amazement
no
really is
good news
God loves us
and is perfect in everything
and so
perfect in this
the only mitigator
human will
created to be meaningful
to change the spirit
by
affiliation
to alter bodies and all people
as gathered into
interests
and all nations
and so the world outside of Eden
has been laid
not
as a game
though that would be temptation
serpent-like
spoken into ears
and
there is gospel
too
to endure anything with faith
and our version of that love
that made us
even set us on our way
accountable
joy
and peace
and how can that be
but by
amazing love of God
and by degree
what we might live of that
God
self
and others
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And can it be that I should gain
An int'rest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?
Charles Wesley
photo by Anthony Rosset on Unsplash
soul power
let us break bread and
drink
wine together
breaking hate for whatever
reason
we saw justified
wine as blood
to know that blood is poured
and
has been poured
and except
by the one must be
bled no
longer for the rest
to say today
and
how
shall we rejoin
(or if
rejoin)
tomorrow
if
we could
remember on our
knees
in faith
to the one
and then in service
also
to each other
then
that we study war no more
but
let peace prevail and
a feast
by love
by love
tempered by wisdom as
mercy tempers
justice
unafraid
overcome
if afraid
still overcome
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for Juneteenth
photo by Ian Kiragu on Unsplash
you, the season, and the Bible (3 poems)
the Tuesday verse
it’s Tuesday
how
are you
well
I hope
and
if not on your way toward
becoming well
and more
I don’t know what kind
of day you’ll have
today
maybe one of actual prosperity
or
to refine only
hope for
more
maybe there will be peace
this day
though there might be conflict
just
as well
the world as it is
we know
here it happens to be
raining and it’s
cooler
it might be raining where you are
as well
as
it falls near
everyone
even in the desert now
and
then
a happy Tuesday to you
and we try to raise our thoughts
toward
a Wednesday with
an even
better view
maybe weather
notwithstanding
or
altering
the longest day
the solstice is approaching
Midsummer
or
Saint John’s
and then the days grow shorter
though it’s
summer
and we think if in irony of longer
days
relish
in fact
the light of day that lingers as a cue
for picnics and vacations
or
simply to take in
because of the gradients of
blue
and then
the stars appear to dance
to twinkle through the atmosphere
at least
in the summer hours we have
which
will grow longer for them
maybe in the dark of only this time
of year
we’ll also think of kick-the-can and
capture-the-
flag
time and talent
Jesus wept
the reputed shortest verse
though
it’s a matter of numbering and syntax
of translators
and
then getting by the editors in
the inspired process
and maybe new translations
paraphrases
challenge other parts for that epithet
say
to write in Genesis
God made
or maybe to try
only
God
c l couch
photo by Wenying Yuan on Unsplash
good and plenty
(not that I’m a fan of licorice)
God is good
and God is here
we reach out
to God
while we are here
wishing ours were better
when it’s
not
and also taking time
and sharing words of thanksgiving
for part of that
good
we have
and life goes mingled this way
even
with the Lord
and we persist in this adulterated life
because we should and is
our impulse to go
on
not
to wish ourselves to heaven
way before it’s time
or
whenever
the surprise to know
with
sadness left behind
while on the way toward joy in paradise
and this
is how it goes
as well
a mingled afterlife
and
not
to say this life is a rehearsal only
for it’s not
while it is for what comes after
it is its own
for dreaming and for realizing dreams
with
accountability along the way
so if frustrating
not
to have virtue instantly
rewarded
there is nonetheless
far-down peace that rises
through our flesh and to
our eyes
and mouths
to exude and share
what
we might know of lasting joy
that like the class activity to tell and
show
even the love of God and love as God
on Earth
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(allusion aside, the candy licorice fan would be my sister)
photo by The Nix Company on Unsplash
after some hours at this today
it’s darkened
I should go for another light
the close work has
made my eyesight blurry
too
and my lower back from bending over
well
not blurry
well
maybe
as pain might haze ambition
and I have said
and say
all kinds of things
in
other verses
though the moralizing’s heavy
maybe
from blurriness and pain
sigh
what should you like to hear
not
to curry
necessarily
but
to meet and interest or a need
you know that God is love or should
since the message is
ready enough
available
do you know that you are love as well
or at least have it in you
to carry outside
to
have your life better
and the world
too
so small at first
and then who knows how
wide the circles go
and you might be close to all this
as well
catch it when you see something land
on the smooth water of
a pond when
still
or other
water
maybe it’s the gospel of the small
that isn’t nearly big enough
realizing
the inevitable
the practice we don’t get away from
or
even the accountability
that
the word
the act
change things from ourselves to the world
no
matter what we’re told we matter
in this way
and so do small good
a motto
how about a bumper sticker
or what to adhere to our hearts
(I have a machine
inside
that might have
a sticker-place)
not
because the words are mine
but that they’re wise
regardless
and promise for the Earth
what should be healthy things to say
and
do
for a change
(hale
changes)
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photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash
on World Environment Day
on the day
World Environment Day
we may think of Earth
on our
reliance on the ground
even that which is
the solid planet
beneath
water and ice
and through and over air as well
and shall we keep it
Earth
sure
we are so used to it the firmness or
even the firmament by
Bibles
we step around the bad parts
don’t you know
the parts
that nature made
as can with
the bad parts made by us
if once
perhaps
by mistake and now
without doubt
by
will
and shall we leave our steps
reliant
the things we walk or ride on
too
the Earth whose sureness is in trouble
that splits
and lava-
magma-bleeds
and is
a hotter place than
ever
via human extractions
formulation
and how much do we believe in bunkers
really
that should protect us even
as the planet ‘round them
fails
there is no such protection and for now
nowhere else to go
except in orbit
maybe
where most of us will never go
and
can’t sustain itself for life
in body or
in spirit
meaning we give up on Earth
then
we are done
and other planets
other sentient species will
have to take
over
means for
foundation and if by
a change
benevolent inventing
and
no other
world kind
and yet
if we may style and make a world
and then a salutation
well
go
Earth
only and as
to cheer
for all
the elements that make
and keep
a world
made and kept anew
honestly and thoroughly
by us
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image by USGS at Unsplash
stuckpoint
do you get stuck
sometimes I do
and how hard is it
to move away
though sometimes
I stay there for a while
a place of excuses
justified
yet maybe an honest break
is called for
and then a ridge or a wall
or other barrier
maybe not so tall
to cross
but must be overcome
to get back out again
ever feel this way
sometimes I do
and if I parse myself
and we can do this
then part of me might
stay here for a while
and so the rest of me performs
or tries at least out there
c l couch
photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash
simplicity itself
something
short and simple
if not sweet
for
God is long and complex
but likes short and simple
too
I’m thinking
I love you
I made you
I made you out of love
and now for love
fallen
as the Calvinists propound
and sorry that
that happened though
not sorry
for the will in your
and so
love struggles
not in me
though I mourn
and
yes
and anger in perfection
that is mine
still hoping for love
each time
on Earth
as is
and as we might be waiting
all of us
‘til time
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photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash
last on (our) dying lips
when
we have killed all the bees
and there are no circles
left in which
to live
we’ll
have fake food
a while
and
then
the last
words might be I love you
said to someone
though there’s
only a dry
Earth
all around
and
the only one to hear be weeping there
and so not unhear
and would not anyway
have
believed
c l couch
for World Bee Day
(21 May)
photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
“Bee in a Purple Field”
clcouch123 
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