[haiku]
winter skimming late
mysteries in melting ice
slush punctuates
c l couch
photo by Matthew Fassnacht on Unsplash
this kind of hour
gray
sky
black branches
black lines for panes
barely illuminated white frames
tall
in the old house
a saving grace of sorts
by
not seeing so much inside in this
dark hour
c l couch
photo by Tristan Colangelo on Unsplash
Typing Calvinist
Relationships
I’m not good with these
At these
Look at me
Alone
While typing
Word of Earth and faith
As if
I know
At least I have good sources
To go to
And
Yes
This is a solitary act
Traditionally and
Typically
Insofar as that is an operable excuse
But what
Do I know
Whom
Do I
Know
And I don’t know and this
Is doubt
Or course or sometimes when
I refuse to listen
To God
Or you
Or anyone
Too busy with that log in my eye
To see
The virtues of
My sibling people
(who are
all
people)
And while the log means a good challenge
It can be excess
Self-preoccupation
Too
But
Finally to set this down
To set anything on an electron page
Nonetheless
To be
Picked up in an archetypal way
To read
And to respond
This must for you
For all of you
And all for you
There is no reason
Other
Self-expression
Sure
But not enough as we might say
That we are good
And that
Is not enough
C L Couch
(Protestants like work and Calvin liked grace and also Mary; I don’t know enough of Hobbes to say (hah), though I do think most good things go together--say, spirit and flesh; faith and work; readers and writers (when both are good or trying good); voice and text
and with apologies for abstruseness)
Photo by Daniel Lloyd Blunk-Fernández on Unsplash
the familiar way we used to speak
God
you’re here
but there is such a dullness
between you and me
could be an unmoving field
I put there myself
even
unknowing
then to wake to it
and wonder how the barrier
got there
maybe it’s mortality
maybe it’s greed
I’m not sure I know
maybe it’s difference
as in
I’ll come over to you when it’s easy
when the way is lit
thy word
is a lamp
I’ve heard
and are the thees and thous allowed
the ironic use of you
we have let go
the intimate
the way one would say
and has
said
how do I love thee
thou dost prepare
and I should let thee
love
allowing that thou
loves
for creation’s thine
and love's
and so is
mine
c l couch
it used to be that thee was the close way to say you, which is why thee was used in making the Authorized Version and in language overall; ironically, we think of thee and thou and thine as a formal way if at all, and we really don’t, to write and talk and such
references to the Old Testament, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Shakespeare allusion in the photo
photo by Landon Parenteau on Unsplash
Aspen Trees Growing in Saskatchewan Summer [given title]
In the House
I hate the tension in
The house
Do you ever feel it
Does it matter to you
And
Because we never speak of it
I or we
Shall never know
C L Couch
Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash
Maybe at Mizpah
In other
Words
Why don’t we favorably dine over unity
Uniqueness
Feast
The sameness and the differences
If
For interest
Curiosity alone
While we are together
And with
A Mizpah kind of pledge
On parting
If we
Could
To regard each other well
And
Not steal
Or
Swindle
Or politick against each other while apart
Join
Know
Negotiate
Celebrate
Who we
Are
Who we’re
Not
With each other
Risky
Business
Maybe
But the only business really
Whose profit comes in lives and which might
Have
God approving
Waiting
C L Couch
Photo by Paul Blenkhorn on Unsplash
permission to pray on our own
I might not have said of
God
directly
how many pages should be read
and then
recited
for the people
what colors robes
to match the season
or may I say somewhere
dear God
say what is real to me
and
then
amen
however I should say that
given language
dialect
or situation
and between these
will you hear my love
of others
and
respond
accordingly with my knowing or
unknowing
what
or how
c l couch
photo by Roman Melnychuk on Unsplash
Dragobrat, Драгобрат, Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine
we love like winter
days that underneath the cold
are warm with home
c l couch
photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash
altar call
we can’t approach
without
some sibling feeling worked out
so
we’re told
like Erev
before perhaps
the
Yom Kippur
and yet how empty be the churches if
chancels must wait
for
close conflict
or
the like
must be worked out first
before we resuming
carrying
a church-gift
say
our tithe
though many of us
chance
and
to confess
to keep the gift and moving
toward
the worship center
where
the convicting love of God
does not dwell more
but
knowing our score feels
more
c l couch
Mattew 5:23-24 (or consider other prodigal narratives)
Photo by Martijn Veldhuizen on Unsplash
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