Earth for You
I hope it is
A good day for you and
Better
From a corner
Of the upper hemisphere
And
To the left
Please
I greet you
Nearby those who are
Neighbors
In geography
While far away
Peers
In another way
It’s nice
To have the world as one
If only we believed the
One shape from the station
Beheld
With
So many parts
Of wonder
Bound by round
And also sinuous
Sometimes jagged
Lines
But without borders
Of our own
None of the barriers we make
Shone through
So that
From space
They’re only in our mind
And the way
We make agenda
Peace on Earth
Seasonless the fact
While Earth
Keeps it blue-green
With red only in spots
Where we could
Rush repair
Or having kept away
In
The first place
The open spaces
Underneath cloud movements
Or
Left-open deserts
Without cover
The openness
So much an invitation
Though the shifts in clouds
Write one
As well
Come down
And if you’re here already
Make a world
So that everyone
James-Weldon-Johnson-like
Might say
After all the work
“That’s good!”
Before
All of us might have
The party
Of the planet
C L Couch
Photo by Joel Filipe on Unsplash
who knows
(there might be a question of syntax)
yet
simply
God bless
you today
for the reason of
between
you and God
that’s love
and in wisdom might
be tied a little tighter by
the need
by the terminus
of us
or simply because joy
is in the bonding
that doesn’t catch the air
as if to hold
but lets us breathe
rather
in freedom
by relationship
untyrannical
with interest in
the stewardship of all we are
by one
who counts
most practically
by numbers that are love
for the sake
of intense belief
like startling eyes
yet
in all of us
yes
what that means
regardless
and respectful
work out that conundrum
while we live
and have
the blessing
in
the making and
the keeping
c l couch
photo by Liana S on Unsplash
Kyiv, Ukraine
Now the Fifth of July
(in the USA and everywhere that has the day)
Now it matters
The purpose of the fireworks
And picnics
After the celebration
And we hope the
Cleaning up
The life begins
That matters
Because it’s every day
It might not have ribbons floating
Over
Celebrations
It might not afford
Much by way of
Worldly excitement
Being
You know
Ordinary
But here it is
And here’s the test
Which is all right
Because
It’s all the same
We fail to live
We fail
After all
We choose to live
And bless the every day
We have a chance for
A nation
And a world
C L Couch
Photo by Norbert Braun on Unsplash
The Shape of Day
(especially for anyone who’s disabled)
God keep
Us
This day of
Blue-white moderation
A day for
Breathing well
Unlike the closeness
In the hours
Of a heatwave
I drove
I walked
My limitations easier
For a while
I got some farmer’s food
Came back town
Right-angled through
The traffic grid
Not knowing
Any other mindset
Over the wheel
Set aside
Behind
And all the walkers
On an official summer’s day
Though this day was good
Breathy
Flavorful
Easy on robotic work inside
If in a fancy
Over the life of batteries
I have a year or so
Until
Sources must
Be switched out
But for now
I have today
Before we’re told
The next heatwave
Should arrive
By
Thursday
Sigh
C L Couch
Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash
The Ascent
Creation
Foundation
Re-creation
What remains the same
What changes
We cycle through
We break the cycles
Or they’re broken
For us
Inventions all around
Adaptations
Also what is newly made
With materials of Earth
Sometimes of us
The controversy
What might we interject
Though we haven’t changed a generation
On our own
Except in that
We have more things
Sometimes for more time
And then fill the time with
Pursuits
Playful
Progressive
Or vainglorious
Are we stages
Phases
Headed toward a final place
A seeing place
A hearing place
A place to touch
And on
Which could be battlefield
Or a launching platform
To meet divinity’s wider hand
As we are
Able
Having chosen virtues
Carefully
And as a better planet’s people
A world
That we made better
Also
Maybe first
In
And of ourselves
C L Couch
Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash
2 poems about presence
Quantum Theory
God
You are around
Visiting nuclei
Somehow
Also gliding with
The quanta
Inside
Colliders
In the air
Presentable
In earth and sea
All the igneous
Layers
Of creation
Riding the rings
And showing where they meet
Between
Well
Galaxies
Connected by comets
As Hermes runners
With
You know
Cosmic messages
We’re still
Trying
To interpret
So that one day
We might message back
Words that Rise
I am alive
So are you
You might be reading on my shoulder
Waiting for the final words
To calculate
And then
More importantly
Go outside to play
Then later on
More words
Inexorable
For you
Inexorable
A readership
A friend
A nemesis
When
Necessary in revision
Or keep it
To yourself
