as I may have said before, who told me about the typical response when Amish are asked the salvific question.
x
Waves
Photo by Bernd Dittrich on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Presuming Invitation
x
Dear citizens of heaven,
I hope to meet you
One day
x
I mean, I believe;
But like the Amish who
Respond I hope so when asked
About salvation,
I too am not taking anything
For granted
x
But I do look forward
(if not too forwardly)
To understanding
Golden streets that are
Transparent
And how a person (Jesus)
Might be a building,
Too
x
And if you don’t mind,
I’d to visit the renewed
Earth that revelation
Promises;
Maybe I could be assigned
There for a while
x
And what about the rest
Of the cosmos?
How much fell,
And how much will be restored?
I hope there are tours
x
I hope I might be allowed
To journey on my own
Or with a few companions,
Maybe newbies
Such as myself
x
All this is presuming, I
Understand;
And maybe nothing’s like
The screen that I see
Through for now
x
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x
x
Photo by Dewang Gupta on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Forest Rounding Heaven
x
On my way to heaven,
I walked into a clearing in
The dark and then heard
x
Music and saw shapes of
Beings gathered; then the
Clearing shone with
x
Silver, moonlight having
Cleared away, it seemed, some
Heaviness in clouds;
x
Then I saw they were in
Front of me, why, animals
Of all kinds: some playing
x
Instruments, the rest stepping
Freely, animated as I
Perceived by the zeal of
x
Knowing they were free of
Hunger and the need to
Watch over their shoulders
x
One came up to me, a
Raccoon who knew my
Language and must have
x
Noticed both my wonder
And confusion—“Hello
And welcome,” said the creature,
x
“We are here at last, aren’t
We?” then she or he said more,
“No longer do we have
x
To eat the best we find
In trash, and we don’t have to
Worry about predators
x
Or mischief from your class,
Sorry for offending”—opening
Arms to the circle,
x
All the groups in pairs and
Threes and fours inside, “Please
Join us in the dance;
x
Don’t worry, none of us is good
At this”; I saw all the turns
Taken awkwardly,
x
Squirrels twirling atop
Badgers, dogs embracing
Mountain lions, hares with
x
Other hares, with wolves
As well; I didn’t know
How long it would take
x
For all of them to tire–but
I had to move along,
Which after tries at stepping
x
To magic tunes and dancing
Without shoes, I did;
I walked farther and further
x
On toward what heaven
Might have for me—for
My kind and one by one
x
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x
x
Photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash
Driving through the Laguna mountains as the sun rose in deep fog. This little glen had a mysterious and quiet feel to it.
x
(x = space)
x
Hearting R.B.G.
x
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Has died
And we should be sad
Not clawing over each other
Rending into politics
For her replacement
On the bench
She died
At the end of the last year
It being Rosh Hashanah
Now
x
The thing that lurks
In the swamps of Washington, D.C.
Has not praised her
As much as it
Can only praise itself
Older, white, male, fat, ugly
She was slender and knew
How
To live her age
And beyond her age
x
A person for the ages
And for agelessness
x
I hope for the court in heaven
She is excused
Having served already
An eternity on Earth for
All pre-heaven people,
Though God and she could
Talk about
All the thorny cases
Here on Earth
Two old, wise, strong, gentle souls
Who understand
Each day’s re-creation of
Love, justice
Love for justice
x
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x
x
Photo by Casey Clingan on Unsplash
This is a shot that I took from my front yard of the Great American Eclipse of 2017.
x
Saving Graceland
1, Give It Up
And there are the things that happy
Anyway
Bad things, starving things
Taking from life, risking faith
At each turn
We lost someone close
We lose a job
We lose a place
We lose what we thought
Were good associations
We lose something in ourselves
We lose some health
We lose materials we think we need
Because we do
And where is belief in this,
Where are you?
You’re here, but we don’t know how
So we give up
Or don’t embrace in the first place
Because there’s honest reason not
To take hold
We might even curse God
Denial
Or the arranging of an adversarial relationship
From then on
We take down faith symbols that were
Totem as well as decoration
No beauty there
In truth,
No more
And what’s to bring us back,
To move us on?
We’re grown up, we don’t need you
We only need ourselves
Maybe with like-minded
Maybe not
2, Restoration
I don’t know how each one
Might come back
Or start at all
I mean, there is confession
And repentance,
But what about when no one’s
Done anything that’s wrong?
I don’t mean venial
Considerations
I guess I mean victims
Who comes back from being robbed
Of life,
Of living goodness?
And if there were no faith
But awful things have happened,
How might it begin?
A blank slate would be easier
To mark on with good lessons
Or reason through
Someone’s apologetics
That happens, and it needs to happen
But wondering from a point of loss
Of theft
Of trickery
Or manipulation
Then believing again
That everything with truth and beauty
Might return to the mind’s eye
The vibrations of the heart
All the evil stuff to be forgotten
No, that’s not going to happen,
Though there might be mitigation
For a start
3, Landing
A favorite way in stories to rid oneself
Of evil is through laughter
For evil characters often hold
Themselves and what they think they have
Too seriously
An argument of one that must be global
Humor, a healthy kind
Even if delivered in exasperation
Cuts through the agenda
Exposes the lack of clothing on
Self-styled emperors
Not that it’s the only way
Or on its own an anodyne
But healthy humor
Like right thinking
Goes a way toward righteous victory
Perhaps in metanoia
Though there should come
A sober time for reflection and
Decision
Or (and) simply to feel it through
Faith is funny
Worse, it’s foolish
Even if it shows the way
Turn over folly
To find some wisdom
The way some lies are best understood
Simply in opposite consideration
(take out the “not” or put it in
around each lie)
A different kind of foolishness
Made wise
Toward what we need
And where to have it, here
And on the other side
In certain testimony,
Something about rooms in mansions
Finally, though, we must face the hurt
We won’t want to, which is a good
Sign
We’re on the way to something real
Don’t worry about being smart enough
Unless it’s also made aware
How to get smarter
Don’t let your ego, on another hand,
Make choices for you
Finally, you know, it’s faith
It’s choice
It’s a choice we make
It’s the kind of choice that anyone can make
And if you think someone cannot make that
Choice for deficiencies,
God will think this, too,
In God’s way
Nothing needed will be withheld
To guarantee the offer
Or the taking
We all can be there in
Graceland, one by one
And all together, starting
The process anytime
C L Couch
Photo by Mahmudul Hasan Shaon on Unsplash
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