momzdayz
It’s Mother’s Day
(in the USA
other days
every day
elsewhere)
Now we should wave
The palms in church
And place on the table
On the altar
All our good intentions
What we shall do
For real
Is up to us
Outside of Sunday
Ceremony
How about
We love for real
Do some real work
For her
Provide some real
Company
Companionship
That’s all
Folks
And Mom
C L Couch
Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash
Dear Heart
What shall I
Say
What shall I
Do
Today
I ask and ask
While there are no letters
In the sky
What shall I
Pray then
For an answer
A direction
If not
A plan
How about the next
Step
Only
How about an inclination
Certainly a push
Should help
A small one
Maybe
I won’t
Tell your supervisors
Or maybe you could help
With this
Great weight
That seems
To be weighing more
Today
Some small lightness
Which
I’ll take for
Freedom
To move along
Dear angel
Thank you
Knowing you are there
Is
Of course
Something good
More than
You know
You know
C L Couch
Photo by Jason marquis on Unsplash
a dragon’s invitation to come out to play, plus there’s a prayer for Friday (any day)
Behind Me through the Window on a Rainy Day
I hear hissing
Outside
Tires on the wet street
No
A dragon
Skulking
Hunting
Hissing
Come out
Tiny humans
To play
I have some games
For you
Come up on my back
Between my wings
I’ll give you rides
Come out
I need breakfast
I mean
I need companionship
For play
You haven’t seen or heard
Such as me
Have you
Come closer
Then
Leave your chores
We’ll have fun
I know I will
And so should you
With me
Long and tall
And armored all
In green
Wouldn’t you like to touch
Come closer
Then
Come closer
Don’t mind the claws
Or teeth
Though you should
Look
Into my eyes
We’ll fly
And then return
No more than an hour
You trust the word
Of dragons
Don’t you
Then come out
Hey, There
(we say hey in Kentucky)
Hi
God
To be familiar
With the
Lord and majesty
Of all
But
Anyway
It’s Friday
How are you
I mean today
Is Friday
I think you know
My name
And I am wondering
(to pray)
If I could have
A dull and normal
Life
Just now
And for a while
For I could fill it on my own
With toys
Ideas
And things
And let the noise outside
Be mine
When I got out
To play
Or simply for a stretch
Because I really am
Working inside
This all takes hours
To do
And I could use the normal world
Suburban world
Dull world
To be itself for a while
So I could work
Create
In fact
To fill in all the spaces
That the boring leaves between
All normal acts
And spaces
And what about the wars
So far away
And outbreaks of disease
Where care is
Thin
And even water
Is a treasure
That is brokered
By the already wealthy
Or left ignored
Running thin
And questionable
In its own
Chemistry
While the war
I’m lucky
Must be somewhere else
I have not been shot
Though there have been
Carwrecks
To which the yelling world
Says
So what
Here
There is the wounding
And the dying
And the destruction
Of whole towns
That might as well
Slide into
The maw of hell
Where
They shall be living
Upon the surface
Of a desolate
A pitted
Earth
And there are other things
Such as
Nature going mad
And I’ve missed most of that
As well
Though in ‘96
There was that snowstorm
Closed the roads
For days
But I was inside
Where there was power
Food
Enough space to work
Even if the resting
Went uneasily
Until resumption of
An open world
For me
And mine
So I am lucky
How things miss me
How I was born
Into a quiet state
And have
Stayed that way
Through my life
Lucky
For the scars I have
From heart attacks
And other scares
All right
The trauma
Even the PTSD
Diagnosed
But still
My neighborhood
Is not entrenched
Except
For politics
While explosion are a
Matter of the traffic light
Outside
And the floods have not moved
Through
Except for hate of difference
Suspicion
Of our neighbors
That in this era
We do not reach out
So much
To know
And you live differently
And I hope well
And better
And could the world be better
If war and nature
Could be easy
Nonexistent
Even
Except for strategies
In rhetoric
Winning our arguments
Alone
C L Couch
Photo by Laith Abushaar on Unsplash
2 poems about questions, answers, roads paved or more or less left wild
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
Thomas Merton
Please It’s Time
Time to go
Hello
I must be going
Don’t know where I’m going
How I’ll get there
Hire people
Friends
And family
