after some hours at this today
it’s darkened
I should go for another light
the close work has
made my eyesight blurry
too
and my lower back from bending over
well
not blurry
well
maybe
as pain might haze ambition
and I have said
and say
all kinds of things
in
other verses
though the moralizing’s heavy
maybe
from blurriness and pain
sigh
what should you like to hear
not
to curry
necessarily
but
to meet and interest or a need
you know that God is love or should
since the message is
ready enough
available
do you know that you are love as well
or at least have it in you
to carry outside
to
have your life better
and the world
too
so small at first
and then who knows how
wide the circles go
and you might be close to all this
as well
catch it when you see something land
on the smooth water of
a pond when
still
or other
water
maybe it’s the gospel of the small
that isn’t nearly big enough
realizing
the inevitable
the practice we don’t get away from
or
even the accountability
that
the word
the act
change things from ourselves to the world
no
matter what we’re told we matter
in this way
and so do small good
a motto
how about a bumper sticker
or what to adhere to our hearts
(I have a machine
inside
that might have
a sticker-place)
not
because the words are mine
but that they’re wise
regardless
and promise for the Earth
what should be healthy things to say
and
do
for a change
(hale
changes)
c l couch
photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash
God Love You like a Lizard
God love you like
A lizard
You know the
Small
The salamander kind
Green or red or brown
But made
Just right for all impulses so
To thrive
To move with halting grace
Through life
To dine upon whatever
Then to sleep among
Warm rocks and sheltering leaves
When its world
Is all right
Around it
Yes
Love and the
Lord
Like the eagle
Too
With expansive and majestic
Wings
And the beak that promises
To tear many things
Asunder
(yes
my dear
like lizard's flesh)
But don’t forget the lizard
(in its primacy)
With all its wonder
Small
Green
Or red or brown
Unassuming
Fit
With nature
And the cosmos
In its
Tiny
Tiny
Role
Inside creation
And via its (tiny) role
Above
C L Couch
(x = space)
x
x
something small series
(three parts, that is, three poems)
x
x
For What We Are About to Receive
x
Thank you
God
For what is small
For what is easy
To see
To hear
To guess a touch
A taste
And what is left
A smell
In likelihood
Or gentle appreciation
x
Flower
Bird
Child
Not to touch
But to leave alone
Unless the touch be necessary
Or requested
Of the thing
Not my agenda
Or the world’s
x
Leave the flowers grow
And the birds
And the children
Provide
Teach
Enhance
The opportunities
Hold them
When our own
Release them
To their own
Be thankful for the borrowing
Even beholding
As a work
Of yours
In a museum
Without walls
With working space
And fields for play
The sunshine and the wind
To enhance
The experience
All experience
That’s human
Sanctioned by divine
In the making
And the giving
Thank you
x
x
The Open Gift
x
Thank God for something small
Seemingly
Seemingly
Easy to love
As if we had received a gift
For our delight
The flower
Or the bird
Or a child
Given in labor
Pain
And innocence
Returning both perhaps
Charged to our keeping
But here is the gift
A moment for the beauty
And the truth
In our beholding
In what is revealed
From the force
Behind all forces
The presence
We may guess at
And not know
For sure
Thought we know
This moment with
The flower
Bird
Or child
x
They are not avatars
They are their own
They are not agendas
Though they are
Naïve messages
Of innocence
x
Realistic purity
On Earth
x
(part 2 of something small a series)
x
x
The Final Solution
x
And now
Praise God
For something small
With song
In appreciation
To adore
Creator
In creation
x
For all there is
And isn’t
And should be
(the Quixotic dream)
x
Take in the leave
Take in the wind
Take in a stranger
Passing by
In New York City
Millions
Not to see again
x
Until our sight
Be perfect
And unbidden
Sighting love
In focus
Blissfully
Agenda-free
Sinless
Indiscriminate
x
Find something small
To love it
Even a molecule
Considered
The illustration
From a textbook
Or a website
x
Thanks God for protons
And electrons
Neutrons
That have meaning
Though they seem
Without an interest
Of their own
x
But they are here
And all the rest
To bind
In gravity
Of love
And willingness
For unity
And one’s own identity
Everything shared
Nothing lost
x
Praise God
For something small
That’s you
And me
When you
Love of self
And the other
We delightfully have both
And all the time
One by one
Small part by small part
A miniature greatness
That is set
And to combine
To form out of apocrypha
Or apocalypse
The real thing
x
We’ll be there
Won’t we
x
(part 3 and probably enough of the something small series)
x
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Death of a Coffeemaker
x
The world gets so small sometimes,
Doesn’t it?