And we’ll discuss
The other things
Inside
Or outside
Should it be
A fall day
Accommodating
Certain kinds
Of ease
Enough
Between us
C L Couch
Photo by NASA on Unsplash
Jupiter as Seen from the Hubble Space Telescope
Love’s Labors
I rock
While cross-legged
On the bed
I think it helps
To stretch out small parts
Of my lower back
I think
I breathe
Like thinking
I am quiet
Letting the world go around me
While I think about
The very thing
The world
All its troubles
All the better possibilities
With
Faith
Hope
And love
Sorry if that’s trite
As I should sound cleverer
Uniquer
In a poem
But these are the answers
Have been for two thousand years
Reflecting older teaching
And the laws
From Deuteronomy
That now
You don’t have to read
Though it wouldn’t hurt you
(much)
To know that love has come from God
And was the goodness in creation
And the reason
For first promises
Even for provisions when
We were cast out of Eden
Though the sweat of labor
For the man
And the real sweat of labor
For the woman
Wasn’t fun
And maybe still within the garden
We’d have worked
We’d have birthed
Without all the sweat
And all the pain
That we’ve learned to make
Philosophy
And a marketplace
To say that sweat and pain are actually
Good things
And you should buy our
Reasoning
Along with our products
And our memberships
But then
As far as relegation
Goes
Why not accept
And make the most of things
We must work
We must bear children
As we do
And while the process hurts
The product of pay
Is all right
And certainly
What comes with woman’s labor
Is a source
For joy
Delight in the present
While remarkable has happened
Toward the future
And maybe God and angels
Sweat and even
Hurt with us
Through everything
And there are
Times
When it’s hard
When I imagine we don’t care about
Divine sponsorship
Maybe after
Maybe not
Though we could thank the Lord
And the angels
When the job goes well
When a child is born
And for the mother
We work under a curse in all endeavors
Which sounds terrible
But that’s
You know
The way things are
‘Til dawning
Of the new age
When all pain is tabulated
Health restored
Hurt dismissed
And then
All the apologies in heaven
Divine
With what was mortal
May begin
C L Couch
Photo by eze cmf on Unsplash
Relegation
O God
Which is an invocation
We’re asking
You
Here and now
And are we aware
Of what we’re asking
No
Liturgically
Demanding
In
Your showing up
You’re God
And if so
The maker
And the real mover
Of
Well
Reality
All-knowing
So we say
And all powerful
Though
It’s easier
Secular
To believe invisible
And far away
That clockmaker
Having
Made and maybe
Set the clock
So long ago
Then left us to
Construct our own
Devices
Maybe
In our skill
Or lack thereof
To negotiate
Someday
To melt that primal clock
As
A Dali-like
Face-making
That is
Poured over parts
Of a parched Earth
But really
As we do things
(except
for invocation)
We could use you
Far away
And so keep our
Maybe fearing you
Also
Distant
And untested
In fact
Also
With cheek
Keeping your name
Inside our word-hoards
Available
For cursing
Or for sex
(is it
to bless the sex)
So
Such is irony
Such are
The ironies
And this is
Such
Strange wondering
As if to place you in a box
Maybe officially
To relegate you there
Until we need you
For
A ceremony
For
A clean and distanced blessing
Now and then
To complement in
Name
(whatever name)
Whatever ritual
We’ve made
Or
Somehow adapted from
The beginning
Words
So whom
Do we invoke
Just now
Whom do we ask
To call
And through our calling
Bring you here
In everything you are
And then
Even
To sing
To benedict
You
Away
Very God
Or distant God
Preeminent
Out of the way
Again
Then maybe
For an hour
Of the clock
Next
Time
Or maybe less
Then dare
We say
Amen
C L Couch
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Spirit Love
Have I said
Something spiritual
Today
Like remembering
“I love you”
To a mate
God makes everything
Sustains
To say the least
The bigger parts
And out of love
That everything
Might be
Saved at last
To everything
Within a land
Where all matters
Matter
And could we return the love
A little
Through a word
Some words
Even
A substitutionary action
Unto one of these
Who are like God
To do this for
And by the way
(unforgetting
in the moment)
To be saved
We are small
The stakes are high
They are
Shall we leave unhinged
The gates of reason
And of love
Or shall we leave together
All the spirit
To connect us
And to bind us
Still
With room to breathe
To view through ourselves
To another
To the world
Screwed up by us
Or Satan
Yet made for good
In fact
Made good
The process
And our process
Reflect
The making
If we will
And if we raise each other
To the task
C L Couch
Photo by Artem Sapegin on Unsplash
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