worth

courses

my abdomen
hurts
maybe from pressing on it
to be seated
maybe from gas
maybe
due to medication

maybe from stress of
maybe
something
existential

how is the day
and how’s the world
and how
much
should I care

and how shall my problems
go away
while this
side of
eternal matters

shall justice roll
my tiny stream
down to
a universal
sea

and shall that sea
move
indifference
to my causes

and
of course
it shall

it has its own concerns
with mortal storms
and all

and yet
the molecules of God
are with me
in mine

maybe a neutrino
or a quark

while the greater hand
might move with waves
to stir
or calm
that sea I think
cannot consider me

and the whole body
moved from forming Earth
into managing
the stars
as we say
in their courses
enforcing orbits
exacting
something like
cosmic obedience

though allowing for
the unpredictable
the errant comet
rascal
asteroid
as part of
divine predictability

contraries
embraced by
opposites uplifted
so that a little chaos
be allowable in
order

than back to you
and back to me
and how do we count
by God
and yet
we do

our bodies
on our bits of land
which is to say we
occupy
not own
and by the water
moving our concerns
toward that ocean
of collectiveness in which
it seems
impossibly
our matter
matters
too

everything we are
our cells
our abstract notions
with the uncounting qualities
of thinking
all emotions
of our loves

we may realize at any time
how remarkable
the small
however might be small
while larger things go
obviously from
that start of
things

day and night
Earth and all
and all in all
with each bit owned
if
maybe tallied
by beneficence

which is to say
God knows
and judges
and whose greater bias
as God
is to note all things
and love
all things

a refrain

the sea is so large
while
my boat so small
the merest of God’s breathing
for my sails
and shall I cross
and shall I transact
and then
shall I return
by the light that someone made for
home

(it would be proper if you thought of the Breton prayer upon reading what I'm calling "a refrain”)

C L Couch

Photo by Osman Rana on Unsplash

A Quiet and Unquiet Day
(rest and restive?)

Have an especially good
Day
You need one
And you deserve one

You’ve been working hard
And putting up with
Things
You need some rest from everything

That presses
Lift those burdens
For a while

Recline your mind
Loosen the strings we say
We have
Inside our hearts
Or over them
As if the organ were a base
For a lute
A frame
For a harp

Drink something you know
You enjoy
As it courses through you
And then eat something
Pleasant
Slightly indulging
Though without doubt
For nourishment
As an objective

And now companionships
Do you want any
Or is it quiet
In the day
That you prefer
That
Maybe you’ve been craving
Without knowing
‘Til you have it
For some hours

If so
Then treat yourself after
The surprise
Reading something
Writing something
Or have a day
With nothing
For a stimulus
Beyond
Mere ingestion
While you ruminate
Or not
On what’s at hand

It could be taking stock
Only if you wish
Or must
Have a need
As in counting inventory
Gauging quality
Of what is stored
By its effect
On mind or heart
Or overall condition of
Everything internal
And to an extent
External
As in
Image and perception

Whom we cast
To the world
And who we want
To play for
Real

What is real
Take a day to figure out
Think on good things
On what among them you might have
On what you need
You might already have
For another surprise
Or what you need
That’s calling
Through its absence

So maybe take the day
And let it have its
Serious parts as well
And sorry

Wake up a little after resting
Think of something
Think on good things
What you have
As well as what is good
You need
And should have
And can get

Keeping in spirit
And in mind
That love does not exist in isolation
That there is good love to keep close
And problematic love
You might need
Well
Frankly
To cut off
To free yourself
Free someone else
Liberty
At last
Which is the truth
As well as
The law of liberty
And love

And so have the day
Both
Restful
And momentous
If you will
And if God listens
When you say
Hear me
I send my words with
Thoughts
The kind that
Heaven-go

C L Couch

(3.3.98)

Photo by Sneha Chandrashekar on Unsplash

Lent 13

We kill them

in New Zealand.

We kill them

in Pittsburgh.

We kill them when we leave

disasters go unplanned.

What is wrong with us

that we must in living

(dying)

ways deny the worth

of each of us

in every moment?

There is an answer:

maybe it starts small

within a verdant nucleus

and then another.

And then we make something like

synapse so that

the network of humanity

cannot function in any other way

but connected.

C L Couch

New Zealand Mosque Massacre Live-Streamed

“Let’s get this party started.” Those were the chilling opening lines of a now-viral Facebook live video streamed by the gunman who casually and methodically killed at least 41 people at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand Friday. Eight more people died in an attack at another mosque, but it’s unclear if the same gunman was responsible.

Split Apple Rock in Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand

Split_Apple_Rock_Abel_Tasman_National_Park_New_Zealand.jpg: Alexander Klinkderivative work: —kallerna™ – Split_Apple_Rock_Abel_Tasman_National_Park_New_Zealand.jpg, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6428938