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trinitarian

(x = space)

x

x

trinitarian

x

nothing shall separate us

from the love of God

which is a promise

x

so why do we feel differently

why do we shirk

why does doubt work so well

x

we can say that it’s a sin

that it’s a fallen world

well enough

x

but faith and love are so attractive

and so active

why back away

x

there is the world

the match of us that says

none of it’s real

x

that real is flesh and metal

while evidence of faith and love

has neither

x

invisibility

dark glass

land of shadows

x

these are what we have for proof

and means of proof

all of which is unconvincing

x

peace passing understanding

but it’s understanding

that we need

x

and will not get it

unadulterated

by the hard means of the world

x

a world we feel

a world we have

and must live in for now

x

and for an age

after the Anthropocene

and afterward

x

who knows

and that is it

who knows

x

promises as metaphors

streets of transparent gold

advocacy always in our favor

x

should we choose

and we must choose

from lack of evidence

x

we choose

and we do

and we believe

x

crops are promised

in our seasons

wonderful abstracts

x

turned real

and that is it

it’s all turned real

x

faith

hope

and love

x

a Celtic knot

tied and loose

three parts everywhere

x

God

Earth

and us

x

c l couch

x

nothing shall separate us from the love of God

romans 8:38-39

x

x

5,000 year-old triskelion on an orthostat at newgrange

by young shanahan – https://www.flickr.com/photos/youngshanahan/10644977574/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110911537

x

2

The Lonely Makers

(x = space)

x

x

The Lonely Makers

(an accounting for geneses)

x

There is God

There is the Spirit

There has been Christ

As we have the story

There is Christ

Before Sarah

In fact

To speak to bring the world

Ex nihilo

Into something

x

The world was made in six days

Each day therein

An age

Such as the day of the dinosaur

Or the days of Camelot

Count twenty-four

God could do it

But there was void at first

Then light and dark

How shall one count

In that

Before the world of clocks

x

Christ speaks

And all is made

The Spirit moves

Behested to breathe life

After the first

Breath

Into the sky

Over the water

x

Abstracts are done

And then

The species

Of the Earth

Come forth

x

Creatures

With small spirits

Even

Our own

x

Breathed out of dust

To live

To make our way

To make

Our own

Shares in creativity

By will

Because later on

We ask for this

Alone

And alone

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Christine Kozak on Unsplash

x

0

Prevaricating Sharks

(x = space)

x

x

Prevaricating Sharks

x

I don’t know what

To share

With you today

x

How are things with you

How is your health

x

How are your

Relations

And your story

x

I hope you’re really well

x

I’m not sure what

To ask

Without specifics

x

I don’t know what

To ask

But we can pray for friends

And strangers

Can’t we

x

Sure

We can

And I hope

This day is grand for you

x

The sharks swim closely to us

But they’re not

Attacking

Without meaning

Without purpose

x

Let’s not give them

A reason

Today

x

Live in cooperation

Maybe with nature as the

Romantics

Sought

The Victorians eschewed

x

In harmony with nature

x

Certainly

Let’s live out

The contracts natural

With each other

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

x

1

A Jazz Mass

(x = space)

x

x

A Jazz Mass

(recovering lost verse)

x

Jazz mass

A mass of jazz

Inside the church

That might

Be

Preservation Hall

x

Or come with me

To Cleveland

Or

New Liberty

Or a flat place in a field

With divots

Happening to happen

Just right for

Our instruments

To rest

While we musicians

Get to listen,

While exhaling,

Too

x

Inside the halls

Of the Lord

Which might have heaven

For a ceiling

With hell beneath the basement

So let’s stay here

On Earth

To worship

In good syncopation

(planned,

unplanned)

With an aim

Sometimes

To raise that roof

More heaven-toward

x

Loud

Or soft,

Sharing the stories

Of both places

And our prophets

And

Our prospects

x

Don’t charge for tickets

Maybe leave

A jar

Inside the door

More visible

When leaving

Should

We leave

Because there might be food

(after spiritual food)

And then another

Set-to

All of us

Jazzy playing

Jazzy-praying

To the Lord

x

C L Couch

x

x

A Jazz Mass is a worship service with service music and hymns played in a Jazz genre.

