Reveals

(x = space)

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Reveals

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I don’t know

It is a mystery

How we get

To where we get

We understand

Our choices

Ponder choices

Made by others

All around us

And what might

We figure?

What might we understand

Of agendas

Or of consequences?

Well, we’re here

We have what we have

And don’t know

What we don’t know,

Which is maybe why

Monks

And mothers

Other readers

(all receivers)

Enjoy mystery

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If God is unknown

Then we are fine

Not knowing

Seeking answers

Or allowing

Un-answering

To guide our days

In relishing instead

The partiality

Of things we hold

Let go

Or appreciate

Even with longing

From afar

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We have

And do not have

We wonder because

There are wonders

Such a life

Of having

And un-having

Knowing and un-knowing

We bear

And carry with delight

In curiosity

Answering in part

All awareness

Or simply going out

Or staying in

All the time

Then rest

Then go again

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C L Couch

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Photo by Brandon Style on Unsplash

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one spiritual law

(x = space)

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one spiritual law

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God loves you

have faith

this is the only message

it’s enough

for anyone

at any time

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we believe it

and for Jesus

we are saved for heaven

and have entered heaven’s realm

even now

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like Marty’s distillation

of theology

“Jesus loves me, this I know;

for the Bible tells me so”

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God bless and teach us

I think this is a promise

in creation

that both have happened

and will happen with

our participation

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believe

even now

even here

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C L Couch

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Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

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Don’t Listen

(x = space)

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Don’t Listen

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I’m sad is all

And maybe I may say

Who wouldn’t be

It’s raining

There are feet of snow

Out west

And that’s dangerous

x

In the south

There were tornados in the night

Can you imagine?

Too many don’t have to

You wouldn’t see it

You hear the train

If you can hear

The sounds of what you know

Changed into splinters

Horrifying

x

You might go dark

Deeper in, that is

Or might be missed

(tornados leap this way)

Or under things

That fell

But living

Needing to be found

x

And a factory nearby

Exploded of all things

Also last night

And people inside

Sorry

Some were killed

Others hurt

And people missing

While searchers search

Press conferences are held

Because

They have to be

x

Another factory

Not so far off

Went this way

Some days ago

I don’t think

It’s a conspiracy

But these destructive

And frightening

Severities

Must be taken seriously

x

Last night’s inferno

Costing

Families

The ones torn up

For good

And those in the community

Losing, too

x

You see,

The people in this factory

Made candy

Of all things

In fact for decades

And should have been

With all the chocolate offerings

Just in time for Easter

x

Now associations

Snow-driven winter

Romantic Southern nights

Anticipation of confections

Well,

The fears will have to go somewhere

Coping mechanisms

Mechanized

(as in ready to go)

Let hope

Like grace doctrinally

Abound

x

So I’m sad

Maybe I don’t know how

To take it in

To breathe vicarious

In addition to my

Own intake

For, well,

My own

Somewhat depressed

I deal in this

And have had counseling

And medication

x

The day’s been gray

With rain

Not life-threatening here

Persistent

Cold and dull

Is all

And enervating

x

I thought about errands

And such

Then thought better

Thinking it better

Or maybe better would have been

To go out

Get wet

Do something

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C L Couch

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Photo by Peter Jan Rijpkema on Unsplash

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White Out

(x = space)

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White Out

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There was hardly any winter;

Now I am nostalgic

x

As I get old

The immediacy of snow

Has sometimes frightened me

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Am I ready?

(knowing I’m not ready)

x

But now I miss the falling

And the settling

x

Not the extremes, of course,

Or the extremes of heat in summer

But enough that says

Winter is allowed

In our land

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And I might walk in it

Again

x

So I’m learning, still

(so are you):

I hadn’t thought more generally

And with some surprise

That the bildungsroman

Has never

Finished

x

It goes on bildung-building

(education)

And as roman

A story

Of many chapters

Or a song with many stanzas,

Key transitions,

D. S. to the coda

For life is repeated

Many times,

It seems

Or even improvised

x

And of Shangri-La philosophy

(moderation in all things)

Maybe the winter

Shall return

With some climatic glory

And less (less) fearfulness from

Me

And should anyone

Who feels this way

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C L Couch

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Photo by Mark Rabe on Unsplash

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Send Something

(x = space)

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Send Something

x

A little love

A few notes in a song

Words on paper

(that’s a note)

Or however

Frankly

A bit of chocolate

Or another treat

Would not go wrong

And may simply

Sensually

Render aid

Toward something right

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C L Couch

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Photo by Tamas Pap on Unsplash

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World Water Day

(x = space)

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World Water Day

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Today is Water Day

And everyone deserves a drink

Of safe water

Drinks throughout the day,

In fact

Or, as my nephew used to say

When a child

Overhearing,

Drink up, Shriners

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That didn’t mean water

Though

We mean water

Accessible and easy

Without lead in

Flint

Or lack of pipes at all

In western Africa

Or flooding that makes pipe-works

Dangerous

Across the land

And ‘round the world

x

Who digs wells,

Who makes the pipes

xxxxxLays them

xxxxxAnd keeps them?

Why, that would be us

x

This is our responsibility

Since we decided that civilized

Is a good thing

Some thousands of years ago

Then when we discovered microbes

In the water

And later on

When we knew

We had

Polluted everything

x

This is not nature

This is human

Our human responsibility:

Safe water for everyone

Everywhere we are—safe

And provided for

The things of nature,

Too

x

Greed

Gets in the way

And inertia

But there is great energy

And energetic interest

In

Sating all agendas

x

The time is needed, yes,

And

You know

The money

So give the money

x

Let the people work;

Let all people drink;

It’s ethics,

Even anthropology

That is

Why the peoples of the Earth

xxxxxRise, maintain,

xxxxxOr fall

x

Let’s have the world

Let’s have the world have water

First

Today

Into tomorrow

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C L Couch

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we may contribute to The Water Project (https://thewaterproject.org/) and similar, sound groups

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Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

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Beatitudo

(x = space)

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Beatitudo

x

Where did this quiet

Come from

With the light angling inside

Yellow for benediction?

It is a gift

Of spring’s first day

It is happenstance

I don’t care

I’m thankful

For the quiet

And the colors

And the benediction I’m

Taking these to be

Thanking the one who blesses

Everything

In creating

And renewing

Like green rising from brown

Made and remade

And by the way

A gift of oxygen

For us

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C L Couch

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Photo by Chetan Kolte on Unsplash

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monday protest

(x = space)

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monday protest

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get up

listen to the noise

and go

and this is how it starts

x

a day

in the modern world

x

no,

thank you

iI’ll stay here

in the drab place

and time

x

of dark and cold

of sleep

and safety

well

x

i won’t grow up

not i

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if you must leave

i’ll stay

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c l couch

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photo by eduardo mallmann on unsplash

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to pray

(x = space)

x

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to pray

x

not wishful thinking

not wishes

maybe wishes

maybe where your wants

and mine

and ours

might come together as if this were

how a point of light

in the sky at night

were made

x

we might accomplish this

our wishes changed

our wants intersect

so that

there is something like justice

and like mercy

x

both humility

and confidence

in faith

amen

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c l couch

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Photo by Tyler Jamieson Moulton on Unsplash

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