work

Satisfaction

Satisfaction

Maybe we’ve done enough

For now

There is an artificial virtue

Made of busyness

It’s plastic in the worst way,

Unmalleable

Activity in, paycheck out

As if that were enough

So we make new virtues

Out of ennui,

What passes for

The watercooler

Probably online

There should be joy in work

In accomplishment

What to say if the jobs

Were never ours

By art or temperament

But we took them, anyway

Because need honestly drives

What we have, we have

And if it’s not satisfaction,

Then we’ll have to

Add it in

Sorry perhaps

But for each there’s a life that’s calling

It isn’t busy

But it can be filled

With oxygen and all kinds

Of proper acquisition

Not to mention better

Satisfaction

Self-defined

Tempered by others

A community whose circle

Is kept porous

For something new

Maybe in companionship

To keep

Or with kindness

To let go

Which is to say

Caprice is never warranted

We are allowed to want

We don’t have to seek

Or keep

In avarice

Protection notwithstanding

(we protect each other),

A life of want and keep

Should be just fine

There’s room for everyone

And everyone deserves a turn

The invitation to speak

Should go all around

The planet

The planet’s big; there are

Resources for it

If a message, aimed at anyone

Because no one is particular,

Says be afraid

Be angry

When there’s no reason

And we have our better things to do

Let’s put it away

Walk on

Find friends

And whatever we have made

And are making

Of homes

Of home,

The better urge for work

C L Couch

Photo by Mike Petrucci on Unsplash

July 9, 2020 6

Sun’s Already for a Break

Sun’s Already for a Break

(am I)

It’s later in the morning

Than I like to write

Pre-pre dawn is fine

But I was going through some

Things

Last night and couldn’t resist

A few more boxes first thing this

Morning—proof I don’t know how

To live

I found some old course papers

Kept a few, since I’ve discovered

Sometimes schools really want

To see such things

Kept some student work beside, because

It was good

I notice I’m breathing

A little more, now

Now I’ve had a chance to lift and sort

Keep and throw out

Pleased to have thrown out things

A few less boxes from the office

Or the office

Or the cubicle

I’m here now, and what I do is

Here for now

Well, I know

I’ll probably like the coffee

C L Couch

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

February 16, 2020 5

Lessons

Lessons

Simple, elegant verse about God

Jesus loves me, this I know

For the Bible tells me so

But I want it on my own, from my

Own words and thoughts and sentiments

The strings of my soul

The lines that go from me to you

That must be played

That must be worked

That must be played

C L Couch

sculpture at the EMP Museum in Seattle, Washington

Alex Hendricks – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39290671

May 24, 2019 0

After Words

After Words

(Lent 41)

There must still be words

We’re stuck with them, I guess

Or at least I am

We could end here

Or yesterday

But we won’t,

Which is not a matter of words

As it is of life

Yet we should be ready

Now,

To pause when needed

Maybe turn the pause to play

Whatever is called for

It’s called for often

Snow day

Day in the sun

Comp time (whoever has this)

Playing hooky

(you can look it up)

Work will resume

With its kind of

Awareness, learning, deciding

Not in cryptic ways

Or inaccessible

Though recall that there’s a mystery

In pretty much everything

The kind that moves a martyr’s heart

And for other reasons, too, can thrill the heart

Of each of us

Of the sort like

Joan, Priscilla, Rachel, Esther

Judith, Hrosvitha, and Hildegard

Who found their way with God

While in the world

And for the Joans, Priscillas, Rachels, Esthers

Judiths, though I don’t suppose we’ll be

Naming anyone Hildegard or

Hrosvitha for a while

We may

We will

I don’t know, I think we’ll find

What we need

As long as we don’t keep the process to ourselves

Or the results

Anyway,

I thought I should say something once it’s all over,

Our Lenten experience

We’re comingling times and traditions

Of the end of Lent (for those still counting),

The Passion, the Triduum, then

Easter and the Easter season

I pray

Together and apart

These are all good for you

The way spring days, clean from rain,

Can be

C L Couch

note for the blog

Counting forty days from Ash Wednesday takes Lent through Palm Sunday, which might seem odd given the reflective nature of the season maybe abandoned in triumphant celebration. But the count of days in Lent can take out the Sundays and Holy (Maundy) Thursday (when the celebration of the Eucharist occurs) and add in Good Friday and Holy Saturday to make up a count and observation of forty days. Timing of events for the Passion and the Triduum might overlap this way of counting, and it’s also true that some have it (more or less officially, according to one’s tradition) that the length of Lent (even the sense of forty days) be taken metaphorically.

I guess I’m counting forty days from Ash Wednesday and let the paradox of Palm Sunday prevail.

Whew.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia User John Morgan CC-BY-2.0

April 15, 2019 0