2 poems with one poem an expression of thanks then the other a preachy story
given means
someone brought me
food
and others cleared my car
and I imagine that I’ll
lose the space
as soon as I go somewhere
but
I’m thankful
I can eat
and I can move away
when
needed or desired
in the parable
these helpers would be sheep
though busy sheep
helpful
and loving
the givers have the designation
sheep
or goat
and I wonder what
the receivers
such as I might be
maybe
lambs
or kids
Matthew 25:31-46
the one arrives for whom there has been waiting
a story with a king
who dispenses justice
a righteous king
who
has the power with discretion
and the role
given
to play
and shall people be judged
by this wonder who could
be
man or woman
or those gender parts
in God
and so the king
metes
as if the word were ready for this one
alone and
throughout
time
and a throne is
set
the the judgment happens simply
you were me and in
need
and these came to help you
though they needn’t
have known you and you had comfort
even
more life to give
and for the metaphor
I call the helpers
sheep as I
frankly
am the shepherd
and sorry for goats
to call the others goats
and
I guess goats are famous for consuming
and
these goats to judge as people
keeping all
if by degree and giving nothing
not
what would have been easier to share
let alone what might have
been harder
to share
and I must welcome sheep
then
outcast the goats
not
for species judgment
except for those of you
people
whom I made
to whom I gave
but chose
not
to give back or out
toward loving benefit of others
so I judge
and so it is as it was
set
so long ago just after Eden
c l couch
same verses
photo by Jay Gomez on Unsplash
When the Lord Must Be Angry
And how does a loving God
Do this
Even
Separate us
From itself
(while the wrong people
hear this
heed the warning)
The anger of the Lord
So far as
Saul
In Endor
Is extreme
Saved for despots
Those who try to re-invent the world
Starting
With
Perspective
That is
Having left reality
A golden ball for acquisition
With
So many things upon it
We can move with
Impunity
To own
It isn’t real
None of it is real
And judgment will catch up
Before the end
Placing
Where
Even waiting
To get better might no longer be
Allowed
(I do not know
I’m not an agent
of
afterlife-
contracting)
As the surrender
Of humanity
Is understood
Here
And beyond the gates
With too much evidence
To miss
While
The rest leave
Dictatorship alone
In gross choices
We eschew
For the sake
(we must)
Of
Our own souls
So that
What is left
In the despotic head
(new
storied clothes over
the rest)
Is only at
Last
A devilish kind of loneliness
With a push
From the ghosts of futures
Into a dark and emptied place
Filled
Only with
The company
By the regretting
Perfect magistrate
Of
Condemnation
C L Couch
Photo by Dmitry Bukhantsov on Unsplash
Brave Peace
It’s Friday
I don’t want
To talk about the war
Ain’t gonna study war no more
Especially
The war inside
That causes all the troubles
On
The outside
We let the inside
Get away
With so much
Nonsense that is
Nonsense
That gets
To destroy so much
That we were counting on
The way
We count on
Things
Such as air
And sometimes
Heaven help us
Boredom
Why do we let
Invisible
Get away with so much
To say
There’s a war on
And it means so much
Because
A life is gone
And then another
In a heartbeat
Save there is
No more
A heartbeat
And everything’s in pieces
Gruesome pieces
(if you are not
there
but have read All Quiet
on the Western
Front then
you know something)
And also
Walls
Machine parts
That we counted on
Like air
And I guess
That is the thing
There’s no more breathing
Or there’s
Barely breathing
While the world after
Might remain
Quiet
For a half an hour
Or so
And then resume
A way to war
(to study war)
Or maybe
With diplomacy
Or blooded on
The face
eventuality
A way
To rebuild
After war
Though too often
Then
To knock it down
Again
As if hell’s game
Should never end
Except
In final judgment
When the children
(of all ages)
Of beatitude
Shall own
Peace-making again
Outside
The sermon
For the fact
Of sight and sound
Of war
And having chosen
Anyway
The one
Not taken
