Qwerty

(x = space)

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Qwerty

(minus w, minus t)

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What do you want of me,

God?

Maybe the next hour

Or tomorrow

Or the moment

That is the only thing

I know for sure

There is

And now the next one

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What is your will

And should I ask?

Maybe I don’t need to

Maybe knowing is for

Greater ones

Than I

The ones for histories

Who rated visions

The certainly

Of steps to take

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I muddle

And you, reading,

Muddle like me

If you’re like me

Maybe it’s easy

There is an easy need

For something

And we move

We save considerations

For contemplation

Conversations

That may never happen

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If a bomb

Should crash this wall

If should be in bed

Because of illness

Then all there is to think about

If thought is clear

Is to survive the time

Allowed

Against sadnesses

Even the world’s evil

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Hunger

Should affect me thus

Or thirst for something safe

Or doubt for faith

Should that be the exchange

For everything vile

That may come upon me

Come upon us

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Since, actually,

I might be moved with

Greater intensity

Should it happen to you

x

I shall believe

And ask

Even as confidence fades

That I shall ever know

That you shall ever tell me

What would please you

What would serve you

Not in an epic

But small verses

That could

Make

At least delineate

A life

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C L Couch

while I’m typing

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Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

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Sorry, Uncle

(x = space)

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Sorry, Uncle

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I haven’t

Liked

A thing

All day

Not the rest

That was

Too brief

Not the clothes

That are too worn

Well, in need

Of cleaning

Not the food or drink

That was too sweet

And filled me up

So that

What’s inside and

The rest of me

Are getting along awkwardly

At best

x

Not the words I’ve set down

Drawn lines

Through

Made spaces

Tried to write again

x

What to do on such a day?

Maybe nothing

I can take a break

Some might want me to

For one reason

Out of

Many reasons

I can pray

Prayer is an attitude

Telling me

I don’t have to write

To give, to send

Outside of me

Today

x

It’s late

I breathe

The breathing’s warm

My body’s warm

It’s June

How much more

Revelation

Do I need?

x

Oh,

I’m not angry

Parentally to say

I’m only

Disappointed

Twist the blade

Why don’t I?

x

Well, I’ll pause

And look

Here there are

Words

And sorry for conceits

x

I understand the beasts

In La Brea

Never got out

On their own

I’ll be with you

Tomorrow

Unsucked

From tar

Unstucked

x

The bones of writing down

Enfleshed again

And on the move

x

C L Couch

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Smilodon at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits

(image) by Dallas Krentzel – Smilodon at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar PitsUploaded by FunkMonk, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18649097

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Leaf-Taking

(x = space)

x

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Leaf-Taking

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Leaves change

As time changes

As time changes

Green becomes memory

Until green times

Return

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Leaves of pages

Change

As time changes

As time changes

The memory of reading

Reading now

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C L Couch

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Photo by Chinnu Indrakumar on Unsplash

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Photo by Roman Trifonov on Unsplash

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Storied

(x = space)

x

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Storied

x

You know

The living parable

It actually happened

When soldiers

Were given leave

To drink

From a nearby stream

And some lay down

Their weapons

While prostrate

Lapped the water

x

These were sent home

x

Some knelt

By the water

Clutching weapons in one hand

While with the other

Reaching down to cup the water

Sipped while keeping watch

Around

x

These were kept

For the coming battle

x

I often think of this

From Sunday School

And cup the water

When I can

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C L Couch

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Photo by Sam Dellaporta on Unsplash

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Special Blue Light

(x = space)

x

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Special Blue Light

x

It was at K-mart

Every now and then

x

Every now and then

A blue light would be

Set off

Turning like atop a small

Cop car

With an announcement

Overhead, promising

A treat

If we would go there

To the journey’s end

x

I eschewed

The blue light

Since I wasn’t there

For mysteries

x

I like mysteries

In books

And inside trees,

Prompted from the sky

And when I pray

That is

The mystery of faith

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C L Couch

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Photo by 🇨🇭 Marcel Gross | @marcelgross.ch on Unsplash

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Sanctuary Reasons

(x = space)

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Sanctuary Reasons

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Through the Savior the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in the Savior you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

from Ephesians 2

[emphases mine]

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A temple and a dwelling place

For caretakers, maybe

Sanctuary seekers

Refugees

x

Shall a holy place

Be a dwelling place as well?

Who’s to say?

We dedicate the space

In the name

And to the credit of the Lord

(perhaps for all we owe the Lord)

Like the Lord’s house

That might be waiting for us

In heaven

In all the mansions there

x

So if we say it is the Lord’s

And go to the Lord for learning,

What are the great commandments

And shall we apply them

In the holy place

And those who need a dwelling there

For needful reasons?

x

To go to with our need

On a weekly basis

And more often for

Needful reasons

Moment by moment,

Considering

Which is

The temple and the dwelling place

x

One

Two

Three

Many

All

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C L Couch

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Photo by Joshua Eckstein on Unsplash

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Ant Envy

(x = space)

x

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Ant Envy

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An ant crawls across the screen

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I haven’t smushed it

x

And I won’t

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It’s springtime

x

Leave the ant alone

x

I know

x

The ant is never

By itself

x

It’s crossed three times by now

x

And I can’t tell

(too dark)

If it’s on the frame

Or does it go inside

Then out the back

The other side

x

Which is a perspective

And a journey

I would envy

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Jonas Frey on Unsplash

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Our Days

(x = space)

x

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Our Days

x

Yesterday was

Ocean Day

And also many people

Many of them

Students

Wore orange not for

Protestants

But for an end

To violence

By guns,

The bullets inside

Guns

x

Two days ago

Was D-Day

When by the thousands

Soldiers landed

To take back

France from Hitler

And the rest of

Europe on

Which he had

Had his eye

And after a year

Of slogging

In a blood-soaked way

Town by town

Bridge by bridge

Europe

Was restored

If Germany divided

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Days for marking–we

Have so

Many now

With added reasons

Each cause

And each remembrance

Just

And exigent

Even the silly,

Days for doughnuts

And cat breeds

We need the breaks

Sometimes we need

The money

Come from

Merchandising

x

Sometimes we

Simply want the break

An excuse for

Chocolate

Or for ice cream

For a ball game

A parade

x

A walk

A conversation

Or simply

To stop

And think about things

Differently for

A while

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

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All Shall Be Well, Because She Says So

(x = space)

x

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All Shall Be Well, Because She Says So

x

I have not talked of God today,

Which might mean

I haven’t talked

To God

As well

x

Dear God, what would you

Have for us?

What shall we do in this

Sad, broken world

In which we strive for joy

And sometimes meaning

x

What can we do

What can we choose

To make it better

To make us better?

x

Now and then

Now and again

Now and for the next time

No or yes

x

Past, present, future

We don’t handle these

We can’t

Maybe angels move through time

To carry news

That’s sure, having happened

Maybe to stitch

The interstitials

Not to fix fixed things

But things that flexed

Won’t change the larger movements

Of predestined pieces

On the table

x

With permission,

Save a few more

From the shipwreck

Withhold the hand

Sooner from abuse

x

Well,

This is wishing

And not prayer

We pray for now

Into the next moment

If bruises,

Not the cause

But the healing

And to break the cause

The chain of hurt

x

And, who knows,

Maybe a prayer

To increase what is right

Because there are right things

Simply not enough

For Earth to turn

In joy

And all our lives

Amen

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Snehil Jonathan on Unsplash

East Anglia, Norwich, UK

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