dire psalm
off the edge
I get
too close
even though the fog of consequence
is in there
over the last safe line
no
not that way
this way
where we were
all the steps
before
and if the land were not so hale
at least we knew
some
of the demons wandering
sometimes by
name and if we could not contend
could be
content enough to breathe
here
and stay that way
(breathing)
in the fog
I doubt there is evangelism
though
I’ve heard of
the harrowing of hell
and
I guess we must remain alive
to share words on
this
side
or hear the ones we need to hear
dissemble
for hypocrisy
we’re simply scared
before
and contemplating after
the billows of unknown
the formless clouds
which is
their form
so caught between the sure thing
the condemns
and what we’ve heard of darkness
and
temptation to go there
so where is the safe place
where
might we live
in confidence despite moral contraries in
the ways of the world
is there balm
and where is Gilead
for
that
or what is the prescription
more so the order to have medicine
brought
local
say
to the heart and mind
even as we are
or
where we are
well
you are in both places
I believe
and we believe and maybe there is
confidence
in faith
or maybe not but you are with us
in the doubt
the cloud of our own making
and unmaking in
the shapeless and yet fearful places
of
the soul
the needs to go somewhere
and
wherever
might we go with you
and to that we might
if like temerity
enough even boldly to affirm with
if not selah
then
an amen
c l couch
photo by Kristaps Ungurs on Unsplash
love and power
Lord
who is love but you
and
who is true power
you are the source of
everything that’s
good
and the way through
anything that’s
bad
yet
love us
and lead us from inside
and over parts and all the world
from
each in a place
offering by love and power
mercy
as a measure
in justice
a way to
meet
and so live with
each other
amen
c l couch
photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
“FOR ALL” (for translation)
A Psalm of Species Complaint
Up high
Down low
We
Freeze
We burn
Our efforts
Rise
And useless
Fall
Or stay down
To
Begin with
An idea
On the table
That might be forthright
But politics
As we
Know
Politics
Destroys
Where is the comfort
Cooling
Warming
Fit for seasons
Which
In time
Or place
On
Earth
Inspires
There is
Something about
Grass
Withering
Though really
It is us
Our synapses
Our growth
Our
Faith inside
And for each other
To give a world
A chance
An opening
Into
The crying needs
The cosmos
Can take in
(when we hear)
And
Why not
Us
Forgive
Inspire
Fund
Allow
Take part
In what comes after
Consider
Now
Of whom
To ask all
This
C L Couch
Isaiah 40:8
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Rhapsody in Bible
x
God
You are good
You love us
Always
And anyway
x
I’m sure it’s in there
Though I can make
Only pages with
Neat typing
Of blurred letters
As I try
x
And then the stream
The invitation
And a wall of rooms
That somehow
Turn into mansions
Promise of two verses
About paradise
About
You know
Dwelling in the house
Of the Lord
x
There are numbers on the pages
Small headlines
Aids from time
Which were not in
The original
Black pages
Into mod
(it was the sixties
into seventies
for us)
And now the church
All wood
And mullions
With a clock that I could see
When in the choir
Set in the center
So the pastor be reminded
(by the clock
committee)
Of the time
For preaching
And when
To wrap it up
x
I received my Bible there
I think
Or in the rooms
For Sunday School
Which had checked floors
Of tile
Room dividers
In the wing
That had been built
Before I got there
And a breezeway
Over the drive
x
But this is building stuff
And the pages
Pages stuff
What of the truth that’s in there
And it’s in there
I can recall without the images
Though they come
Anyway
The verses and the truth inside
x
Create in me
A clean heart
O God
And renew a right spirit
Within me
x
And that’s only to begin
The faith
And transformation
Needed
That we learn about
In there
x
C L Couch
x
x
from Psalm 51
(followed by
Cast me not away
from thy presence
and take not thy holy spirit
from me
x
which happened to Saul
by the way
at the nadir
of his life
as king
appointed by the prophet
who got directions
from the Lord
to look for someone tall
and
well
kingly
for a tragic irony
as things turned out)
x
sorry, I got into a kind of coda
(that a kind of song, could be a psalm, might have)
x
x
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
New Song
x
Sing to the Lord
a new song
All right
A new song
And what shall make it new
New arrangement
Instruments we rarely
Have in church
Maybe there should be dancing
Like
The king’s before the ark
As it was taken
Across Jerusalem
(risking disapproval
of the court
the queen)
x
Maybe not
A psalm
Of normalcy at all
By that I mean
New words
Phrased by us
