(x = space)
x
x
The Wonder Dog
x
I used to let
The dog go
In the creek
Taking off the leash
Once we were behind
The houses
What a happy dog
Upstream was all right
There was freedom in that,
Too
x
Muscles got used
That needed using
The shaking of the chain
Hanging in the closet meant
That
All this could happen
x
Once released
x
C L Couch
x
x
Water Flowing over Rocks
Photo by Robert Zunikoff on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Give It Up
x
How childish
I sound to myself
When I think
Cynically
Cynical is futility
We have
Que será será
It is what it is
For defense
A shield from
Reality of change
Rather settling
Into the world’s wisdom
Trying on
The burden of
A chain
That has no chance
For change
No hope here,
Thank you
Only resignation
You want change,
Talk with
The cult meeting over
Somewhere
One side of the Galilean
Waters
Or the other
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by james ballard on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Ravens
x
The Ravens came to Elijah
Carrying food
In beaks or claws
They might have been confused
x
The food they have
Is not for them
Or baby ravenlings
The (grown-up) ravens on a mission,
Nonetheless
x
There is a prophet outcast
Alone and starving
We suppose there’s water near
(God says so)
But there is no food
No animal or plant at hand
Maybe Elijah
Isn’t a hunter, anyway
x
Food is delivered
In spite of impulse
In spite of everything that
Should be natural
x
The prophet
Will live on
There is a mission there
As well,
Having many words
To quote,
To deliver of his own
x
C L Couch
x
x
2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”
5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
1 Kings 17 (NIV)
the entire passage tells of this miracle and others (2-16)
x
Photo by Valdemaras D. on Unsplash
when I saw this, I was right away reminded of the story of Elijah and the ravens
x
(x = space)
x
x
People Need
(we need)
x
Work
And salvation
Food and drink
Both safe
And a revival now and then
Safety itself
And companionship
Light in darkness
Not blinding
Not enigma
Shows the way
Only some direction needed
x
A place to go to sleep
Maybe with others close by
To wake up in a medium
Of security
Here, we call it democracy,
x
Which begs the first
And final matter
That is freedom
That we paid a paradise
To own
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Matthew T Rader on Unsplash
A water drinking fountain with water flowing from it | Check out my blog: matthewtrader.com/unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Petition
x
God is good
(it’s how we start
a certain prayer)
And God must bear
What’s evil
Not for lack of love
But for the gift of will
That was
A gift of love
x
We think angels
Don’t have it
Yet there was a war
In heaven
They will match up
At Armageddon,
The last ranks
And those who last
Will join us in
New heaven
x
Creation is broken
We have stories
We can mend it now
Imperfectly
But make a circle
Others know how
And would show us
If we bring down
The barriers
Yes, the real walls
x
There is legacy
In circles
Protection, celebration
The will to live
Because there’s love
Unashamed
Enduring
Persisting when
That’s all there is
Because the rest
Feels on fire
If only for a time
x
Wait as in be patient
Wait as in attend
But we have one gift to give
Give it now
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Buzz Andersen on Unsplash
I was visiting the Big Island of Hawaii with some friends and family, and my brother convinced the group to take a lava tour by boat. I always kind of balk a little bit at overtly touristy stuff like that, but I think everyone was a pretty shocked when we got our first look at the Kalapana Lava Flow after about a half hour boat trip down the coast. It’s such an awesome, phantasmagorical sight and, since they actually get surprisingly close to the spots where the rivers of lava meet the ocean and throw up sulfurous steam clouds, also a pretty visceral sensory experience.
x
(x = space)
x
x
We’re Sorry, Monday Morning
x
I have some toast
I’ll have some coffee soon
And there’s nothing like cold water
To begin it all
Libation and consumption
Lead to liberation
(with les jeu de mots)
We need water
Mine goes through filters
Because we cannot drink what
We have ruined, only
Stave against pollution
Does anyone on Earth
Or above the Earth
(the ETs who are watching)
Think we are lunatics,
Invested of the moon
In an invented way?
And what can we do?
Fix all the water
Apologize to Earth
Tell Gaia that
We won’t do it again
x
C L Couch
x
x
Itto Ogami, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53127564
Piazza del Campo!
(Fonte Gaia, Siena)
x
Attending Nuclei
The spirit of God
Moves across the water
In the bathtub, not because
It’s trivial but because
It’s everywhere
Breathing, laughing, cajoling
Cleaning
As a spirit of God should
Present at creation, making
Things happen, here
And there
Inside the tree but not the tree
Taking part in everything
That’s made
And with us when
We’re washing dishes
More water
Water and air, we need them
Nothing lives without them
Except maybe anerobic cells
That might still cry out
From time to time
For a sip
Adding a speaker to
The microscope to hear
For all the cells
For all the grocery lists
For prayer at breakfast
For flat tires and new children
New cells on everyone
Everything that every second frames
Here endeth not so much
A lesson;
Here starteth—starts–a
Day of days worth knowing
Because when we want,
We find
The day and knowing it
Astounding
C L Couch
Photo by Camilo Fierro on Unsplash
The Cup of Cold Water
(“I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.”)
There’s nothing like cold water
If you’ve forgotten
Allow me to remind you
The aqueducts of Rome
Spiral wells in the Atacama
Oases here and want to be there throughout the world
The lack of it in Flint
According to recent studies
Not trusting my tap water, either
That’s all right, let them drink from plastic bottles
(we can have it with our cake instead of bread)
Tell that to the lack of wells in western Africa
And those who only have the wherewithal
For thirst
Other than the vine
No greater metaphor in Scripture
Yours or mine
Or simply keep the paperwork
That says we cannot drink
Or of the warlords who say,
I have water
So I win
I once drank water through the ground
Artesian promises
But
The pressure of the
Earth is not
Enough alone
To make it clear
To keep its savor
We have ruined all of it
I don’t mind filters
I’m glad for Brita
But too bad I cannot trust a spring
In the desert
It’s not the suddenness of romance
But the assurance of a poison
I’ll take my filters now
As long as I can
I’ll arrange fundraising for
Wells in real wilderness
But for the suburban places that were made into our own
We can buy
We can vote
We can find the difference
In the basics of thirst
The right to hunger
C L Couch
https://pixabay.com/en/flowers-cup-plastic-water-2690276/
A Tale of the River People
I made a hole in my neighbor’s water
So that I could build a palace,
But the hole sucked my own water away
So I built a dam
Then I had my water, but it would not move;
It became still, and disease broke out
Along the shores that were unburied
When I made the dam
So I made a spillway and balanced just right
The movement of the water;
But my neighbor had no certainty of water now,
And while I was quarrying
And dam- and spillway-building,
My neighbor was amassing an army
And it attacked:
My palace was destroyed
And now along the water, a mass of rapids
And still pools, all in chaos,
There are two holes where once my neighbor lived
And with the scarred place I am left
C L Couch
By rheins, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56242794
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