a telling of creation
what is the sense of things
in creation
first nothing
we suppose
and then something
a sound
perhaps
and then some light
to they
could see
what they were doing
though I imagine
angels who were
blind
or deaf
could know something
was happening
the light from dark
or light and
dark
that is
two halves
both being worthy
then some water
black
and barely lit
and then some land
pushed up
somehow
by a hand
that might like molding
or making
in another way
and the land shall need
the sun and moon
water already
extant
and now some creatures
on the land
there already being
beings
in the water
and everyone will need fed
and so have plants
for food
as well as beauty
and we shall say that
this is good
and who shall say
hmm
we need someone
on Earth
to day
and so we make some people
mold them wondrously
such beauty
from the ground
and they shall have five senses
mainly
though not all
with all
and they shall speak
who can
or gesture
or express in another way
everything
to say the act of making
to a lesser degree
but make that noise
anyway
and then settle into
utterances
that God can understand
(having made language)
and they
and we
can understand each other
understanding
being a first feature
in the mind
of creation
and to degrees
our own
based on something else
the riskiest thing
to have been made
and how the angels
might have argue
over this
a thing
it seems
they do not have
though
once beholding
might argue
for
in angel-workers
negotiating with
the boss
and it’s will
of course
the wish
the dream
the mind
the spirit
and the choice
to think
and also feel
to decide
and first
one’s course through Eden
and then
the names of animals
then after
all the sadnesses
a course on Earth
and all the things on Earth
to get
to know
c l couch
photo by Elvis Bekmanis on Unsplash
(x = speak)
x
x
LoveSpeak
x
What does God’s love say
In the face of danger?
Through many dangers,
Toils, and snares
God’s love says
I’m here
The love is here
The source is here
The host is here
We’re here
x
Though there be anger,
Scorn, and fear
From enemies and friends
Alike
Because doubt and unbelief
Might have to have
Their way,
The love of God is first
And follows
Like the currents inside Earth
And over,
The moving pillars
Cloud or fire
That are before
And after
x
Alongside in
The truth of companionship
But I can’t see that
You can
It’s more than senses
With which we perceive
As best we can
x
Presence and love are better
They are inside
And out
They speak without words
Until it’s time for words
x
When we have ears to hear
And cannot hear,
Count on the company
Of the divine
To know us better,
Pick us up
If fallen,
Go with us onward
Leading, should we ask
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
x
“Amazing Grace” (the hymn) referenced above
x
(x = space)
x
x
Signpost
x
Let’s see
Let’s hear
Let’s smell
Let’s taste
Let’s touch
Let’s move in time
And between dimensions
Of the multiverse
How many senses do we know
How many are to come
Into our knowing
x
The episodes are so ordinary
As to be in black and white
A visit
To a small town
An employee
Inside a bank
Peddlers
Sometimes alcoholics
Sometimes astronauts
Who are not ordinary
But take our attitudes
With them
x
Something usual
Then everything must
Turn
Because under the sun
Or moon
Is not enough
Sometimes we must enter
The zone of twilight
x
Mister Serling says so
And he writes so
He is right
To send us there
Because what we know
Is not enough
x
I just put down a piece of toast
And it stood on end
I might be going
Somewhere next
Be with you
There
x
C L Couch
x
x
The Twilight Zone, 1959 – 1964
156 episodes
x
The Cocoon Nebula along with its trail of dark nebulosity. 11 hours of LRGB combined with 10 hours of hydrogen-alpha exposure.
Photo by Aldebaran S on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Catbird
(recalled)
x
I’d like to speak
Of God
But sometimes silence
Is called for
To listen to the maybe
Maybe something grand
Maybe single
Bird-call
Can one hear the dawn
Or the vibrations in
The setting sun?