Jazz Mass | Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church

x

Photo by Mary Hammel on Unsplash

x

1

Gestation

(x = space)

x

x

Gestation

x

I don’t know

It’s Friday

It’s raining

We need the rain

The clouds have little texture

At least from here

x

Nothing much to look at

A wet street

Spatter on the windows

We need the rain

x

There is war

In Ukraine

More death today

More wounded

And in Sudan

We’re drawing up our diplomats

Telling tourists

To go home

Choose another

(for now)

x

We know there’s trafficking

Where

Here

Of drugs

Of people

Contraband things that

Otherwise

Could be all right

x

But you know

People

Never people

Sold

Which means someone is

Buying

Where

Here

x

Struggles for freedom’s

Hard enough

On good days in

(relative)

Safe places

x

And they

The captured

Kidnapped

Bought and sold

Are not all

But tend to be

Children

Women

Who

We know

Struggle for freedom

Already

Hard enough

More than should be

Enough

x

On Friday I could cry

But the sky

Provides

As if behooving

I could say

Nature weeps for me

As in

Instead of me

And that

Nature weeps for all of us

In distress

But it is nature’s

Well

Nature

x

That’s all

And that’s enough

The rain

Provides

Other good things

x

But I’m thinking now

There should be

Laws

For freedom

To work within one’s

Bearing

Bearing

Who we are

What can we do

x

And freedom of our bodes

Politic

Personal

That many of us

Think we have

x

Let’s check the laws of nature

And our charters

I think it’s there

Many

Freedoms

Already

There

Officially

And by

Who made rain

x

We may read wet leaves

Or our own pages

Fearfully

Consider

Wonderfully made

And what

To do

With what and whom

When made

When with accountability

Co-making

x

Rain

Tears

Freedoms

Fridays

Notions

Not like the old

Department-store

Departments

(but) Full-blown

Like glass

Full-grown

Into ideas

x

We do

Need these

A good weekend

Please

For you

You deserve it

It’s deserved

x

Does rain mean freedom

I don’t think so

Sometimes

It’s relaxing to watch

To hear

Sometimes

It’s fearful

The median response

Might have something to do

With inconvenience

Maybe this is part

Part Friday

Too

Of freedom

x

C L Couch

x

x

Psalm 139:14

x

Photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash

x

1

Imaginaria

Imaginaria

(insight, sci-fi, speculation)

x

x

Machine Life

x

Ain’t devices grand

Until they’re not

And how long is

A generation, anyway

Things work

They slow down

There is no message

Though the problems could be

Indications as they are

In old age

The old age of us,

That is

x

Machine life

Oxymoron

Maybe

Maybe with A-I for real

The opposite are nearer

To the same thing

In us all

Man and machine

They (ubiquitous) used to say

But let the women try

All shall be well

As a woman said

x

x

note

x

Saint Julian of Norwich

(we ubiquitous do not know her name—maybe her cat sussed it through any sublimation)

x

x

Visitors

x

They landed

And found a plethora

Of DNA

On our machines

On the insides

Even blood

Inside

Who were these people, then,

Was soon discovered

Helixes reconstructed

And their features

And their colors

And the shapes of

So many of them

x

The machines they talk to

And brought them here

In fact

Shall interpret

And reconstitute

Everything

Planetside

As well as

From the things in orbit

That have been falling

While a few remain

For boarding

Or retrieval

x

This was a race

Or races

Many kinds of one race

They covered themselves

For the atmospheres

And seasons

Up to four of these

It seems

They were preventive

Though mostly reactive,

Waiting for a crisis

Then responding

x

There might have been those

(translating documents

reshaping the shaping

of their flesh

and all the things they made

for prosperity

or expression)

