If Not Charity

(x = space)

x

x

If Not Charity

x

There should be more:

God, will you have

More?

There is great need

Awful, tearing need

As if a maw

Like all the mouths we fear

Should swallow us

God,

Will you meet us there?

Charity begins

Where charity begins

We don’t interpret well

Who cares

Take up the toys

Gather in the food

Say something special

Better to be doing it

And saying it

What is giving

Don’t wait for philosophy

If you have a dollar

Or a handkerchief

You might be rich

You might be on the sidewalk

Where I called you

Says the Lord

Our God

Who is our God

And preaches mysteries

Though love is clear enough

Share it

Keep it well

Pearls planted well inside

The ocean of our need

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Gabrielle Mustapich on Unsplash

Emerald waves from above.

Tofino, BC, Canada

x

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

. . .

(from) Paul’s first letter to believers in Corinth

King James Version (and the tongues of people)

x

The Impoverished

(x = space)

x

x

The Impoverished

x

It is another day

To wake up into misery

Sometimes a vivid

Dream

Takes me to

A place that is not

So spectacular but

I want to live there

And I wake up

And I’m here

I wake to the gray skies

Of war

Or my child is

Still sick

Or my child is gone

My children

x

There is my own pathology

It hurts

And there is no promise

Of change for the better

x

I wake into many

Who have problems

And they seep

Or crash into awareness

I have no money

Or my clothes are poor

My shoes don’t wrap around

My feet

So I have trouble moving

And I’m seen first

For the problems that I have

x

I’m seen first

For the problems that I have

That’s how my friends know me

Or my family

Or anyone

First, I am the sad one

Or the needy one

The one with problems

I am an individual

Also a family

Or a nation

I grow to hate waking up

Like this

I grow to hate waking up

Can someone make

The day better?

Can I?

x

A song could name this

But is no breath

For singing

There is no cause

Or there is

And I forget

It’s been too long

x

I could say, Help me

But I don’t know how

Sometimes it’s

Antagonistic

The responses that I get

When I used to ask

Mostly it’s apathy

With closed pockets

I never get close to,

Which is fine

I don’t want your pockets

I want my own

x

I want what I used to have

Or maybe never had

I want what I need

And a little more

So I am ready

When I hear of

Need

Someone

A family

Or a nation

x

To give out of what I have

And a little more

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash

The Other Way

published 2 hours ago

x

3 poems for summer solstice

(x = space)

x

x

3 poems for summer solstice

x

x

Merry July

x

Solstice

It’s summer now

Summer weather smacks us

Here

Temps aiming for 90

I guess in Australia

New Zealand

New Guinea

Little America

Winter is begun

Throw logs on the fire

Sing winter carols

Withholding Christmas and

The other holidays

‘Til the start of summer

In December

Christmas in July

A custom mostly mercantile

In the north

Could be the real thing

With trees and

Were it high enough

Some snow

Ornaments and lights

Certainly

Merry Christmas in

Alice Springs

Wellington

Tierre del Fuego

On the Falklands

At the southern pole

Santa’s summer home

Like winter

x

x

Intentions

x

God, what shall I

Say to you?

I worship you

In contemporary ways

I’m sorry for sins

You have seen in me

And known for centuries

I thank you for your presence

Having made all good things

And the ways to deal

With the bad

I ask of you

To welcome home

Those who die

And heal those who live

Cure cancer

End war

Well, I can ask

x

x

Siblinghood

x

It’s like science fiction

Slipping out of time

Our of normalcy

Eating meals on time

Cleaning on a schedule

Ingrained expectations

Instinctive, conditioned

Responses

x

To fall outside of these

To live with fewer clothes

To hope for decent meals

In penury,

To dream of trips

But only travel like Thoreau

Walking to and from

The town

x

Everything else happens

On the inside

How sad this is

At least how strange

But there’s a purpose

Those who fall outside

Will look back

And when not wistful

Will prophecy

In art

x

x

C L Couch

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Saint John’s (Midsummer) Fire at Dragør Beach (Denmark)

XSimon, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53634435

x

Puritan Winter

(x = space)

x

x

Puritan Winter

x

Snow covers

Rain reveals

Ice seals it all in

Now comes the

Revealing time,

The winter

Against all our

Boasted showings

The green is gone

The brown and black reveal

Who we are

What we have

How plain it can become

Without verdant protection

Without the sheen

Of summer

x

But this is good

We have the chance

To be ourselves,

To rely ourselves

On heat

And goodness from above

Below

The goodness of our neighbors

And the sovereignty

Of God above

Below

Wherever is

Creating

And the mortal need

x

C L Couch

x

x

Migrating birds over the misty forests of Norway.

