Memorial Day in the USA

(x = space)

x

x

Memorial Day in the USA

(2021)

x

It is a holiday in the USA

I suppose the sales are good

And there will be

Shiny fireworks

Reminding us the day means,

Well, something

x

There are days like this

Around the world,

As there should be:

Remembrances of those

Who fought and

Died in war

x

The wisdom of strategy

And final choices

Is not on the program;

Like the Light Brigade,

There are those

Who served

Because they served

x

Remember them,

Because their loss

Is the foundation

For unfought

Wars over silent

Battlefields

That were and are

And will be,

Someday

x

C L Couch

x

x

Golden Stars

Photo by Dan Dennis on Unsplash

World War II Memorial, Independence Avenue Southwest, Washington, DC, USA

x

The Ravens

(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

Slow Men

(x = space)

x

x

Slow Men

x

God bless slow men

(I don’t mean still waters)

Who are not evil

Who have sins in the past

And who knows

For the present

x

But do not move in haste

To rule the world

Or a part,

Who listen sitting down

Or walking ‘round the block

x

Who are not old

But take pleasure in

Slow ways

To make love

And have love, after

X

I might talk slow women

Except

They know the wisdom

When to be fast

When to be still

X

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Benjamin Smith on Unsplash

Rockford, United States

x

Without Further Ado

(x = space)

x

x

Without Further Ado

x

I’d like to say something

About God

Not because God needs me to

God is a spirit

God is love

These are not original things

To say

God is a lion,

The lion of Judah

Also nothing new

Though rather wondrous

God is mine

And also God is waiting

Though I think

We tend to think

That it’s the other way around

x

That we wait for God

And once God arrives,

We wait on God

Sometimes the waiting

Either kind

Is cheery

Sometimes it’s not

We wait for God to relieve us

Either of comfort or

Responsibility

We wait for answers

To a local hell

That breaks our spirits

As the ground

Might break

Near a volcano

Or as a sinkhole

(we have sinkholes where

I live)

x

Then to have God appear

To speak

Or touch on our hearts

But we will not serve

(that kind of waiting)

Because things have been too awful,

Thank you very much

How about

You serve me for a while,

x

Which will happen

God will serve

God serves,

In fact,

To have made everything

To arrange for energy

In nature

To bring light and dark

Rain and sun

Snow in winter

Water steaming off leaves

In summer

(or all the time in tropics)

Maybe there is nothing more

God will want to do

x

And yet I think

God is not only creator

But newly-creating

And creative

Explain the platypus

Or bird-of-paradise

Or human will

With the lack of it

Everywhere else

In nature

x

God is many things,

Which might mean

Always new

Nearby a platypus

In grace

x

C L Couch

x

x

John 4:24, 1 John 4:3, Revelation 5:5

x

Istanbul sky from September 2005.

Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash

Istanbul Sky, Istanbul, Turkey

Published on June 6, 2019

x

present lack of tense

(x = space)

x

x

present lack of tense

x

pre-dawn charcoal sky

blue here and there

aside from color,

nothing else is moving

x

c l couch

x

x

simple celebration of inclusivity

photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

x

Contractor Comes to Fix the Old Apartment

(x = space)

x

x

Contractor Comes to Fix the Old Apartment

x

Two holes in the ceiling

Don’t forget

From where the pipes

Were pulled

The rest seems obvious

Paper peeling from the walls

Hopefully, the walls

Are dry behind

Paper peeling from the ceiling

Long cracks everywhere

That look eccentric

Like single strands of webs

From giant, drunken spiders

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Eugene Chystiakov on Unsplash

x

Yes to Another Story

(x = space)

x

x

Yes to Another Story

x

I can’t do this

I won’t

And I won’t grow up

Like Peter Pan

x

Another child who’s

Lost

And wanting pixie dust

Must tell the tale,

Instead

x

Of flight into the London sky

To islands that

No ship can find

Except the ship

That story says

Has been there for a while

x

So that the story

Might have adversaries

As stories need

More than

Pixie dust

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Sophie Louisnard on Unsplash

La Charité-sur-Loire, France

x

Timing

(x = space)

x

x

Timing

x

God, help me

With devotion

Not the famous kind

I don’t think

I could hold that well

But quieter,

Between the two of us

And any interested

That we all might

Turn

And turn again

So that you and the sun might

Bleed together

And everything

Be many

And be one

x

Maybe it is famous,

After all

I learned certain moments

From someone

To begin with

And the well-known word

That ends

It all

‘Til next time

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Nsey Benajah on Unsplash

x

The Telling

(x = space)

x

x

The Telling

x

Pain and need

And maybe quotidian pleasures

This is a lifestyle

And it could be worse

It is, I know

x

Which means it is all maudlin

From time to time

Though sometimes

Easygoing

When meeting with friends

Or hearing someone else’s story

God bless the phone

x

And should there be

Accomplishment,

Not quite

An accident of birth

Then gratitude should follow

With what might be appropriate

Surprise

x

But don’t we grow each day?

I like to think so

Maybe it’s a matter

Of discretion,

Not today I will be brilliant

But I’m writing and I’m reading

I’m listening

So closely sometimes

The grinding of old Earth

Is heard

The motion, twenty hours at a time,

Is felt vibrating ‘neath the heart

In the center

Of synapse

x

We grow, we also

Slow down

Three score and ten

I hope we take it with us

To the next stage,

Arriving in time

To be useful there

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Omar Mohiuddin on Unsplash

Pakistan

(there is a painting by Turner of a moving train that this reminds me of

and, yes, there is a reference to Star Trek here–in the words, that is)

x