I think
Will help
In several ways
Some place much quieter
Maybe without anyone
Above
A first-floor place
With a cottage
Or a monk’s-cell
Feeling
Even
While in touch with those
Around me
Still
But a kind of silence
(normal noise)
Predominant
So I may think
You know
And write
Something that I mean
That is not mere cant
To the bad noise
All around me
Now
Until it be then
Because there is more peace
Possible
In a new place
With
Who knows
Insulation
Maybe a care
For domicilic living
Each on our own
Together
When it’s willful
And pleasant
To meet
Drink
Talk
Reflect
Together on
Now and then
Merton Certainty
(with examples in the irony)
What shall I do
I feel too tired
To move around
To do
Much of anything
So what shall I do
It’s a matter of
Decisiveness
As well
Against the fears
That stall me
Like an engine
Without fuel
Or with
An enigmatic problem
Where shall I go
I do not know
Where would you send me
Lord
If that’s a possibility
Anymore
If I haven’t used up
All the opportunity
You made in me
On what has exhausted me
Left me with lethargy
For legacy
Sigh
It’s all
Tired confusion
And there’s penury
For by now I guess I know
What I would
Do
Where I would go
To do it
Situations
Simply prevail as well
We are not in a vacuum
Even with
Our breathing apparatus
We might be stuck
Or simply feel
In place
Without the drive from
Me or someone else
To change
To go
To Ulysses-try
Lord Tennyson
Were I a lord
I would not hesitate
Again
But give things a go
Since there should
Be funding
Even expectation
That I be on the move
To earn my title
Each day
I live with it
And this is why
Maybe
Some of us rob this
Place of that
To have a sum
To say
Self-deceptively
I only need one
One amount
For food
And exhalation
Then to spend
Of course on
A better kind of life
Maybe
For all around me
Or I’ll go somewhere
To spend
Until I’m caught
Or must surrender
In the other way
I don’t know
Except there won’t be
Taking anything
If I must say
No more
For I don’t know
How we might steal from
Each other
Which is
You know
The other side of coveting
Leaving eight
Commandments
To be bad at
As well
Though really
As we age
If we age
Nearer to judgment
If we get
To go
That way
We might relinquish
Mortal holds
On many things
Literal
Abstract
The things we always wanted
And the wanting
Maybe
I feel this way
Wanting less
Thinking less
Of years to come
Because I can’t
It isn’t
Reasonable
Except for afterlife
So defined
That as
Such we do not know
We are not sure
Precisely
How it goes
But anyway
There is a mortal day
Today
And it shall feel forever
In a part of me
Surprising
Ending
Maybe
(well
for certain)
But for now
Do what we can
Breathe what there is
Maybe find
A kind of peace
In this
Or enough ambition
Still or new
To try
Even
To strive
(lord
and Lord)
Ulysses-like
The conundrum of
Sit still
Or sail on
When both have virtues
Both are real
And romantic
Do one
Or the other
Maybe time for both
Taste
And see
And also hear
And use the other senses
To suss
Then practice
On virtue or the other
Travel minimally
Like
Henry David
Or take a chance
On the world
Like
Amelia
C L Couch
www.stjameslimerick.org/daily-devotions/2021/9/21/a-prayer-of-unknowing (and cited many times, many places on line and in books and maybe in sermons)
Photo by Bahador on Unsplash
Tell Me How to Get
God is great
God is good
And we thank God
For the ‘hood
Does anyone
Pray like that
Except behind
Some gates
And an association
Does anyone think
This is as good
As where
Big Bird lives
And even the garbage cans
Are fit
For a Muppet
Do we like our blocks
Or do we wait
For the next thing
The bad
Horrible thing
To happen
I’d like to sit upon the steps
Of concrete
Maybe warmed
By the way
To watch
You know
The world go by
And have it stop in parts
As people
Who stop to talk with me
Because we know each other some
And it’s
A pleasant moment
Offering another string
To tie up together
Silkenly
Our block
The most delightful web
Maybe like the God’s-eye
That they make
Out West
Brief togetherness
And then move on
And eventually
I’ll trek inside
To supper
With the ending light
Passing through the plants
Set near the windowsill
C L Couch
Photo by Esther Tuttle on Unsplash
so I wrote about all sorts of serious stuff, then encountered an advertisement with these cats who were presented with the stuff of perfect pleasure, then found myself writing about them and that, and then wrote of dogs as well for ecumenicity’s sake—enjoy (please)