Photo by Fredrik Solli Wandem on Unsplash

Heggenes, Norge

x

Civil Conspiracy

(x = space)

x

x

Civil Conspiracy

x

If everyone had what they want

Aberrance aside

I mean a place to live

That is secure and likable

Food

For need and a little more celebration

The chance to learn

Some might say we have those things now

We don’t

Water that’s safe and without fear

A measure of peace

In our days and nights

Would this be a better world?

Of course, it would be

How otherwise?

A job

That’s not a dream deferred

So that we rise

Oh, yes, we rise

x

Join me a campaign, will you?

An open conspiracy

To find the smaller and the larger

Ways,

Practice them

To meet the needs of others

And ourselves

That’s it: no more profound than that

x

C L Couch

x

x

Extinction Rebellion September 2020 Protests for the Launch of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill (CEE Bill) across the City of London

Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

x

Rain

(x = space)

x

x

Rain

x

Heatwave and thunderstorms

That’s all we got

Church is still on-line,

Though I guess it doesn’t have to be

Watching the delta variant

x

The sermon’s about encouragement

That’s good

Providing it, however, with

Prudence and with wisdom,

Which is better

To say that everyone’s amazing

Overdoes it

In making, it is true

Each life is extraordinary

But for all the lives unmade,

What shall we say?

That there was less extraordinary?

Maybe it’s the application

Of the Pickering social theory

In that it’s how we treat

Each other

And each one

If you want to value life,

Then offer drink safely to everyone

Feed everyone

Make and offer shelter

To everyone

Peace for security

The chance for learning

The chance for work

That complements

x

Sometimes saints are martyred

By pagan foes,

Sometimes by the believing

Church itself

Believing more in institution

And a sanctity in politics

Control and profit

Over faith and vision

x

Savor belief instead

Feed the children

And the youth

And the grown-ups

With all things that we need,

And I will hear the nations

And the corporations

Claim

That we care

x

C L Couch

x

x

1 Thessalonians 5:11

(Hebrews 10:24)

x

Raindrops keep falling on my window pane.

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

London, United Kingdom

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

Victory at Sea

(x = space)

x

x

Victory at Sea

x

The sadness

That so much is done,

So much never started

But then I’d want

Eternity here and now

Everything

All possibilities

From which to choose

And choose again

To get it right

x

Would that Earth

Could turn peacefully

So that choices might

Be made from

Wisdom and from joy

x

But too many

Steal podiums to say

Beat the other side,

Don’t hesitate

To shoot

x

The second problem is

That hate will shoot back,

And when our

Magazines are empty

There is only peace

In death, that is,

Lives taken

x

Sibling murder

We pretend the other

Is not human

But a target for our rage,

For demon-stoked

Disapproval

x

This is so the world is mine,

Rendered in my own image

With death the medium

x

Would that

Famous people

Would shut up

And listen to the Earth

For a while

Then listen to us,

Which is nearly all of us

x

Pain, thirst

All kinds of ideas

And agendas

Find them

Find the stories

Hear them

x

Let change happen

Speak to it

Let peace prevail

And every other goodness

x

Favorite recipes

Homemade holidays

Comfortable shoes

Barefoot where the Earth

Is welcoming

x

We welcome each other

Sparing the lives that only

Insanity demands

And criminality

x

There is little more to say

Stop destroying

Leave self-righteousness to God

From whom we can learn about

Justice

And safe water

And living as if everything

Is home

For everyone

x

C L Couch

x

The title is taken from a TV series about bravery in war.  Music by Richard Rodgers.

To be at sea also means to be adrift.  Wanting to head for home.

(Not that the ship in the image is adrift, as in having no control. I don’t know.  The ship looks lonely, though.)

x

Photo by Javier Balseiro on Unsplash

x

Something Is Going to Happen

Something Is Going to Happen

 

Something pleasant

For a change

Something with a little spice

A little love

Things that try to set the tone

Are doing so by doling fear

Anger, hate

Too easy an agenda

Hiding other interests

While we’re distracted

 

Time for some calm

With which to see the emperor or wizard

I don’t mean CBD

Though that might be interesting

I was thinking maybe

Meals

And walks after

Feeding all types of needs

In consideration

And respect

Maybe we’ll find out that we like each other

 

And if not

We’ll have had the meal and the walk

Food and easy exercise

And did I mention who’s invited?

Everyone on Earth

 

C L Couch

 

 

photo by Arisa Chattasa on Unsplash

rainbow snack on hot pan