World Water Day

(x = space)

x

x

World Water Day

x

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

x

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

x

C L Couch

x

x

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

x

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

x

over 40,000

(x = space)

x

x

over 40,000

x

who is left after

are

the broken-hearted

inside broken-bodied

those left who

never believe

in anything

anymore

x

those who have no buildings left

houses or offices

or warehouses

and so sleep inside

if supplied

canvas or nylon

maybe with a floor

maybe not

or in a wide and tall shelter

that might have been

something else

in days

that we do not believe in anymore

x

earth for ground

which for many

isn’t new at all

x

my city’s count

of people gone

razored rubbled stones too big

for anyone or a small group

to lift

even though a noise is heard

or sign or life is seen

or was it imagined

x

we must wait

for healthy people

big machines

waiting on either side

clichés belied

a fresh hell

too late

too little

though

we will get to each other

whatever

living status

notwithstanding

x

there is a border

do we care

tribes

as we knew tribes

who lived in places

x

without places

where

is home

x

it’s nowhere

there is nothing

not even peace

of a flat nothingness

there is so much

cracked rock

torn sheets of metal

splintered glass

and

split ground

x

metal, plastic, cloth

pieces to remove

maybe to inventory

but first

to look and hear

and touch and taste

and smell

for signs of life

x

if there are signs of recognition

(sounds official)

any part that was alive

a writhing shape

or something

monstrously creative

for flesh

and bone

and everything that

moved

in health

not designed

in making

x

it’s visceral

and horrible

to contemplate

x

and here they are

he

she

they

and us

then lifted up

and carried

to wherever

whatever

might be left of us

to carry

and to set down

by the victims

walking

driving

bearing

with newcomers

myriad

with everything inside

that should be inside

shelters

and bodies for shelters

x

time for work

and for embraces

and feeding pets

that also

have been found

x

we must count

though all

for help

if horribly

piecemeal

whole

in-part

surprises

when we find

each other

as we find

each other

x

miracles

or awful

(without awe)

revelation

x

two nations

and all families

in shock

material and flesh

therein

all rived apart

enormous pieces

and so small

like mortal

or like venal

sin

x

we are tired

we are so tired

marrow-tired

yet we lift

like eyes to hills

with all the senses

sensing

and our muscles

weeping

like our faces

and our souls

x

hoping

fearing

to find anything

for what we’ve found

and know

so far

x

the definition

of a living hell

new definitions

ghastly or ghostly

(grim humor

or humors

medieval inquest drawn out)

for the victims

and the victims

x

nature and people

where is evil

maybe nowhere

maybe do not care

but as we can

and for the good

with what we have

get over there

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by xander ashwell on unsplash

x

The Second Day

(x = space)

x

x

The Second Day

x

The day

After resurrection

Jesus appears to many

There is work to do

After the great miracle,

It seems

Affirming what Mary

Has said

Showing marks of wounds

To Thomas

Teaching, still

Cooking fish beside a fire

Talking about metaphors

Of sheep

Hoping Peter understands

Then after many days

Of words and signs

A leavetaking

Leaving instructions

Until he should come back

Having left a promise, too,

Of help

Like his

In fact, him still

This person will indwell

Like blood, like bone,

Like organs

Like thoughts and feelings

That’s pretty close

Inside

A guide

Someone to speak to worth

 A presence, bearing

Through the times

Of pleasure and of pain

The ease of life

The things we never think

To get through

x

It’s a busy time

After Easter Day

There will be letters

Words

Greetings, admonishments

Compassion

Affirming of directions

These all will last

In the book through Revelation

Until, in fact,

Parousia

And the obvious way to do it

Spirit inside, outside

All partners now

Treading the new fields

Of new Earth

x

C L Couch

x

x

Interested Bunny waiting for food.

photo by Stefan Fluck on Unsplash

x

Momentum

(x = space)

x

x

Momentum

(for friends)

x

You know,

I write several things

A day

And then choose

One of them

Some days I only write

One thing

And I use that

I tell myself that if there’s

Nothing, then I won’t

Have anything

To share

And that has to be

All right

Occasionally, that happens

Not so often

If I have access to my

Small machines

Among them the device

Inside

x

I say this because

This is where I am today

Not quite Pooh Corner

I admit

I cannot do everything

I want and like the apostle

Sometimes I do

The thing I hate

Though I think it’s more

That I don’t do

The thing I want

Even love

To do

x

I could ask

Where is the energy

Of youth, that

Sweet bird,

Though I think we know

That energy is finite

Like the push-pull

Universe

And that we always tire

So we

Run the race we can

Then rest

x

I know

You’re at the

Starting line

With me each day

I want to be with you

We go

And if we’re smart

We’ll rest

When there’s been enough

Join me today

Won’t you

In the race

That for us

Is cosmic laced,

Spiced, intertwined

With spirit

(or have spirit

laced with cosmic

thinking the spirit understands

either way)

