time and temporality
(for dreamers and for planners)
we look
we hear
we wonder
as we wander
like the song
out under the sky
or being still
having gone nowhere
perforce
or by design
the need to have some time
an hour or a day
in which we do not move
but traverse everything
inside
and inside
where shall we go
what shall we
hear
what shall we
see
what shall we smell
or get a taste of
what is the other sense
what shall we taste
though we may
also travel throughout
time
slip into other states of being
as our possibilities
visit other worlds
that we make
for moments
that never happened
though we may go there
for the possibility
the changes
the resolutions
never having taken place
except there
in what we visit
on the inside
that time and life
under the sun
never allowed
waking issues
that are not solved
out here
but we should
do this
this is good
a friend of mine might say
about ideas
when we planned things
together
in the day
this added time to dream
might engender
visions
three dimensions
only
but good experiences for
our constituencies
starting with
those of
one
then two
and who’s to say
the dimension of the spirit
or the spirits
will not be joining us
the outer life
the inner life
somehow touched and satisfied
through dreaming and
then
through waking
c l couch
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky,
how Jesus the Savior did come for to die
for poor ordinary people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky.
adapted by John Jacob Niles
photo by Ferdinand Stöhr on Unsplash
"Sunset in Vancouver"
(x = space)
x
x
Be, My Soul
x
Be still
(imperative
second-person subject
that is
you)
This
That doesn’t mean
Don’t move
As much as to quiet
Everything
x
The rush of blood
The frantic function of our organs
The ragged parts of breath
Meaning
The ragged parts of spirit
x
Smooth out everything
For a time
And in that time
Hear
More than ears
What God might say
Or you and God
To each other
x
C L Couch
x
x
“Be Still, My Soul,” a hymn by Kathrina von Schlegel (1855)
x
Psalm 46
x
Photo by Felix Mittermeier on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Provision
(from Psalm 23)
x
Still waters
But not stagnant
There is movement
Of the Earth
And provision by
Earth’s Spirit
x
The saints
And other essences
Provide gentle
And fulfilling currents
And sponsor peace
Beneath, above
Where water moves
And air
And all good things
For that we might rest
Beside the water
And sometimes go in
For cleanliness
Or fun
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Mathias P.R. Reding on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Slow Men
x
God bless slow men
(I don’t mean still waters)
Who are not evil
Who have sins in the past
And who knows
For the present
x
But do not move in haste
To rule the world
Or a part,
Who listen sitting down
Or walking ‘round the block
x
Who are not old
But take pleasure in
Slow ways
To make love
And have love, after
X
I might talk slow women
Except
They know the wisdom
When to be fast
When to be still
X
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Benjamin Smith on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Sabbath-Worthy
x
Today should be a restful day
There’s law in it
And lore
There must be allowances
For first-responding
Daily labors that utilities
And farms require,
And I hope they’re given sabbath
Time another time
Those who take care of us
So we might have time
To eat and think and play
In ways that still
Qualify as still, that is,
Sabbath-worthy
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Liset Verhaar on Unsplash
x
note
And do I need to say this? (Maybe, if only for me.) Sabbath may happen on any day, as tradition or exigency requires.
x
Still Life by the Window
The light comes through just right
And when it doesn’t go that way
I have the chance to
See it all tomorrow
Next to the air-conditioner lines
There is a work lamp
Good for reading under
There are eucalyptus branches in a jar
Actually, these vibrate
Challenging the lesson of still life
There are candles on a stool
A phone resting in its cradle
A coaster that’s a tile, promoting
Science in Puerto Rico
There are matches in a glass
Some English candy in an (English) tin
A pinecone
An ancient folding chair is folded
Next to these
(ten dollars from a store that whose
stock was old things)
Next to the jar, some crayons in a cup
Reminding me of color in the head
And in the world
No braces of birds or fruit cut in half
No mirror framed in gold
Or furniture I’d find in a museum
Now
This is my exhibition
Of my time
The early twenty-first century
By now, many were expecting
Keys to hovercrafts next
To gloves for flying jetpacks
For now, the guy who few in Lost in Space
Will have to do
We’ll catch up by leaping forward
I have a corner
And in yours
C L Couch
Still Life with Grapes, Peaches and Snail, signed by A. Ruysch and dated 1685
Anna Rausch – http://hoogsteder.com/paintings/still-life-grapes-peaches-snail/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38783341
Hello, Kitty
(an image of a tiger)
Isn’t he amazing?
I say he because the caption says so
I have no trouble believing that
The female is amazing
He sits among the roots and shadow
Of the tree
Resting or waiting? Is he
Hungry or in love or meditative?
Is he tired?
What will happen next?
What happened?
I think he lay there for a long while,
A study in stillness
He stayed until he decided
What he wanted next
C L Couch
A young male tiger rests in the roots of a banyan tree, in Ranthambhore national park, India. Photograph: Chris Brunskill/Save Wild Tigers/Eye On Tiger
appearing in The Guardian Green Light
The Start of Day
You give this to me, Lord
These hours and these days
I don’t want to waste them
And I don’t want the world to
Define waste for me
It is wasteful and so earns
Skepticism regarding definitions
Careless with money
Food (forty percent in the USA)
Relationships
With nature and each other
Yes, I’m of the world, too
And so don’t escape conviction
But there is a conviction
And conviction
We can do better
I can
How does it begin—why,
I think with wasting time
Being still,
At rest and listening
Tempering what I hear with
The community I trust
So many things start right
This way
The Pietists had it right
Listen for revelation
It will come
It won’t be crazy
If it is,
Your good friends will tell you
Then listen to them
C L Couch
A clear description of Pietism is found in Understanding Pietism by Dale W. Brown.
(image)
http://www.photogen.com/free-photos/free-stock-photo-564/
clcouch123 
Recent Comments