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

Christmas Campaign

(x = space)

x

x

Christmas Campaign

x

Christmas

Is a month away

Precisely

In this year of 2022

Good timing for Black Friday

I don’t understand

They’re only things

And each other’s company

The presents

x

Not to be maudlin

Or mawkish

Sometimes the truth

Must come with syrup

That makes it sweet,

At least

x

I wouldn’t know

How to deal with

Great expectations

Of receiving things

Rather than

Only ourselves

x

There could be meals

Recipes

Desserts

Special drinks

Coffee

We could defend each other

Don’t let people drive

Until they’re ready

Turning out spare rooms

(Spare Oom in Narnia

with a War Drobe)

x

I don’t mean a campaign

And I do

Christmas is love

More than possession

Though there’s nothing wrong

In wanting things

And owning them

And if there are dangers,

I think

You know what they are

x

A month from now

Merry Christmas

It doesn’t have to be sectarian, for

Maybe part

Of Christmas love

Is diversity

And the widest possible

Welcoming

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Andrej Lišakov on Unsplash

x

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, specifically The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

x

LoveSpeak

(x = speak)

x

x

LoveSpeak

x

What does God’s love say

In the face of danger?

Through many dangers,

Toils, and snares

God’s love says

I’m here

The love is here

The source is here

The host is here

We’re here

x

Though there be anger,

Scorn, and fear

From enemies and friends

Alike

Because doubt and unbelief

Might have to have

Their way,

The love of God is first

And follows

Like the currents inside Earth

And over,

The moving pillars

Cloud or fire

That are before

And after

x

Alongside in

The truth of companionship

But I can’t see that

You can

It’s more than senses

With which we perceive

As best we can

x

Presence and love are better

They are inside

And out

They speak without words

Until it’s time for words

x

When we have ears to hear

And cannot hear,

Count on the company

Of the divine

To know us better,

Pick us up

If fallen,

Go with us onward

Leading, should we ask

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

x

“Amazing Grace” (the hymn) referenced above

x

When Great Pain

(x = space)

x

x

When Great Pain

x

If God exists

And God does exist

And if God loves

And God does love

And if God has power

And God has the most

Then how

Then why

I don’t know,

Why are things so messed up

So screwed up

So damnably awful?

We could ask this and these

On calmer days as well

It’s fair

x

All things of substance are good

Really

You move toward evil and the devil

Then you move toward nothingness

And nothing

These will increase, day by day,

Until that’s all

(so much worse than Porky Pig)

There is nothing

Not black

(black is good)

But a void

Out of which God has created

But not us

Nothing we have will last

Except as legacy

Then memory

Then

(let a couple of beats go by)

x

We are on the side of flesh

Who value flesh

(I am ignorant about

mortification)

And what’s inside

Flesh is not bad

It is ours and was made for us

By the true owner

Of the universe

Who keeps with perfection

From the smallest moment that we know

And smaller

To the next

x

And what of pain?

Why is there pain?

How can there be a God of pain?

Well, there is

Who is the God of love

Who promises alleviation

And for you

Family

And friends and neighbors, too

For a broken

And a splitting-further world

x

Pain is a stake

(and stake)

It is on the table of the world

It is not ours

Though we can wield it

The way we can

Wield healing and solutions,

Too

These are realities and means

And we have so much to do with them

For now

We can move with

Pretty much anything we want

Inside

Outside

Toward ourselves

Toward our neighbors

Toward the world

x

Persist

Sometimes is all there is

When pain is great

The next moment

And the next

One moment

Two moments

Enough accomplishment

Until everything’s incorporated

And we stand up

And move

Not move on as in forget

Move on as in everything’s a part

Of us now

x

And I know

It’s hard

To say we’re not alone

When we are alone

Without the peace of it

But we’re not

A lesson for the speaker, too

We’re not

There is companionship

And company

For life

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Conor Sexton on Unsplash

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, United States

x

People Need

(x = space)

x

x

People Need

(we need)

x

Work

And salvation

Food and drink

Both safe

And a revival now and then

Safety itself

And companionship

Light in darkness

Not blinding

Not enigma

Shows the way

Only some direction needed

x

A place to go to sleep

Maybe with others close by

To wake up in a medium

Of security

Here, we call it democracy,

x

Which begs the first

And final matter

That is freedom

That we paid a paradise

To own

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Matthew T Rader on Unsplash

Plano, TX, USA

A water drinking fountain with water flowing from it | Check out my blog: matthewtrader.com/unsplash

x

The Monster Speaks

The Monster Speaks

 

One thing the movies miss

Nearly all the time

Is to let the monsters speak

I’m hearing gargoyles talking

They make scary sense

They’re vicious and

Want to be left alone

 

If you want to see Frankenstein

Then read it

It’s not long

The most humane speeches

Are from the creature

Made by Victor

Who abhorred his work and then

Abandoned it

An ugly, powered creature

Left to roam the Earth

A child in a Golem’s body

With no control

Or advice to live

 

But when it speaks

The words are articulate

And passionate

Having been made by a human

Why can’t there be something of

The humans’ own?

The parent’s own and

Something of companionship

The words show us who

The monsters are

We slip into barbarity of action

While the best words remain

The creature’s own

 

No mistaking, the creature-made

Commits atrocities

There is a tragedy in the making

In having been made

In human vanity to make

But forestalling

Or destroying

Might have happened early on

As it is, the monster (so we way)

Is left alive

I know, for sequels

While the human maker

Frankenstein

Pursues his own destruction,

Which is no kind of justice

She knew what she was doing

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Peloton Cellars, Front Street, Avila Beach, CA, USA

 

Born Ready

Born Ready

 

There are two

Quite often

And some more

We work in company

Best of all,

It seems

I guess we’re made that way

Porous, with no corners

But with openings

Ready in the making

To receive

Atomic intentions

Molecules that move

From skin to skin

One by one

We each remain intact

But space and matter have

Determined

All the places on

Each one of us that

Are ready to receive

Like sponge to sponge

Life like water

Fuller for the moving

And arriving

Tidal pools that live

Along the shore

Of every cosmic

And each metaphoric

Ocean

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Marcelo Rivas on Unsplash

Tide pools, La Jolla, California, USA

 

Gods and Heroes

Gods and Heroes

 

Today is one day in a heatwave

 

Some will suffer in silence

And might be found anyway

Some will reach out to ask for help

So many are so bad at that

 

And there are those who

Will reach out to give it

Class and qualifiers will not matter

 

For all the sagas

All the stories of the past

They matter

Sometimes they teach

If we will learn

 

But more important still are the

Rough-edged, awkward things

The good will do today

 

Jesus saves

There will be companionship today

 

C L Couch

 

 

fir0002flagstaffotos [at] gmail.comCanon 20D + Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 – Own work, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=136199

 

Monday Duo

Monday Duo

 

What shall I write about?

What shall we talk about?

 

It is Monday

Though any day is fine

 

Monday morning, of course,

Lends itself

Toward silence and slow

Moving

 

Maybe coffee later today

And conversation

Would be just right

 

Will you join me?  I know I’d

Like that

 

The privilege of your company,

Quieter delight in your

Companionship