cats are black watch out
we do get superstitious
Friday by number
it’s a pastel day
brushed colors as if painted
by the art-maker
it’s not that haiku are easier except physically to type; while sometimes impulsive, the content often takes as long if not longer than to set down more; I have a friend who says that of Mark, the gospel thought written first because it’s short; my friend (with a related PhD) realizes, as I understand from teaching composition, that writing down is harder than writing out
not that I command haiku (goodness, no); I simply try and learn and try
I’m still struggling for breath—yes, the process for inspiration, I suppose—but I mean literally; someday I’ll be living somewhere else with clearer air to get back some health, while the ongoing issues are the main ones that have to be ongoing (heart disease and such)
I hope each of you is well
thanks for your concerns expressed—and thanks to all of you always
c l couch
photo by Anton Ponomarenko on Unsplash
cat in London home
please help God can help
great the need in one the risk
and by extension
c l couch
photo by Redd Francisco on Unsplash
always all the ways
God reaches
down or
up
to say I love you
which
as the maker saying first
God then
awaiting
all entryways or corners as
safe traps
any place or
way by
which
through which
we’re heard
should we return at all
and
on our own
say
love
c l couch
1 John 4:19
photo by James Fesh on Unsplash
goodniks
have we thought
of anything today that’s good
not
masked
rationalized
gold-plated but
good
the way we say of God via Aslan
not safe but
good
something good that might have to take a chance
even to risk rank in
the world
if not fragile
then
though who knows whom we care for
and
what might be the issues there
the person
the relationship
and
do we wish goodness in the world
and might we commit ourselves to the smallest
things
to do
to promulgate
in spite of rudeness
greed
whatever someone else might want
and should not want and someday
when the world is sound
with
provision to keep all alive and
on the way
could not want
anyway
someday it will be that way
while the good we do
ain’t there
and so takes chances
against
the bloating thing that wants it all
while the rest of us are
grist
or paper targets
so
how about that goodness
might we
speak polite
might we give way to someone else
through
the door or to the chair
by what
is
strong and what is
weak
how might we begin
or for some of us to carry on
the giving that is
small
then large
then changes everything
but
good
today enough
for
you and me
today
c l couch
“Who is Aslan?” asked Susan.
“Aslan?” said Mr. Beaver, “Why don’t you know? He’s the King. . . . It is he, not you, that will save Mr. Tumnus. . . .”
“Is—is he a man?” asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
“I’m longing to see him,” said Peter, “even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point.”
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
photo by Rob Potter on Unsplash
how are you God
how are you
Lord
how are your angels
how is heaven
these days
ten thousand years a day
our songs could
count
transparent gold and as a metaphor
or actual
I don’t get
it
and
don’t need to
so much about eternity
honestly
it can
overwhelm of course by normal reckoning
though
you understand our senses
having you know
making these
and
eternity to ponder
thank you
Lord and I might ask
for
help with the imponderables
not
only to apprehend but
to carry
by
the muscles
outside
inside
that we have
c l couch
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
Revelation 21:21
(NIV)
photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash
the poet-friend
I heard it from a poet
once
that there was no following
because
grace was dispensed
by
those who claimed authority
to give it
and
by their terms
I’m imagining a water-cooler with
a foreign hand on
the tap
a line that goes away
from
there of those to drink
who
are bestowed with an upside-down
triangle of a cup
inside
of which are stips of official
pardon and
toward
the price of another metaphor
a ticket
to
the show
while grace if free
and
has no agency but God
if I may say
three parts to
one
with grace soaring everywhere
and everywhere it’s
needed
to cover and to heal as
that song-balm
the sin-
sick soul
and why not fly by music
of
the spheres
an angel chorus to announce
and
to remind us
freely given is the love and salvation
of the Lord
and
is the vision made
the poetry
perverse
and I don’t know but that it’s better than
the tyranny of will that despots
try
and yet prohibited by better will
and inside each
of us
a part
as if to fuse with our own
elements
our spirits to
save
grace
angels
our own will
and we are saved
if
against the world
and
those disillusioned and me
angered in
their
favor for who dispenses
grace
and blessing but
the Lord
and not the red
and black
the gold of breaking majesty
while
what we have
on our own
even alone if need be
faith
and love
forever
freely
grace like justice flowing
even better
c l couch
photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
love God
out of love
things happen
things
are made
by hate
destruction
agenda of a nothingness pervades
since
hate can’t build a thing
except for stone
of an illusion
love
then
closer to God
closer to substance
if
without which
material
any sense of material
goes empty
choosing faith
then
by belief and so response
to invitations
at least
two of these to start
c l couch
photo by Lucas George Wendt on Unsplash
then whose Earth and who decides
rated S for sad
1
cold or hot
the future is
uncertain
well
of course
it is
there might be winter forever
after cloud cover ironically
from heat should shield
us
tragically
from the sun
or we could heat
so fast
a melting Earth
with
torching skies might be
all
there is
it’s the unnatural future
of concern
we cannot escape or
even
evade
not really
it’s the planet
after all
the one we have affected
are
changing now
the profiteers believing there is more
to eke out while
the Earth
is
held together
more
and much more
and
a little more
before things crack for good
and then
things crack for good
2
leave the Earth go
a billion years
or so
leaving time to build
allowing time
to heal
the Earth will crack eventually
on its own
in
relation to a dying sun
all that we’re doing
so adversely
here
happen
naturally and by then we will
be ready
we’ll be somewhere else
by
then
happy to be there
too
as we can imagine if we cooperate
with the planet
now
rather than take
a few make money
leaving the consequences to
the children
unmindlessly
a consciousness to let the world
die
here and now
with
the suddenness of
a generation against Earth’s
own ages
our children
or
maybe their own
maybe
left with hard gold
to chew
c l couch
photo by Daniel Christie on Unsplash
resignation
there might be a good kind
God
where are you
I mean
in the flesh
please
in the God
or whatever form you take
to bring your presence
to us
to talk with us as you talked in the garden
or if a bush of
fire
is needed
well
the unconsuming kind doesn’t burn anything else
does it
I guess I’m asking
and we could talk
and if I deal
with abject
terror
I might remember that you talked this way
in a garden
with a naked couple
who were unashamed
and
I know a great deal has
happened
since then
but
God
I’d really like to know you
I’d really like to have
you know
a real conversation
my needs
well
they feel sharp today
and
you know there are problems elsewhere
too
and if we talked
and you gave me directions
then
I’d know how
to follow
though
I don’t how to build an ark
or lead anyone through any kind of
desert
but then
the orders you gave were new
to Noah
and
to Moses
or Deborah or Judith
who lived by calling and by prayer
and maybe found one through the other
which
I guess
means
something
for disembodies prayer
and
I so wanted to say
the books
the formal worship
aren’t enough
and
they’re not
but openness to ask and then to listen
or to listen to myself then ask
of you
I guess these could be enough
they would be like talking
like a conversation
after
all
sigh
all right
I’ll try
and though I could not wrestle with an angel
maybe
we could talk a little plainer
time to time
and I won’t ask for garden miracles
though
in the clouds or something
I could guess at least
in
something of
your presence
c l couch
photo by Alistair MacRobert on Unsplash
clcouch123 
Recent Comments