on Easter Monday
day after Easter
Easter
Monday
and
must I give up the feeling
I understand doctrinally and for
and for an attractive metaphor
we
might
call ourselves the Easter people
meaning
more than attendance
on
the day
however that might go
and how deeply from the hear
and
do we look to the weather for comfort
and alliance
that Earth is on our side for
our
beliefs
except there was a flood
and much later
storms
on Galilee that had to be rebuked
and
stilled by one who was divine
and
human
too
we may live in Easter
now
the air of resurrection
which might be good for anyone
to breathe
c l couch
photo by Alessandro Guarino on Unsplash
Kfar Nahum National Park
“Sunset on the Sea of Galilee”
rosemary
on Easter
1
oh no
what shall I say
for it is Easter
and I don’t feel Easter
at all
I can think the stories
hear them
more
and hope that they are true
though there are images
so real
inside of me as I
so many stories
believe so many storytellers are
not wrong
and now
church is done
I am
alone
and silent as so many noises
that are inside
allow
and I’d wish for company
regardless
someone for chocolate
even
for ham
[please ungreen]
2
let Easter be a verb
I guess from a substance
a meaning
to the action
and
if I am alone and that’s a problem
for
how much to do
I could acknowledge there’s a presence
beside my own
to help
that
gave me my own
the spark
however done
and there is
faith
and love
from that source
that made
and is
still making making all
for
our collaboration in the Earth
and by the spirit
invested
in so many
things
not the source
but
sanctioned and even given us
for use
though with accountability
but back from cosmic
to just me
and am I just
that
means so many things and are they lost
in translation
idioms
truisms
first
and final meanings
in order to employ
to apply
who we are
and
what we’ve been given
though
at the moment
is
alone
and Easter resurrection
that does not happen every
year
for having happened once
and we’re the versions
ever since
not because we
save ourselves
we don’t
as
that was
you know
once provided
and so for this love
shall I love me
so shall
we love each other and each other
to keep it
healthy as
a change
thus and
so not
to have earned my loneliness
but stone rolled back
for me
too
and we’re
released
God imprisoned first
releases
us
so Easter with baskets and with paper grass
with rabbits who do not reproduce
by eggs
that are candy or
the real thing
if
striped
eccentrically
for me
let me have the silly ways
for
remembrance
and let’s have them now
in
the now
for delight
if
for forbearance
sometimes as other matters
problems
press
even the lonely state
and try to see the joy with inward
sight
as with outward longing
by
the interest and investment
realized
in
safe as well as expanding
fire
in each
from each spark
as
today
emblemizing real from the source
given
through sacrifice
as love for
you
for all
as we are served and toward our
service
c l couch
photo by Bernard Faure on Unsplash
teachables
learnables
a week from now is Maundy Thursday
I believe
antique name made from mandatum
meaning command
because they were not suggestions Jesus gave
at the Last Supper
but
orders
ours to obey
if we’re going to follow him
the savior with indwelling spirit and creating God
three
one
God all the time
who
John 3:17
sent Jesus here not
to condemn the world but that the world
by Jesus
would be saved
we might be saved
in present
tense
the price paid
made into grace that is free for us
not because the cost was weightless
in meaning but because
God
dying is what God may do
and then once
first
victorious
over death offer eternity to us
as by that grace we may
choose
to live
if after the irony of mortal death
which doesn’t change
sigh
so on Thursday
we had a dinner at the church each year
cooked and
served
by deacons
elders
many meal volunteers
what followed then
was a service of worship with
Communion
special ‘cause it was at night
and
I don’t know even the child of me
felt the community
gathering
first
in the hall and then the mullioned
beamed and genially beaming
room
c l couch
photo by Geda Žyvatkauskaitė on Unsplash
Salvation Chair
Really
Now
And should the Spirit
Come to call
After the dancing
For the sky
After all the lights released
Half
A world on
That’s felt
One’s own half of the world
After ingesting
All petitions
In all the other continents
Even on the
Needful
Melting fields
To the south
And north
Between the poles
It stops
To dwell a while
In my
Clay house
And maybe find a room
For me
In a truly quiet hour
While I give all the rest over
To
Possession
And renewal
At the same time with
All other crises
And the stretched-out needs
So
Casually asked
Sometimes
Please
Sit
Have something
While I work out with you
How to have
My own
On both sides of enigma
That is
Mystery
Of faith
That is
Saved
When given over
C L Couch
Anne Bradstreet, a prominent Puritan poet, employed the “clay house” metaphor in her work. In her poem “As Weary Pilgrim,” she reflects on the impermanence of the physical body and the longing for spiritual rest. Here are some lines from that poem:
A pilgrim I, on earth, perplext
wth sinns wth cares and sorrows vext
By age and paines brought to decay
and my Clay house mouldring away
Oh how I long to be at rest
and soare on high among the blest.