Hearing apparatus
Is not required
So much as to
Open up whoever we are
Enough to gather in
What the quiet Earth
Has to say
A gift for any, all the senses
We may have
x
Speak through the Earth
If we are mute
Savor unimpeded,
Unreconstituted wind
If we have lost our
Sense of taste
Let the sun move us through
The day
If we have no movement
Otherwise
What we’ve had,
What we’ve never had,
What we’ve lost
x
We have so much
To take in
Then contribute
To the cause,
Nourishing
And strengthening
All our
Good communities
x
C L Couch
x
x
On the Road from Stanley to Boise, Idaho
By TonyCastro – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83018649
x
(x = space)
x
x
Proportional Response
x
It’s an eye for eye
Without, we hope,
Everyone going blind
x
But then the blind we have,
Over-sensate in four ways,
Might have to lead
x
The only ones who know
How to have sight
Without the eyes
x
C L Couch
x
https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-u-carries-airstrike-against-233431848.html
x
x
By Airman 1st Class Chad Warren – US Air Force Public Affairs [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7377988
A flight of F-15C Eagles from the flies during a solar eclipse in Okinawa July 22, 2009.
x
(x = space)
x
x
On a Colorless Land
x
That’s the problem with winter,
Isn’t it?
Everything is pale, unless
It’s dark with age
Or even death,
Blasted trees and such
x
Snow is romantic
While it’s falling,
But if the temperatures stay low
Then the ground is white snow or,
Well, ground
For a long while
x
There is no solution;
Painting earth won’t help
And what of the limpid winter sky?
Besides, there’s learning here
Via looking out,
Remembering that colors all are
Grand and
We should cherish them and use them
x
I know, pretty straightforward
For a poem;
But I was thinking about
Recessive traits:
I have freckles on pale skin,
Blue eyes,
Left-handedness,
All sorts of other things, I’m sure
x
For these, I don’t think
I’m worthless
Or you for your recessives
Or you for your dominants
x
We can (all) have bold things,
Brings the colors in—
Keep them inside in other ways
Along with textures and
Unearthly sounds
And bell-like laughter
x
The senses are bright
And always so
As we might manage them
x
Taste and see,
Hear and touch,
Smell—and time be released
For these
(from time to time)
x
I don’t know about a wonderful life,
But it can be
And more so
A sensate life
In any season
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
Mixed media painting inspired by Stonehenge.
x
Prophecy through Senses
Does God know us
Through our senses,
When we see and hear and touch
And smell and taste each other?
Does God need us for this?
How silly is the sense of smell
But without which
Taste would be disabled?
How does sight deceive?
Who listens as one should?
Who understands the learning that
Comes through touch?
God gave us these
And gave us work and play
There is so much more
But God gave us time as well
Chronos and Kairos,
Maddening how fluid
Or cut off
On the plain
Before we reach the mountainside
That takes us to cool, final places
C L Couch
Photo by Jennifer Latuperisa-Andresen on Unsplash
Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!
Lent 22
Sometimes we might think
Of Lent as a dry time
We’ve rid the house of sugar, after all
And cooking fat
Everything that takes away from
Arid concentration,
Which is spiritual, we say
To ourselves
But there are Easter baskets
And an Easter dinner we are waiting on
These are good, aren’t they—
And they are
Even to the blessing of the baskets
Along the altar rail
On the day before
(early Saturday morning)
Everything we’ll use to
Split the difference between
Faith and easy living
But don’t we need both sides?
There will be Easter Sunday, after all
And we’ll have gone to church
Taken part in singing
And the sunshine that’s been made
From Easter matter
But don’t forget the Easter eggs to hide
And something about rabbits
Good things, all? Goodness, yes
But there is the desert thinking
Our origins in western Asia,
Northern Africa
Those we call the mothers and our fathers
Who lived dry Lenten seasons
Every day,
Whose wisdom aids
Our understanding spirit,
Which then prompts
Everything we’ll do
They are right,
The mystics and the everything
And there is something right in us
To be involved
Today
C L Couch
Photo by Dean Ward on Unsplash
Before chopping down one of the trees in our garden we did an inspection to make sure there were no nests in it. This gorgeous little nest was in one on the lower branches so it looks like the tree is staying.
Lent 16
(village life)
In enclaves
In clusters
We persist
Small-town living yet with
All our senses
We hear the seasons overhead;
Molecules of air
Have time to light on us
There might be swans
Upon the river
Lights under the bandstand
That switch on at night
Having charged by day
Through solar panels
And we might sit
On chairs filigreed in style
Sipping coffee as we like it
In a café set along
A narrow street
Beside a water’s edge
Redolent of all scents
Mostly fair,
Where we might talk
Or simply stop
The moments
Silently using
All we are
We might have work to do
Outside
We will
This could be a day off
Or after chores
Or some time we manage
By our own
An hour we must have
Somewhere inside
C L Couch
Image by Jörg Peter from Pixabay
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