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

Beatitudo

(x = space)

x

x

Beatitudo

x

Where did this quiet

Come from

With the light angling inside

Yellow for benediction?

It is a gift

Of spring’s first day

It is happenstance

I don’t care

I’m thankful

For the quiet

And the colors

And the benediction I’m

Taking these to be

Thanking the one who blesses

Everything

In creating

And renewing

Like green rising from brown

Made and remade

And by the way

A gift of oxygen

For us

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Chetan Kolte on Unsplash

x

monday protest

(x = space)

x

x

monday protest

x

get up

listen to the noise

and go

and this is how it starts

x

a day

in the modern world

x

no,

thank you

iI’ll stay here

in the drab place

and time

x

of dark and cold

of sleep

and safety

well

x

i won’t grow up

not i

x

if you must leave

i’ll stay

x

c l couch

x

photo by eduardo mallmann on unsplash

x

to pray

(x = space)

x

x

to pray

x

not wishful thinking

not wishes

maybe wishes

maybe where your wants

and mine

and ours

might come together as if this were

how a point of light

in the sky at night

were made

x

we might accomplish this

our wishes changed

our wants intersect

so that

there is something like justice

and like mercy

x

both humility

and confidence

in faith

amen

x

c l couch

x

x

Photo by Tyler Jamieson Moulton on Unsplash

x

Don’t Remove This Label

(x = space)

x

x

Don’t Remove This Label

x

I don’t want to reason

Only secularly

But I look where I am

And listen

x

In a long room

Whose beauty is beneath

Because the skin and other features

Are so poorly cared for

x

Which is to say

It’s old and could be good

But isn’t good

x

The noise of the world

Breaks in from above

And neither rule

Nor rent

Is cared about

x

Outside is a cold and pleasant day

At least to see

I see too much

And need to invoke

The other senses so much more

x

Drivers misbehave outside

Sometimes pedestrians

Though the thing about the outside noise

Is that it moves on

x

And I know

There are fires

That burn acreage

In a wild and awful way

And those who fight these flames

Are often hurt

And much is lost

Famously

In fires

x

And there is war I do not understand

And thank you I don’t want to

I’m sorry

But a bomb

Blasting away everything I know

And cuts away at me

By foes’ intent

I would be crazed

In every way

And to know the agency was human

Without randomness

For an agenda

x

And I know that states are falling

While brave people

Stand against

The evil reasons

And the power that, created good,

Is now corrupted

And maybe has been

For a while

But in a den bares now

Its blooded teeth

Behind a guard

That operates somehow

To keep the good ones from approaching

x

And I say it thus

With distance

Not that local evil

Hasn’t worked its way

Maybe the world

Learning of democracy

Is ruled by princes

After all

x

I simply want a quiet day

And promise of another

I want boredom

To be my awful challenge

And in this way I’ll try

To address the rest

I really will

From here

And now

x

You may decide what I am or

Most of you

Ignore me

And why not

Ignoring what

We need

To keep our naïve brand

In place

Like the labels on the furnishings

We do not tear off

Even though I doubt

The wars

Should care

x

I care

Not about that

But decades into this

I care

You might care as well

And more than me

Knowing better what to protest

What to fight for

x

Not to mention

I would rather be

Which makes everything more difficult

With you

Attached

Rather than against you

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Thomas Dumortier on Unsplash

x