(x = space)
x
x
prayer in a circle
x
prayer in a circle
at the table
or
while standing
anywhere
x
it’s beautiful
attaching words
to statements
supplications
even
questions
with our doubts
x
the prayer is over
we are stronger
knowing
something to affirm
and in a kind
of pledge
to do the next thing
with spiritual
aplomb
and just plain niceness
(yep)
to each other
as the circle visually
fades
to purpose
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by Igor Surkov on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Pledge Break
x
Goodness
It’s late
I haven’t really
Said anything
I’ve let the tyranny
Of memories and songs
Take over
Drafting elsewhere
x
Tyranny
That could be blessed
For pleasures recalled
And challenges
And to reconsider
Resolutions
x
Well
What is there to say?
Love God
Love each other
I’ll try to do better
Always better
Improve
Even invent
Devices and topoi
As devices
Not cleverness
(clearly)
But invitations
For the nonce
And later on
x
For that is the joy of words
Arranged
That they might be
Considered later on
x
Like words
I like your words
And almost everything they carry
I’m sorry
But for now
I must set aside the hate
Even for justice
‘Til mediation
Greater wisdom
So much greater than my own
Take over
x
We must talk
At least we should
And I can hope
We do
At that table
Where all words
Be shared and understood
And a new world built by them
From every session
Made
Into our mission
x
While most of us
Lead lives away
Improved
Steadier on the path
Cosmically designed
Determined
Our input welcomed
Now with grace
Re-made
From our negotiation
With each other
Willing to listen
By the end
Of sessions
And be changed in
And for
A universe
Always moving
Always changing
x
Together
There’s the wisdom
There has to be
Or else
Franky
We’ve earned oblivion
x
I say
We say
Enough
Let’s fill our cups
And serve each other
On our plates
Wise love
Via service
Receiving thus
Salvation
x
Poetically
And prosaically
Yours,
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
a third poem
(3 poems about ecumenicity)
x
x
Later in the Day
x
All the traditions
I can’t name them
Do you need me to?
Hinduism
Buddhism
Taoism
Jainism
Pantheism
See? there are more
And these are not
The yellow pages
(a reference to a phonebook
of listings in the USA)
Who believes?
Who decides?
No one decides, I think
Though
There has to be veracity
In coming to the table
x
The sole, actual criterion
Aside from interest
In community
Larger than
One’s own
(globally large)
Being lack of violent intent
Or practice
At or on said table
x
There is risk
In all this, I know
Something precarious might happen
The clean-up will be prodigious
The pan might flash
But given consequences
More so the promises
To ourselves
And the generations following
Risk worth taking,
Don’t you think?
x
Meet you there
x
C L Couch
x
x
by NASA/JPL-CaltechThe original uploader was SnoopY at English Wikipedia. – http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03520Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1134766
x
(x = space)
x
x
At the Table
x
This is Tuesday
I hope this is
Will be
Or has been
A good Tuesday for you
(or across the world
might have been will be)
Even splendid
You are entitled
One of nearly eight billion
People
Your choices, well, that’s
Up to you
And not a matter for
Anything not like a tribunal
Present
If you are a despot, stop it
If you are a lousy neighbor,
Be a better one
But while the sun is out
(and when the moon is out
and that bemusing time
of dusk or dawn)
Take in free breaths
Let them out with gladness
And, dare I say,
Thanksgiving
For sometimes it is an easy Earth
When and where it’s not
Good breathing’s still required
With assistance added,
When needed
x
And, by the way,
Honey gets in everything
At table
I’m sure there are tricks
The bees know
Maybe through their knees
x
C L Couch
x
x
orange gradient fluid art
x
(x = space)
x
x
Ray Bradbury’s Writing Table
x
I hope it’s true
He showed it to us,
Talked us through it
Right before each
Episode;
So many toys and
Other things, reminders
Of this world
And other worlds;
There was a metal
Spaceship, the old kind
You wind up; and
There were toy dinosaurs
And many other things,
Curios and totems
Any of which
Might become
Dandelion Wine,
A Martian chronicle
Or Something Wicked
This Way Comes
x
I hope it’s true
And not a set piece,
Though I suppose it doesn’t
Matter; the writing
Table, writing place
Has been lodged in
My brain, coming
Up as memory
Every now and then,
Evocation of
Evocation, and of course
I have my own symbols
Now around me, and
I trust that
You have yours
x
C L Couch
x
x
The Ray Bradbury Theatre was a show first broadcast in the 1980s.
Ray Bradbury was a writer who created many monumental works, among them Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes.
x
Photo by Charl Folscher on Unsplash
Part of a series of concept photos I took during lockdown using drawing mannequins.
x
Visit to a Third Planet
Who’s hungry
Raise your hands
Now those of you who have
Extra food
There are millions of you
And we’ll take it one by one
Find an outstretched hand
Take hold
Place food in it
If need be, help with preparation
Then be pleased to sit
At the table
Anyone who’s cold
Millions of you with extra blankets
One by one, gently and firmly
Place them
Around
Anyone who’s thirsty
Is a bigger deal
Because we keep poisoning the water
But for now there still is more
Pass it out in safe containers
To those for whom
Answering thirst is life
Who needs shelter
Millions of us know how to
Build roofs and walls
And bridges that will get
Each one security
To home
Now who’s lonely
Who’s afraid
Who needs countries that provide
They’re here
They can help
Can all the multitudes
Nations and people
Provide assistance
Well, we can
I think we know
That we can
We shall
C L Couch
http://thehelpfulartteacher.blogspot.com/2014/12/tiny-planets-inspired-by-little-prince.html
http://thehelpfulartteacher.blogspot.com/
Welcome to The Helpful Art Teacher, an interdisciplinary website linking visual arts to math, social studies, science and language arts.
image (kindly) used with kind permission
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