I mean, there are real problems,
Real horrors,
Real fears
x
And yet this small machine
Has had enough:
For all the pressing,
The red light will not come on
x
And now the water in the reservoir
Has run all over the counter
x
Sigh, it had been in decline—and
Now I think it’s done
x
If I had all the memberships,
I could order something, and then
It would appear
Having been dropped gently
By a drone
Or through the door
Of a pilotless car
x
But I’m stuck with old-fashioned
And will have to visit all the stores
At hand
x
This could be an opportunity
To stop drinking coffee—
What?
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Goh Rhy Yan on Unsplash
Flying a drone at dusk in the city.
x
By the Light of a Gray Day
Comfort in small things
A blanket folded, ready
Lamplight showing golden through
A translucent black shade
Old copper cooking instruments
Set on the wall
Stacks of books here and there,
Which should be smaller
Burnished parts of furniture,
Others left alone
Muted colors and some bold
Rounded shapes and just a few
Right angles
Yes, it’s in the room
Everything that gladdens without telling
A hymn that plays beneath
Unruly thoughts and actions
All above
Small art here and there
A hope for more
C L Couch
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Saksun Church, Nordic Church
Penitent
I want to feel like
Something small
Not shriveled
Rather folded up
Like some leaves while resting
I’m hoping for a second skin
(protection,
only natural)
Of noises in a sun-washing field
That kind of peace, no other
Just now and for a while
Brief or long
(but it could be long)
May I have this, please
C L Couch
Photo by Gaston Roulstone on Unsplash
A low-angle photo to give an unusual perspective of the wild daisies which appear every spring along the West Coast in South Africa. Nature at its most colorful time!
Earth-Talk
The sun is knocking,
Asking to come in
Can you imagine?
The sun, huge and glorious
And powerful, asking
To come in?
But on this pale-gray day, the Earth
Seems to be withholding
Tiny planet, fending off
The sun
What is just but to give
The smaller thing its due?
It’s here, too, after all
And what is mercy
But to wait upon
Its waiting?
C L Couch
Photo by Fabian Struwe on Unsplash
Lent 26
Sometimes, when I’m afraid
I write
Or when I’m sad
Indecisive
Or frustrated
But if I looked back through my journal
(I haven’t done that often)
I’d find, I believe, expressions of
Thanksgiving
Sometimes for sleep that didn’t go so badly
Sometimes for coffee in the morning
Sometimes for cold water, when
I’ve arranged it
I don’t know how much happiness I can have
But it seems I can have gratitude
Which has pieces, if only whittlings,
Of the larger parts
Of joy and peace
I think somewhere in there
Might be an invitation, which is
Why I write about this now
Because maybe
You’ll find something in the formula
I didn’t plan, and
I didn’t plan
Simply saying thank you
To the universe, to God
To a spirit, to an angel
For some measure of something
That will, if only as a single pea
(sorry if you don’t like peas, for
I know those who hate them),
Yet add nourishment to the day
A pea can accomplish something
It makes a whistle work
And disturbs the sleep of the
Princess
Something small can move along the tale
If only silent thanks
C L Couch
Mateusz Tokarski, ca. 1795 (National Museum in Warsaw)
Mateusz Tokarski – cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26953289
(still life with peas)
clcouch123 
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