And our understanding
A gift today
And as a record
Kept in legacy
With the music of
The music master
(female
or male)
x
What we keep
Because we made it
With a notation
Of the first time
It was read
It was played
It was sung
It was danced
x
C L Couch
x
x
Psalm 46
x
Photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash
x
(if you want a story of the queen risking the disapproval of the king, then read Esther)
x
(x = space)
x
x
A Certain Psalm
x
Songs to God
Confess
Mourn
Celebrate
Some ask where the Lord
Even while addressing
The Lord
x
Which is the way of doubt
Spiced with pain
Salt and bitter herbs
For the wilderness
Inside
The heart a desert
Reason wandering
Where is God but here
But we must
Over hills
And under earth
Search as if
Not to find
Or find in a new way
That answers doubt for all
And always
On this side
Through what we know
Has been dark glass
x
Sing
With a single voice
Or ask an orchestra to play
By composing
All the parts
And a message from humanity
Over the ground
And to the sky
To say
If anything might bless the Lord
Then bless the Lord
If any offering
Might be good for many voices
And an intention
Of authenticity
Received
Then receive the large psalm
Attempting to be thunderous
From us
x
To recognize
To thank
To let everyone have voice
In song or silence
Whatever might senses allow
Or to participate
By turning pages
Or only
Dutifully
Showing up
x
Locusts are a host
The killer bees
We can be a host
Though our precedents
Are angels in the sky
Nonetheless a human host
To try
x
Presenting such a psalm to you
From many people
A human host
Before the court
Of the Lord
x
C L Couch
x
x
recollecting themes and purposes of ancient psalms for the here and now
x
Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Runaway Psalm
x
God, lay the morning
Down on us
Softly, unless there
Must be a storm
Give our senses
Easy labor
Except in greater need
Then call us out
To work the needs for people
Who should have
A day in which
To praise you
By still waters
To take breathing lessons
For whatever comes
In the next hour
And forever,
Cherishing each moment
And the way
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Inés Castellano on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Twenty-Third Song
(a paraphrase)
x
My life is wrecked
I feel ruined
And here you are, Lord;
I don’t know if I asked for you,
And I am so relieved
That you are here
x
I thought there was a desert
But, look, there’s water
Cold and clear;
It is the best that I have tasted
And I have no doubt
That it is good for me
x
This is more than I deserve
And maybe I should leave—well,
I feel your hand
Guiding me back;
I should stay a while
x
I thought this was the end,
That I could not lose any more
And it was getting dark;
But you are here,
And maybe you were with me
While I was stumbling
Back there
x
Look, here’s food:
And who are those around me?
They don’t come any closer
x
Before I eat, please
Bless all this
And maybe me;
You are the one
To do it, after all
x
Should you be with me
Through all that is to come,
Then blessings
Will continue, even in
The splintered times
x
And because of you,
Your presence in my life,
When this life is done
And the next mystery begins,
I shall be with you
With a living place in heaven
Or on Earth renewed
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Edgar Castrejon on Unsplash
The Forum, Roma
x
Newsong
(starting with Psalm 96)
Sing to the Lord a new song,
Which means we should be writing all the time
Crafting notes to go with words
Consider instruments
Tempo, attitude, occasion
We have the reason
There’s no reason
A new song because creation’s always new
It crests upon us with the dawn
That is seen aboard spaceships
Over the arc of the deep-blue sea
That comes inside my house
And yours
Why do we sing so many old songs again
And one more time
Nothing wrong with that
We apply new energy each time
But we are also called to create
Beyond new versions
Why, because creation itself
Teaches of itself
Every time it rings anew
Does the dragon sing inside its keep
Does gold sing underneath the earth
In there melody inside the mitochondria
Where gene pairs harmonize
Scales
Rhythms
Measures without measure
Blank pages, open minds await
Hearts ready to practice
To perform all nerves aglow,
Wary of the audience
Wondering approval
If delight
Will we beat a dance that
No one’s ever stepped?
Will we step a dance
That no one’s ever stopped?
Coda
Encore
Rest
Then return to make again
Co-make
With the composer of the universe
Who asks of us again
To find within ourselves
Something new
C L Couch
Vintage tambourine musical instrument 1960s | Musical instruments …
My Timbrel In the Sun
Hayley Brodrick saved
clcouch123 
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