remember

(x = space)

Rhapsody in Bible

God

You are good

You love us

Always

And anyway

I’m sure it’s in there

Though I can make

Only pages with

Neat typing

Of blurred letters

As I try

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

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

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

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

Create in me

A clean heart

O God

And renew a right spirit

Within me

And that’s only to begin

The faith

And transformation

Needed

That we learn about

In there

C L Couch

from Psalm 51

(followed by

Cast me not away

from thy presence

and take not thy holy spirit

from me

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)

sorry, I got into a kind of coda

(that a kind of song, could be a psalm, might have)

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Remembrance of Things and People Past

(x = space)

Remembrance of Things and People Past

(Memorial Day 2023)

My grandfather was a doughboy

Another one

(I knew him more)

Cooked for the

Army in

The second war

My father served

In the war that followed

The war no one remembers

But cost lives

Of bodes and the souls therein

And for lack of

Remembering

Because remembering

Matters much

It’s a thought

A salute

And a parade

To visit flags on graves

Before we shop

Before we picnic

Mind you

Shopping and picnicking

Ain’t bad

Rights and privileges

Secured

Silly to you

Perhaps

There’s also watching war movies

On TCM

Arcane remembrances

We still make war movies

We still shop

And eat outside

Save rain

To drive companionship

Inside

Be inside

Be there

Be aware

Remembrance is a near miss

From experience

What follows war

Was bought for us

Our own secular

Allegiances

And promise

In significant

And blessed silly

Existence

God bless peace

And forestall war

And keep us faithful

To each other

More so to you

C L Couch

Photo by Wesley Mc Lachlan on Unsplash

Corning, Corning, United States

May 29, 2023 0

One One September

One One September

It’s September, soon enough becomes September eleven nine-One-One used in mockery of our emergency-numeral series one plane crashes in my state; I’ve been driving by the site as it’s reclaimed

Remember, remember, eleven September—maybe we’ll be Singing that someday; not yet for the hurt only begins in telling launched a war already waged elsewhere: rightly or wrongly, it’s mattered in a vital way since then—we know the cost of some complacency, and maybe one day we’ll move on toward waging peace that has been paid for in a cost of surprise and blood broken bone and steel, symbolic of a need to fix our raging planet

September 8, 2016 2

g is for gallop

g is for gallop

(verse at work)

galloping

I remember not directly the old radio show featuring the masked man Lone Ranger whose mask was made from the clothing of his dead brother a Texas Ranger ambushed in a gully by a criminal gang led by Butch Cavendish I think the companion for the Lone Ranger was Tonto an American Indian with many skills though doubtlessly not treated with the respect he was due I’m not sure who played the Ranger and Tonto on radio but certainly on television still before my time it was Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels respectively and isn’t that a great name for the Native American companion well Clayton Moore tended to live the part which wasn’t all that bad because in public he reinforced a message to children that justice was good and fair a win even if the winning went hard there was more silver than simply in the name of the actor for the Ranger shot silver bullets from two guns he had wrapped around his waist silver bullets shooting straighter and true so went the lore I think and his horse was named Silver too which led to the famous expression “Hi-ho, Silver!” that the Lone Ranger called usually while his horse reared on its two hind legs and that cry was followed by “Away!” and I swear in reruns and rebroadcasts I think it was maybe Tonto who shouted “Away!” though I suppose I’m only romanticizing to give him more stature when saluting their own show and Tonto’s horse was named Scout but after all the calling set in the saddles of their chargers you know what they did they galloped away from the warm radio brocade panel or the cathode-ray lit television screen and where did they gallop but into their next adventure and should not we do the same