As the narrow way
And shall there be an echo
For an echo
Inside heaven
And on
New Earth
I don’t know
Here’s one
I note
And now another
To be counting
Or
Not counting
Might be overwhelming
All the believing gates
Regardless
C L Couch
Photo by Shamoil on Unsplash
saving simplicity
believe in God
that’s all
maybe reminded
that
God is love
as well as judgment
and it seems
would rather love
us
than judge
us
read the verse
after
3:16
for God’s rather
what God
would rather do
and that
together these
verses shall say
the reason
for salvation
is not lack of fallacy
or even
fullness
in fortitude
but because there’s love
in
foreground
and in
background
and on which our lives
are painted in
between
love
and faith in love
from the Lord
that are
the Lord
in all the parts
and all of them
unfailing
and shall we love
and believe
from the same capacities
of creator
in
creation
simply
that’s ours to choose
war or peace
attack or
rescue
like the one
who from our perspective
must allow
our choosing
from
either course
weighed out of love
and faith
that’s all
c l couch
photo by Corey Hearne on Unsplash
Nothing to Fear
Will there be judgment
Well
Yes
Call it karma
Call it rapture
Call it the inexorable
Next thing
It will happen
As it happen
(que será
dust
in the wind)
What kind of trial
What kind of judge
What kind
Of advocate
Who stands for us
Well
It might be
That there are favored
On both sides
As the devil rides
Against our case
More than angelic
Might be those
Who argue
For us
Love
And grace
Criteria
And means
So we may say
Here
And now
Faith wins
That costs us nothing
But
Regains our souls
As if the first tragedies
Had not occurred
(though
they had)
And we are returned to God
From which
We came
Though not
Never
Without a saving story
Close at hand
Heaven
Might not be our own
Though an open door
Receive us
Forgive us
Justify us
For what has little literal matter here
But matters most
In there
And from there
Through the cosmos
Like black space
And all the wonders in between
Not to deny itself
As well
As black amazement
C L Couch
Photo by NASA on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Hills
x
The hills roll on
Our wheels
Over them
While in the wagons ride
Our beating hearts
And hopeful
Heads
For visioning
x
It is a caravan
Perhaps
While we stop
Now and then
For swapping stories
How it’s going
Checking
Wheels and harnesses
How are our victuals
Holding out
Against a destination
Once the hills
Should cease
And we are on the plain
Then stopping
Standing
By a sea of judgment
And also
All our joy
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash
“Joe on the way home…”
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Advocate
x
What shall we say
But that God loves us
Anyway
We will be judged
And all the rest
All we fear
x
But our doctrine
Represents reality
For there
Will be an advocate
Like a lawyer
Pro bono for love
To stand for us
With something better
Than our fear
Our guilt
Could understand
x
Something that works
To save us
Anyway
Through lack of evidence
Or character
Reports
But for love of us
That we reached out for
Just a smidgeon
x
Was enough
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
First Comes Love
x
What shall we say
For real
But that God loves us
And would rather
Love us
Even more than judge us
Though there’s judgment, too
x
Remember the first one?
It was
That this is good
x
C L Couch
x
x
4 God saw that the light was good, . . .
x
Photo by Meriç Dağlı on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Morning’s Delta Light
x
Judgment light
As morning sunlight
Without shadow
On the blanket;
The light is warm
In a purifying way
x
The light is yellow due to the
Sun’s agency:
On another world
What color might be
Informing the inhabitants?
x
It’s good;
The light is living
Adding deltas
To the chemistry of
xxxxxReactions
xxxxxChange
xxxxxGrowth
x
A preference for cloudy days
Should not impede
What must also come someday
In sun
(with shadows)
To assess
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by OC Gonzalez on Unsplash
Day’s like this.
[looking east toward mountains]
x
clcouch123 
Recent Comments