Who tried in sciences

And arts

To say something

Warn them about

How to live

And what might be coming

x

Well,

Library these

Revive some as we can

Or may

They had the rudiments

A-I and androids

We can work off of these

As templates

The name

Many references to ground

And we have encountered

Worlds named water,

Fire, and air

Smoke and fog

Pollution

And clarity

x

x

Prophecy

x

Three kinds

I was taught this

I’ve thought about it

(these)

Maybe I’ve done some

Merging

On the inside

All about it, too

x

There is the kind

That foretells the future,

Which is the kind

We think about

The most

It seems

x

There is the kind

That foretells the present

That tells the monarchs

There is invasion

Here

Or a great fire there

x

Then there is the kind

That interprets

The present

With insight

And a voice

That can serve the queen

And should they arrange it

Assist today’s administration

Well

And overall

Overall

And well

x

But then prophets

Often get into trouble

Even in democracies

Who are they

Why should we listen

Are they saying

What we want

To hear

Is prosperity promised

And God’s approval

Because God is in our side

Because

We say so

x

Go to the launchpads

Go to the modern museums

Enjoy

Be warned

Grow

Live better

x

As for disagreements

Or outraged

If not ignorant

(usually ignorant)

Confusion

Well,

Weather that

And try not to burn

The saints

x

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Nathan Duck on Unsplash

x

0

Bad Day at Third Rock

(x = space)

x

x

Bad Day at Third Rock

x

Today there is a war

People try to live

Without attention

To or from

The state

x

There is a wildfire

Eruptions from volcanos

Storms rage

Earth splits

As if on revenging

Or indifference

x

There is

Addiction

Other ways we live

As if to self-destruct

Like the tapes

That were for our

Entertainment

About

Impossible missions

x

Jobs are taken out

They were useful

Now they’re gone

We get divorced

From each other

As if the vows

Were not thought out the first time

And now we know

x

And there is everything

We know is inexorable

It comes on

They come on

x

All these things

All these sad things

Most of which

Destroy

And all wound

x

The apologist might be right

To say

We live in land overrun

And occupied by the enemy

x

Princes of this world

Maybe princesses

Though give credit to the

Insight

When some women lead

Thinking of Deborah

And Judith

And the chairs

Of my departments

x

The world must be more

Than all the burning

And explosiveness

Literal to Earth

Or invoked too much by hell

Inside the human heart

x

Live more

Legislate, perhaps

Consider how extreme

The campaigns

Or the intimacy

In destruction

x

Renew

Repair

Like people

Learn to know

How we are likable

‘Cause we are

x

Give Earth a chance

And when it fails

Negotiate

Again

And do the same

For humankind

Fix things

And then

Consider less addition

For the second changes

Barring

You know

Those commandments

And redemption

Even so

Give us a chance

And the cosmos

In turn

Might welcome us

x

C L Couch

x

x

(citations)

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

1 Corinthians 2:6,8

x

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

x

0

Two Children

(x = space)

x

x

Two Children

x

Holy Thursday

x

Maundy Thursday

x

Good Thursday

x

Nice Thursday for the church

If we leave off

The arrest in the garden,

Which sounds ingenuous

But the day

Liturgically

Is named for the supper only

And what happened there:

What was said,

Mainly

The command

x

And did they know

By the way

That supper was the

Last?

And looking back

Would the disciples

Want

To have called it

That?

Or did we need a name

And gave it

That one?

(names come after things,

I guess

for history

and liturgy

and calendars)

x

Here’s how it used to go:

We’d have a dinner

At the church

Downstairs

Then go upstairs

(from the social hall)

To the sanctuary above

And we’d have church,

Which is to say

A service

x

And there would be Communion

And we’d conclude the service

There

And it was nice

x

Sorry, it was nice

x

Jesus and his friends

For that what’s Maundy’s

All about,

A lazy term

For the Latin mandatum

Meaning command

For Jesus gave them orders

All the followers

That they should love

One another

x

That a few ages later

We should love each other

x

Good Friday

(good?)

