sometimes today

(x = space)

x

x

sometimes today

x

and sometimes

sometimes often

should not today

be enough?

with pleasures

maybe with some balance

with joy in our friendships

first our families

when they are friendly, too

the small

quotidian

delights in food

in thankfulness

for the cup of water

we might offer to

each other

x

or in washing

getting dressed

anticipating

what is joyful

to anticipate

and simply have our days

have today

with enough faith and

clasically

anew

the pleasure of your company

under a God

who is not benign

but might not have to press so hard

today

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Hobi industri on Unsplash

x

Sectarian or Secular

(x = space)

x

x

Sectarian or Secular

x

God

Be good to us

Today

x

Don’t give us mercy

Or distraction

Give us charges without directions

Save what we believe

x

And if without belief

Then with what good we know

Tempered by

Community

Check-and-balance ways

Human and humane

To get things done

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Rowan Simpson on Unsplash

x

Devilry

(x = space)

x

x

Devilry

(the passing mischief)

x

I suppose the devil

Is after me

In a suburban way

After you, too,

I imagine

Maybe there’s a strategy

Maybe the strategy

Is chaos

Lack of plan

To ruin all the plans

x

Temptation, certainly

And also despair

A bright life

Too bright

To cover all the rest

The real pain

The real faith

To get us through

x

The real hope

That’s in the jar

After all the evils

Have escaped

That move around

Outside

And try to set up

House or shop

Church or

Place of work

Lanes of traffic

Bars

Or at the store

x

More so the aim

To find a place inside

To take our rest

And better

Resolutions

x

It’s not a grand

Or grandiose

Establishment,

A studio

With garish sets

Ringed

By biggish cameras

Managed

By phantoms

x

It might look like

The nicest place

We know

Only off in ways

We can identify

Should we be ready

And aware

If only of ourselves,

Our close-in loves

x

Deviation

Hell

The hell of it

Is that it is a trick

As all the stories say

The diabolical

Looks like everything

And is

Nothing

Maybe sound and fury

For a while

‘Til the ending

As the better stories

Say

x

Give in

Or not

It seems easy, I suppose

The wider path

The golden opportunities

The promise of

A winning ticket

While the other way

Purportedly

Is narrow

But certainly accessible

And it gets wider,

Wide enough

For two or more

x

Not to moralize

But moralize

One way is always easy

Joyless

But easy

The other way gets hard

But promises

The peace, we know,

That passes

Understanding

x

Though we always

Understand enough

For the

Irascibility

(and ability)

Of will

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

x

Covenant-Keeping

(x = space)

x

x

Covenant-Keeping

x

We grieve

That is the right response

x

It happens right away

And is ongoing

x

Mostly it’s the loss

And who’d have thought

x

Regardless

Of the news

x

It should happen

On a school day?

x

While we still think

Of school days

x

The days when

Sun and light should happen

x

On the playground

Or we stay inside

x

When tension in the classroom

Over subjects is enough

x

How did we make the trade

Of shoes on tile

x

For the reports

Of guns instead?

x

For now it is the loss

We don’t want

x

To imagine

Even though there are

x

Those who must

See and hear

x

And every other sense

Invest

x

In the lifting

And the carrying away

x

Even then,

Through the earthly horror

x

There is what’s inside

Now gone

x

To grieve the most

Shock, fear, crashing grief

x

Anger and activity

And needful inactivity

x

Maybe someday about

The keeping and the letting go

x

C L Couch

x

x

What unfolded today: Former student Audrey Elizabeth Hale, age 28, kills three children, three adults at Nashville elementary school; cops gun down attacker

x

Dark Peony

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

x

Reveals

(x = space)

x

x

Reveals

x

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

x

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

x

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

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Brandon Style on Unsplash

x

one spiritual law

(x = space)

x

x

one spiritual law

x

God loves you

have faith

this is the only message

it’s enough

for anyone

at any time

x

we believe it

and for Jesus

we are saved for heaven

and have entered heaven’s realm

even now

x

like Marty’s distillation

of theology

“Jesus loves me, this I know;

for the Bible tells me so”

x

God bless and teach us

I think this is a promise

in creation

that both have happened

and will happen with

our participation

x

believe

even now

even here

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

x

Don’t Listen

(x = space)

x

x

Don’t Listen

x

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

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Peter Jan Rijpkema on Unsplash

x

White Out

(x = space)

x

x

White Out

x

There was hardly any winter;

Now I am nostalgic

x

As I get old

The immediacy of snow

Has sometimes frightened me

x

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

x

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

x

x

C L Couch

x

Photo by Mark Rabe on Unsplash

x

Send Something

(x = space)

x

x

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

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Tamas Pap on Unsplash

x