sun and Earth agree
by these we live gold and green
the blue of water
c l couch
photo by David Clode on Unsplash
911 what’s our emergency
for 9/11
a mockery of the emergency call
I suppose
so many have apprehended
bitterly
the code
all the poor people
poor
by innocence
who could not be a proper target
on the field
where training and some rules
apply
but were defeated out of line
and protocol
by
simply wanting to have the day
while savages tried to
proclaim
no normal life for these
then
all those after who arrived
to serve
again
unmilitary but civilian
need
two piles of stories
parts
of bodies
bodies
still living and were found
and
saved from the wreckage
on both sides
rescued and rescuer
to begin the later
toil
over sickness in
survival
so in Washington the same
as they worked with each other
plus
all those arriving
to locate
and viscerally to grieve
both fright and assessment somehow
given in
the moments before
during
and after
fear
and loathing
and ask to bless the ones who fought
back
having figured the cost
but
took fewer lives
in a field in Pennsylvania
the disasters
the deaths
then
responding
we do now go our own
from such but intertwined
as
honest differences
fade some
while we
live
and work
and mourn
then to bury
and memorial
a verb
and we go on
differences lightly worn
maybe now
but
in a national identity
could be
bright as not before
though
it should not
take
such happenings
to mind a nation
regardless
so to live the catastrophic day
hurt
angry
woeful
wishing more
wishing less
but
in all agendas
yet
together
we
hope
we respond
we live
c l couch
photo by Holly Riley on Unsplash
“Tower of Voices at Flight 93 Memorial
Shanksville, United States”
will of the wisping
God
I’m sorry for a Sunday
and
please help me for Monday
I miss
missing things
the value
in
interest
more than intention
that part about
the spirit
and
the flesh contesting
and in Gethsemane and who knows
but redolence
drew
them under
anyway
I try to follow
and
don’t get it way too often
and I ask for pardon
without excuse for being human
since
will was made preeminent
to
justify a fall
c l couch
photo by prawito hudoro on Unsplash
Practical Mysticism
I have food
through the assistance of myself
and
of my family and occasionally
the system
not this year
the system
and being poor is bad
a situation if not a moral
and
I suppose the anchorites are pleased enough
not
to have however much there was to have
and for love’s
sake as
well as interest
call it professional
passion
to give up everything and so by doctrine
and I think
by
miracle
to keep the world
as the gospel goes the other way
to keep the world first
and
lose the soul
so we surrender
and we
gain
and the mystics teach this by example
and we’re in the blending
somehow of what
to gain and
to let go
c l couch
photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
the title is itself the title of, by Evelyn Underhill, Practical Mysticism with the subtitle A Little Book for Normal People
tinyism
God is in the small things
by presence
not by
substance
God is not the cell
but God is there
negotiating
nuclei
assessing mitochondria
checking on osmoses rates for nourishment
and
further
fed
function
to revise things maybe
or
to leave as is by their own will
and God be satisfied
or sad
with how it is
in there
God rides the rings of Saturn
too
and the other of our neighbors that have
rings
and for delight the angels
might go ‘round on such system features
also
move out beyond the final cloud and barrier
and God is on the move
could tick
the Voyagers
though more urgently for news
look over nebulae
and
birthing stars
as well as how the circling ones are doing
what’s living
then
introduced in God’s moment or
for
a while
and what is to die
to mourn
and re-collect for matter and for energy
and as divinity
remembers everything
in
the same love that
creates
the subatomic or dimension-wide
c l couch
photo by MJH SHIKDER on Unsplash
3D rendering DNA with particles and blurry background.
Dhaka, Bangladesh
poor disguise
when you don’t get what you want
or what you need
does God still
listen
does God still
love
if so
then why did we not get what we need
some would say
because I didn’t make it and bank it
then it didn’t matter
some would say
because
God
does not love me or like me
or no longer listens to me
for
I must be bad
certainly asking for bad things
even those things might be
my parent’s health
my child’s health
health
in the world
my own
why are we wrong
why does God not like me
and
some would say
I know the answer
and if you follow me
you’ll
know
and this becomes a lion in a skin
Aslan-fakery
the spirit that is tested and it fails
and
still is followed
and there will be a hand
and
it might not be ours
but it will formulate and re-formulate
according to the truth reminded
that
hadn’t changed
and doesn’t
which is justice then
mercy
and the best notion of freedom we are going to have
and what happens to false prophets
sometimes they are whomped on
sometimes
they run away
and
it’s a better day for the retaining faithful
and as for pain
we might have to own it
or
go through it
for a while
and it
will hurt
and I’m uncertain why
and would not wish that for you
it doesn’t
teach us to appreciate the positive
but
it might
teach us
something hopeful
after
or even in the middle
c l couch
photo by Bret Lama on Unsplash
the lion (fake/real) story is in The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis
depth and breadth and height
prompt by her Sonnet 43
why do you love us
you could count
the ways
you love our flaws
you love what’s good about us
too
you love what we are
and what we’re not
in
what we want
and parsing what we want
by
perfect virtue
who we are
by you
by us
even by how the world has shaped us
you love healing us
when wills align
and in the end
to
take us home
where you won’t love us less
but there will be more
c l couch
photo by Mohamed B. on Unsplash
the poetry format is still not working right by WordPress; I can load lines but not spaces between lines, sigh
God’s approval
how do we deal
knowing
that it’s coming
that
it’s here
and mostly by ignoring
it would seem
though
approval is a form of love
and maybe
there’s forbearance
too
c l couch
photo by Courtney Cook on Unsplash
as for the WordPress poetry function, it continues awry; I've end-run around paragraphed lines I didn't ask for, and maybe that will work for now
the preacher
could I walk by the side of the sea
near a rise where
folk
are gathering
to hear him speak again
about
beatitudes
and humble righteousness that might be in reach
not as the leaders of religion
and politics
dictate
but as God set the relationship to start and
even flawed or fallen
should apply
not easy words
always
to hear him
but
what’s shared is for us for us
to try
then I suppose he will
leave again
as he
does as if he’s tired
and we press on him
it’s true
as if there were no end to his miracles
and teaching
and
how these go together but
he must depart
and
I think I understand
he’ll walk away with closer followers
or get in a boat that’s tethered
near
and the miracle goes on
amazement it must be
to be so close
away or
with the multitude
c l couch
photo by Micah Camper on Unsplash
Capernaum, Israel
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