cosmic cats
(dramatic dogs)
1
nice cats
noisy
cats
could be siblings
certainly assuaged by
special cat food
mom has used the last
for them
and they are happy
for the moment
thankfully
dad is at the store
getting more
good food
longer-happy cats
what more
could
pet parents want
2
cats
have a k
and comic sound
while
dogs
is softer
and adorable
both were wild once
and even
now
we should take
care
for impulse
becomes instinct
upon
how they’re treated
so
treat them like home
and they will live with you
and guard you
love you
in their trained
and wild
ways
3
there are allergies
also pills
and sprays
and shots
I was allergic
to my cat
which I found out
ten years into having her
so guess who stayed
she said I could
as well
we keep our pets
and they
keep us
and so the ordered
more chaotic
world
is kept a little better
for a while
longer
c l couch
(our pets, of course, include more kinds of creatures)
photo by Callum Shaw on Unsplash
Something Short and Sweet
(tout suite)
Goodness
After tortuous lines
Something short and sweet
Not even counted as
Haiku
Haibun
Or other
Legitimate
Domestic or exotic form
And are we exotic
Half the world
Away
While what is
Fringe opportunity
Here
Is
Ordinary
There
I guess it must be
So that
When the world comes together
We have something
Both
Amazing
And quotidian
And with some peace
Could have
Delightful things
Enjoy
Extraordinary essences
In all our hours
Everywhere
C L Couch
Photo by Edge2Edge Media on Unsplash
The Invitation
God is love
And if you wish to live with love
Then you could know the source
And be encouraged
Helped
In this life
To the next
And if you wish to live with hate
Then you could get to know the source
Of that
The nothingness
To have
In this life
And the next
That’s pretty much
The way of it
Love or
Its absence
Choosing one
Or the other
The rest is ignorance or luck
And it’s likely as you read
You will have neither
For your own
Lesson and
Salvation
C L Couch
Photo by Richard Gatley on Unsplash
The Mystic, Ordinary Process
(for Evelyn Underhill)
Live the way I want
To
Which would mean
Living with you
With your nearness
With
Your love
And as a recipient of mine
Learning anew to pray
Into the world
For everything that’s wrong
And to keep
As in care for
Everything
That’s right
To practice confessing
Beyond
I’m sorry
To live out penance
Through listening
Responding to the world
And what is needed
Here
There is
So much to do
At Pooh Corner
Though contemplatives might say
The real action
As is said of many things
Is actually in the heart
And in the head
As vessels of the Spirit
Even launchpoints
For the Lord
To think
Canaveral about it all
Then to the world
To the rawness of it
To the terrors
And the grossness
And also
To the beauty
Of it all
This is
So strange
To say
And will you be with me
When my dignity’s
Surrendered
And I stand bloodied
Before
Ersatz courts
Places of injustice
Even fortresses
From which I know
Nothing
Of the entrance
Or the exit
My way through
Must be with you
Even if I’m on the way
To an earthly version
Of infernos
Not because
There is a heaven
On the other side of that
(I’m not that smart
to know)
But because I’m trying
(yes
I know
I’m trying
hah)
And you honor me enough
Bestowing companionship
Which is
I know
Enormous honor
So be with me simply
Because simple
Is all I really know
Not without art
Or an acknowledgement of grace
To have things
Understood as
Special
When things are barely moving
Or
Even in crisis
Something remarkable
(dare I say
amazing)
And when it’s quiet
And as
Such
The hour is
Still
And it’s
Simple
Easy
Once again
Plus there might be someone
And-or
It’s the two
Or three
Or four of us
And that’s a party
In which
Loving things are said
Loving games are played
And we discuss
The nature
And the aspects
And
Well
The now
Also into the future
Of everything
Foray into the past
When necessary
To keep the rest
I know
Real
But it’s now
And you are now
Help me
Forgive me
Stay with me
As I would be with you
Perfectly
But so imperfectly
For now
Until you teach me
In a place of
Frankly
Afterlife and grace
Thank you for faith
And even my response
As is
C L Couch
Photo by Richard Lee on Unsplash
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