Will

(for a fact)

Be awful,

And in between

The supper and the arrest

Admittedly

Is his time in the garden

Where disciples will betray him,

First two

And then the third

Follower

Who left the supper early

x

While Christ on his own

More than he wished

Asked of the cup

Not filled with wine from the meal

But of the bitterness

Of mortal destiny

Should pass by

As a deadly metaphor

For will

x

And then acceptance

And it’s really rather beautiful

As it is tragic

And then horrible

With an arrest

And all the dreadful

Words and acts

To follow

x

So we should keep the garden

Time

Somewhere in between

The meal

And arrest,

Maybe a kind of vigil thing

x

For the church meal before

And then Communion,

Well,

Was wonderful,

First roast beef

(typically and, yes, like the toe)

And then upstairs

Where we hardly ever

Had church for all of us

At night,

Waiting now

In fact

‘Til Christmas Eve—naturally,

A good association

x

And here’s Good Thursday,

Maundy Thursday when

We are told

By the child of God

To love each other

x

Though I’m thinking now

There are too many things

Too many good and bad things

To come together

Making sense

Out of a calendar

And faith

x

And yet

Bethlehem’s

Christmas child

And the child that is placed

Among them

x

And something about

Leadership

And children

x

And then

All children

Must and should grow up,

After all

x

So there

x

CLC

x

x

Matthew 18:2-4, Isaiah 11:6

x

Photo by David Weber on Unsplash

x

1

Processionals

(x = space)

x

x

take away the confessional and informative emendations and there’s one poem here with endings like certain music selections

x

Processionals

x

I think

Often of David

Of a picture

I have seen

Or made up

It’s when the ark

Is brought into

Jerusalem

And it’s a triumph

A kind of victory

x

And I think of David

Young

(and was he young)

Dancing

Before the ark

Not wearing much

But he’s king

And he arranged all this

And so

The instruments

Let play

And maybe favorites

Follow suit

x

I see light colors

As if this were a desert scene

Done as a picture

With pastels

You know

I think I figure the hair

On David

From the statue by

Michelangelo

x

Processions are important

He and they

Had to have one

Because the ark

Would have a home

Forever

Well

At least for generations

(I should

look this up

it might be before

Absalom)

But what do we know

Today is forever

And the

Ark is here

x

And Jesus came

Into Jerusalem

And a procession

Was needed

And so it was

Arranged

In humility

And somehow awesome

Awful majesty

x

C L Couch

x

x

I worked on this scene before as a draft; I have in mind I didn’t finish it, and this time I did; but if the other work appeared and I forgot, then I apologize for the repetition—CLC

x

and a bit more (for free)

x

a coda

x

David was a shepherd

He was a king

He was loved by God

As either

So are you

Loved by God

For either

Any

Way

x

Photo by Alberico Bartoccini on Unsplash

x

(and here’s the lesson should you need one

coda 2

that was D. S.

this is D. C.)

x

Jesus came

Into Jerusalem

Like the ark

Meaning a triumph

Victory

For a home people

Battling

To keep a promise

x

And like the ark

Is lost

Defeat

And sacrifice

Through lack of faith

(bad kings—you may

look it up)

And so sacrilege

And a new needed

Promise

Follows

(read the prophets)

For restoration

Of the people

x

Turns out

It’s Israel

And all of us

Redeemed

Through this

Second coming

Triumph

Then sacrifice

This time as well

And

Cosmically speaking

Greater

All the world

And how far out

On the edge

x

With destruction

Turned to joy

With all our flaws intact

Until a final resurrection

That will keep

Us and the world

Intact

And better

And forever

x

Stone not only

Rolled away

But smashed

Here endeth

And look

And listen

Smell

And taste

And touch

This is the start

And we might think we do

But we don’t know

What’s next

x

1

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