Kristallnacht
(9 November ’38)
how pretty it all sounds
crystal
and night and such
yet
was a horror
too much enthusiastically destroyed
avowed violence
by fractured minds
and
government
encouraging blood-letting
and
who swept up
everything of broken
bone-
sharpened fragments
after
who tried to repair and so
live on
if under a mass of hate like iron cloud
that any moment
crash
with written on it
a night of broken glass and hearts
could
happen again
and by depravity
worse follow
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photo by Harlie Raethel on Unsplash
Storied
Happy new year
To all the lunar people
(so to say
and)
In and of
Asia
And maybe as a challenge to exclusive
Solar thinking
You
(us)
Lunar
Lunared
People everywhere
A happy new year
With
Remembrance and call
That there
Are other
Ways to count even the global things
Such as
Our time
And
Even our seasons upon
Earth
Not
To mention that
The folk today get
Dragons
C L Couch
Photo by Alexander Ant on Unsplash
A People of All Seasons
(to the accomplishment and memory of President Jimmy Carter)
Sacrifice
And service
Duty
As love
All of these
Impulses
And choices
Be love
As in
Love of country
Love of each other
Preference
For peace
And everyone be fed
And living safely
In
Unconscious readiness
For something from an outer circle
To round in
Provide the next challenge
For
A species
Shall we care and
Shall
We lift each one
Diversely
And also through
One principle
And let that principle
Of course
Be that
Of love and growth
And so earn
That readiness
Even while
Simply
Learning delight
In the energy
Of ourselves
Sponsored
And
Grown of ourselves
While
Naturally enough
God might
Approve
Then leave us as in let
Us
To what’s next
C L Couch
Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash
cooking lessons
the patterns in
the sky
the stories
and the messages
Orion hunts
forever
while
the Pleiades escape
forever
that do not
change
that do
but we don’t notice
any more than
noticing
the hands upon the clock
on the wall
or by the bed
or in
the kitchen while
we cook
thinking on results
though maybe
all the stories
that
returns us here
this day
stories in the sky
we have to have them
even as
an anonymous umbrella
‘til we’re told
what this group is
and what
it means
though we have
parochial in
the mean time
what the family members
tell us
what the world
teaches us
somehow or
rather through
indifference
told with care
the stories
we might own
that even
heal
maybe with laughter
first
and then
the learning kind
reminding us
that family lore
might matter most
to have us
rising
working
cooking maybe
in the morning
come
the evening
then maybe going for
the holidays
feeding
even more
more
story time
c l couch
photo by Gaku Suyama on Unsplash
(one is looking up at
me
and-or to
the sky)
(x = space)
x
x
The Eighth Day
x
O God
I exhale your name
That has no name
Nothing catchy
For a slogan
Or a following
x
Plain
Supreme
(like pizza)
Simple without cunning
The closest thing to name
Because we need a name
Otherwise
There is no signifier
So that creation
Stands alone
As its own testimony
To our senses
Of the creator
Back of it
Before
Underneath
To carry through
The secrets of the universe
Navigating rings
Of everything that orbits
Or otherwise transports
x
God without a name
Who’d rather not have one
Though Moses
Insisted
For his
Sibling people
x
God without a name
Vacuum for power
The designer has designed
To share
First with the host
And then for
Nature
Than for the rest of us
Who also need a name
For show
Of praise
Rather than manifest
Through only
Breathing out and breathing in
A life
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by La Pájara Azul on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
osiris rex tremendae
x
we brought back part of an asteroid
today
while I was in church
what do you know
it happened anyway
I caught the replay
people near the capsule
sample in a box?
blackened spacecraft back on Earth
now left alone
(and I gloss
these are preliminaries
then
a bag
not a box)
and now someone should consider
quarantine
I’m sure someone has already thought of this
uh
we wish those closest
well
x
c l couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
Drafting into a Welcome for Rosh Hashanah
x
It has
Sundowned into
Tishrei
Rosh Hashanah
x
Now into
A count of five thousand
Seven hundred
Eighty-four
x
The new year
Turns the calendar
Adding one
To five millennia
(a few centuries
away
from six)
Together
As a people
x
We have liturgy
Reading
Hearing
We have the word of God
Visit
And then send us on our way
x
Our way together
Responding to the invitation
Of another year
Of seasons
For dancing
Mourning
All that is required
x
There are lessons
As we need them
x
A thousand died on Maui
Ten thousand in Libya
More than
Less than
A counting for
A necessary tally
As with those who fell in battle
Tallied in the texts
Of old
x
The wars waged with nature
And too often
With each other
x
And yet how many born
How many here
Grown into this family
Of long life
Together
x
And each one matters
Fallen
Risen
Breathing
Or having given up on breath
For what is next
x
Each one matters
x
Maybe
There are other
Older
But we are
A five-thousand (going on six)
Years-old people
Plus one new day
x
Ancient and new
We are
We work
We play
We pause to rest
We go again
x
(So)
Remember who we were
Remember who we are
This year of blessing
As we have it
Inside which
We’ll part
And come together
As required
Meaning it as celebration
Too
x
Sundown into sunrise
Go our days
Here and now
For we are here
We’re now
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Veronika Diegel on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
True Worship
x
How does one really
Worship God
The glove compartment
Old gift boxes
Or stuffed
Desk or counter
Drawers
x
These are not
Nor do they contain
Anything like holies
Of holies
x
Nor do our lives
Say
We walk
We talk
In worship of the Lord
x
We go to church
Or temple
There are shiny things
There
Are they worship
What are the right
Accoutrements
x
We go away
Vacay
Even a retreat
Is God just off the shore
Or in the park
Or in a city
We have not
Traversed before
x
Or
Yes
Keep it official
Bring on the pipes
The choirs
The big noises
Organized
Maybe with fluid motion
On occasion
Of the litany
x
Are we now qualified
For worship
x
Some say
It must be corporate
There must be at least
The two or three
Though as many as
May muster
Is preferred
x
Can I worship on my own
May I
Or at the table
Meetings
Meals
Could anything
Like worship
Happen
x
Yes
No
My sources say
Hazy
Ask later
Though we suppose
It isn’t happenstance
And can we plan
The Holy Spirit
Let alone
The glory of the Lord
x
God is great
Remember the Sabbath
There are injunctions
On the worldly
And maybe there are those
Who believe
We find worship in
Mediation
Sitting still
Knowing in the easy
The presence of the Lord
x
How about
Where there is joy
For loving
And together
x
C L Couch
x
x
John 4:23-24
Romans 12:1
x
Photo by Ilse Driessen on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Measure Twice
(or thrice)
x
Apologize twice
Once for God
Once for other people
And if you’re a polluter
Then
Once more for Earth
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Bozhin Karaivanov on Unsplash
x
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