The cosmic race

The spirit race

The human race

x

C L Couch

x

x

Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma in the evening light

Photo by Frantisek Duris on Unsplash

Roque de los Muchachos, Spain

x

Romans 7:14-15

(Hebrews 12:1 et al)

x

Beasts

(x = space)

x

x

Beasts

x

Cats and dogs

And cows

Wolves in pictures

Videos of bears

Eagle nests

Through cameras

x

What do I know

Of beasts

In my suburban place?

I know the stories

Fairy stories

Thanks to

Father’s reading

And some records on

The record-player

x

And then,

You know,

I met the human kind

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Axel Blanchard on Unsplash

Zoo de Beauval, Saint Aignan, France

A White Tiger

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

 

New Nicaean Thinking

New Nicaean Thinking

 

Fully human

Fully divine

That’s what we say

In answer to an old debate

Whose contesters have

Been dust a while

And still we say it

Because there are those who

Who want only flesh

While there are others

Who would only have perfection

Inside a ghostly presence

 

I don’t mean Hallowe’en

When the veil is thin

But every day, impossibly

God is only flesh

Or a spirit

I didn’t realize

(and don’t)

That, perhaps attaining

Certain saving ranks,

God could be rendered

I suppose beneath the mitre

Or in a meeting room

 

Though God might be outside

In holy, wild majesty

Waiting for the conference to end

To show debate instead

In hurricanes

Or life inside the vacuum

Of space, waiting for visitation

 

There’s flesh

There’s spirit

They stand and move apart

Or somehow they’re conjoined,

Which would be awe

 

Try to understand a black hole

Or transcendent Pi

Find life inside CERN

Or the baby,

Once conceived

 

Maybe we’ll find that we can

Create amazement, too

(I think we’ve done it)

Maybe we’ll be inventing God

As Voltaire did or did not mean

To advise,

 

Or we’ll say it is a better machine

Matching the workings of

A molecule or cell

Nanobots

Realizing dispensation

Plenary indulging

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Don Shin on Unsplash

Stanford Dish

 

Keeping Faith in Time

Keeping Faith in Time

 

Big days are coming

Liturgically speaking

For practitioners of child and

Parent faiths

Maybe today should have gone quietly

There’s daily service

To attend to

I don’t know how to make

Every day spiritually special

As one of those practitioners, I should

But weak flesh and sometimes

Unwilling spirit,

Which is to say I’m human

So are you

Not as an excuse for anything

While there are certain things, at large and internal,

To give in to

There are things we must keep trying for

Let this day found goodness

In the next one

And if we miss a step

Let’s remember certain rhythms

And their seasons

Allow for discord

(against the chord)

Without ruining the music

Might make it better

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Zachary Nelson on Unsplash

Bethel College, Mishawaka, United States

 

Holey Week 4

 

What We Can Give

What We Can Give

(and following)

 

Grace to you

And mercy

Though I cannot dispense them

(even mercy is borrowed)

I am not the source

 

And not to splinter things too fine,

Neither I think are you

But we know the one is

Source and giver,

Who releases memory to us

Of past performance

And of gratitude

 

As a surrogate, I can offer blessing

(so can you)

Though it is not mine (not ours)

To award

But mercy we can show

Maybe not as miracle

But hard work can come across

Splendidly,

Especially without invoice

There’s grace in that

 

 

Grace Act II

 

And now, the sequel

We can give grace

Our own kind

A human sort that is not

Of the Spirit

But which it approves

 

A love that doesn’t

Think of it as gift

Nothing to consider on

The page

But that which cuts through mysteries

To ponder,

Nighttime, candlelit considerations

No, in this light of day

We don’t deliberate the question

Simply provide the act

In, you know, action

That, aside, is enough of an answer

 

Maybe we own our kind of mercy

As well

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

“music in the air”