https://www.poetry.com/poem/3075/as-weary-pilgrim,-now-at-rest
(the note before the excerpt by Copilot)
Photo by Asim Hamid on Unsplash
Epiphaneity
Epiphany
Twelfth Night
Also
Orthodox Christmas
Yet in the west
We have the
Magi
Visiting
The child
With the mother
And adoptive father
And since
Liturgy
Respects only its
Chronology
We might mainly note
Today
The baptism
By
The cousin John
Of the child now grown
Now
Authorized by the
Spirit
As a dove
Then the child
Grown
Journeys into
Wilderness
C L Couch
Le Jourdain au site du Baptême, en Jordanie.
By Jean Housen - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11820699
(x = space)
x
x
in a glorious church
x
look at you
Jesus
on such an ornate cross
we don’t truck
with indignity
or even
execution
you’re still alive
up there
though as you die
you die for us
x
rude cross
more like it
wooden beams
thick branches
off the trees
of the Earth
we say the nails were iron
ongoing execution business
for a smith
with earthly metals
coal to burn
or pieces of wood
cut off
shaved off
something like the matter
of a cross
x
c l couch
x
x
Photo by Michael Newcomb on Unsplash
x
I don’t mean to be a spoilsport about faith and faith art; I do think spiritual simplicity might be important
x
Since we built the church, there were pewter candlesticks upon the altar; Francis Nurse made them, y’know, and a sweeter hand never touched the metal. But Parris came, and for twenty weeks he preached nothin’ but golden candlesticks until he had them. I labor the earth from dawn of day to blink of night, and I tell you true, when I look to heaven and see my money glaring at his elbows – it hurt my prayer, sir, it hurt my prayer. I think, sometimes, the man dreams cathedrals, not clapboard meetin’ houses.
John Proctor
The Crucible
Act 2
x
(x = space)
x
x
Invitationing
x
It is a gray day
Perfect for
The Spirit to come in
x
A visit by a fire
With the Fire
An easy day
Made glorious
Through interaction
With the presence
Of the Lord
x
Hosted by
The human heart
Watched over
By the human mind
x
The visit lasts forever
Or it may
It depends upon the labor
Of the Spirit
And our own
To relent
To the exchange
Timeless
Over time
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
Te Deum
x
I pray to God
And Jesus
Rarely directly to
The Holy Spirit
Sorry, Spirit
Though it seems
I’m talking with you
All the time
As an indication
A reality
Of indwelling
x
You are the nearest
The closest part
Of God
In fact, in me
While I know
It’s three in one
But for all I know
It might be
That you are the part of God
Who is the most patient
Part
(indwelling)
And who somehow
Loves me best
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Savvas Kalimeris on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Nicene Intention
(universal method)
x
God is God
And God becomes
Human
And as God and
Human
May serve as the
Mediator
Both in between
And on both sides
A sacrificing
(needn’t be done)
Remarkable
Negotiating strategy
To be in the middle
Also moving
Through each side
x
It’s real
It’s blood-won
It involves an intimate
Awareness of
Divinity and
The temporal through sin
And loving everyone
Inside everyone
Bring to bear
Reconciliation to the table
All parties
With a nod
That meant
I died for this
For you
For everyone
And everything
On sides
And at this table
One way or another
Now
x
Call it an altar
Or a cairn
A memorial
A space
That existed with all spaces
Before Sarah
Before Abraham
Before Buddha
Or Mohammed
(bless the name
and bless all names
approved)
And we have much to do
Then and now
Though now
For the mortal side
Is fair
x
Earth shall be fair
As a result of this
Mortal and divine
Working out
What is good
What is victory
What shall be the means
To believe in
And proceed from there
Toward Earth and us
In paradise
In time
Now
Then tomorrow
Breaking time
In fact
So that we have primal
And evermore
Perfection
With all wonders
Wonderful things to do
Each moment
That bears
And shall express
Forever
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
x
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