myth took
they
(ubiquitous)
say
someone cannot live inside a fish
for three days
fish
don’t accommodate that way
and
generally
I’d think so
but then there’s Leviathan
who other than big and monstrous is
not given dimensions
or
other aspects
so who knows
maybe myth can do
pretty much anything with anyone
and by
myth I mean
ancient getting at big truth
c l couch
photo by Dimmis Vart on Unsplash
god of what’s next
there is a
temple
toward which
all temples point
all
temples belong
there is a myth
toward which
all myths
belong
and have a share
in truth
there is a story
of all earth
we do not know
because the earth is wide
and old
and layered
with one chapter
on which
another pressed
open
the lore of earth
to find that
we’re all there
heroes
and villains
as we choose
or were conditioned
or those
who load the guns
or apply the salves and bandages
after
who plant
who dance
who seek approval
for good food
in a harvest
and safe water
for
the seeds
of plants
and also of the children
all of earth
someday
perhaps
to be children of mars
or proxima
where our myths
will go with us
and be transformed
toward
the temple
and the truth
we’ll need to take with us
as us
sorry
no need to reinvent the lord
more than we have
though we might find
a thoroughness of mind
and heart
to keep
a civil altar
and a loving congregation
of humanity
with whom we meet
we hope
to accept us
and new names
for one
in the lord
it gets
confusing
and confused
we guess
but we will have to learn the points
of truth
with light
the meaning
and the words
before
all of us
may and
shall
sing together
c l couch
photo by Mitch Gaiser on Unsplash
Out of Cosmogony
(that is, 2 poems from out of the arrangement of things, however fancifully)
The Place of Drones
Should someone set me
Atop
One tower or the other
Of the gate
On the bridge
That is not golden
Save in metaphor
Well
I better be an angel
Delighting in
The lack of restraint
Being so high
And so perilous
A perch
That I could slide
Down the cable
Or merely leap
Into the Lord’s
Good atmosphere
Between the particles
The humans
Tragically
Provide
And is this how
The angels
Who aren’t demons
Do it
Which is
To set themselves high
Or low
To have the better vantages
Scouting for assignments
Maybe the demons
Lie this way as well
With
Or without wings
Sacrificed
Mything Pages
And
Do I have
Anything for you
Today
How about
A word of God
That was a word
In the beginning
To make
Everything
Thus
Setting precedent
For spells
Inside fantastic
Stories
About making smaller
Things
Admittedly
Though wondrous
In eldritch hue
And timing
All the same
That
Someone said
Is the meaning behind miracles
The usual thing
And yet
The timing
Is extraordinary
Is saving
In fact
Of dwarves in trees
Or the royal child
Trapped in
The tower
Before
An evil pretender
With forces
Breaks into
The easily
Barricaded chamber
While such
Are stories
And creation
Is a story
Too
Recalling
That the myth
Is grounded
In the real
And our fantastic tellings
Overdone
Or undertoned
Are actual
When happening
Before becoming
Passages
And chapters
(John 1:1)
C L Couch
Photo by Syd Wachs on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
The Splendid Myth
x
We have a problem
Everywhere
In that
We perceive myth
As untruth
As a story
That’s a lie
x
That’s a myth
We say
Meaning it’s
Untrue
x
But myth itself
Is better
x
It’s is a culture’s aim
To explain
What is larger
Than our words
Because
It’s larger than our thoughts
x
The source of things
The wherewithal
x
The why
The motivation
x
Weather
Natural disaster
Seasons
Where and when
There are seasons
x
The attributes of animals
And of ourselves
And finally
Mortality
Of everything
It seems
Except perhaps
The Earth itself
The light and dark
With sun and moon
And other skyward things
We might take in
x
Though all these
Need our stories
Too
x
These are myths
Neither stupid
Nor naïve
For they are put together
By great minds
And hearts
To work the mind
To placate
To work
To stir toward greater
Effort
Greater meaning
Our thoughts
Our feelings
All our ambitions
x
Everything
Given worth
If partially
Yet splendidly
Explained
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Gabriel Ramos on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Entertaining Unaware
x
The Greek myth that
I like so much
About the couple who
Ends up entertaining gods
x
Then while at dinner
Having both
The pitcher and the plate
Fill with wine and grapes
Respectively
All the time
x
Comes to mind
When pouring out the last
Of the cream
From the carton
x
Hoping there’s enough for
A cup of coffee
By an acolyte
Of morning
x
Or whenever
Some plenty might be needed
Provided by maybe
A not-unknown
God
With perhaps
An agency of angels
x
C L Couch
x
x
Baucis and Philemon
Metamorphoses
x
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Hebrews 13:2
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
A Sun, a Chariot, a Rocket
x
Gee, the myths are done
For a while
New Year’s
Twelfth Night
Imbolc/
Brigid’s Day
Lunar year
The groundhog’s day
I’m going to miss them
Because they
Render truth more interesting
I mean, every day’s a
Saint’s day
Some stories so old they
Might fall apart
Under laser scrutiny
Christopher is one story of those
(and Brigid)
But myths aren’t false,
I mean
That’s conversation
They are stories
To explain
What we don’t know
What is beyond
Us
And our words
x
Why does weather
Change?
What is at the center
Of the universe?
What is on the other side
Of life?
Maybe we know more of the
Answers
Now
Maybe we don’t need to give
Gods names
Except where we do give names
Or use the old ones
x
The names
And reasons
Myths are still our seasons
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Cristofer Maximilian on Unsplash
x
Myth Taken
A real myth
Something of the story that is true
A point for evangelism
The apology that says not sorry
But here’s something
Maybe I can explain
Maybe you’ll take to heart
Because the head is fine with it
Patterns
Northrop Frye
Joseph Campbell
The story told
Again and again
Owned by groups, changed
According to experience
Embellishment
Because of what has happened
Our town was spared
My child cured
Weather wiped us out
We saw vengeance
Someone died
We were no longer sure
Now risen like
An older story
Of the truth
We believe it now
We’re amazed
We’re taken back
We’re scared
But we are certain
How much of myth
Is easing fright
Attitudes made bold again
Through explanation
I take salt that I’ve spilled
And throw it over my left shoulder
The devil who is hiding there
Is frustrated
And I’ve found a use for useless salt
(I don’t do that for pepper)
Now if only I could use the milk
I’ve spilled
It can turn sinful
Or start that way as strategy
I want my neighbor’s land,
To enslave the family
In storyland, we think there’s solace
And there is
With myth, we now know things
And we do
C L Couch
Shinwa no Mori (Forest of Myth) by Taki Toru in Izumo-Taisha, Shimane, Japan
Lent 35
(a reverie for stories)
It’s Tuesday, day of Tiu
A Nordic personality
Part of a family that respected
Power and defeat
And waiting after for
The judgment of all nations
Beautiful and terrible,
The people and persons of
The Norse
The stories cut into the center
Of all mortal talent and ambition
There, in all, is a lesson
One no single person’s written
It shared by people first and
Then in song, finally in letters rendered
We have these gifts now
The gift of story
Testimony, opera
Thanksgiving in the moments of the telling
God sends us song
And frames all telling inside nature
Praise God today
Thank God for all gospels
Good news that grows us into
Better people
Workers, players, servants of the day
C L Couch
name of Týr in its rune form [in English, Tiu]
Moshroum – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1393824
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