Slip-Sliding Petition

(x = space)

x

x

Slip-Sliding Petition

x

God, I’m tired

Not tired of life

But from lack of sleep

Dreams

That wear me out

So that I’ve lived a day already

Then try to rise

Into waking,

Real agendas

x

This is a prayer

Maybe I could ask for something

x

x

x

I can’t think of anything else

I’ve drifted off

Into Saturday

Or something like

Is Saturday a prayer?

Amen

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Daniel Olah on Unsplash

x

Ex-Temporaneous

(x = space)

x

x

Ex-Temporaneous

x

It’s a dark day

Not enough for a

Ritual outside

And there’s rain

The sun tries

To come through

In patches

Dark hours nonetheless

x

That might be spent

At midnight

In the loft,

A vigil

And an offering

Prayer life in the dark

Ages behind that

x

Maybe a candle

Of the kind

That does not curse the darkness

But slices through it

If in, well, a fuzzy way

Batteries included

Diffuse Light and shadow

Diffuse

With unscripted words

Everything

Partnering

For the message

For the words

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Zoran Kokanovic on Unsplash

x

Servicing

(x = space)

x

x

Servicing

x

God,

I often talk to you

In thought

Do you hear me?

I hope so,

Because I rarely

Think about it

Twice

x

Do you need

The uttered word?

I’d think

You wouldn’t,

Though maybe

My part

Is to speak

x

I think I let you in

A while ago,

You see

And while you’re

There

You might as well

Have the run

Of the place

Including the talking parts

That happen

On the inside

x

Life in the Spirit,

I believe,

With an angel’s assist

I hope it works

This way

I’ll pray out loud

As well

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Emil Widlund on Unsplash

x

Precocity

(x = space)

x

x

Precocity

x

God

Help us

Every

One

Even

The bad people

Don’t help them

To be bad

Help them to be good

Instead

You know,

Like in

The Christmas story

Amen

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Andreas Dress on Unsplash

x

snow squalls today

x

Virtually a Sunday

(x = space)

x

x

Virtually a Sunday

x

I pulled on a shirt for church

Only to have technology

Fail me

Or I fail it, more likely

Virtual church

I should walk down the street

Through wide doors

Greet people

Sit down upon the wooden and worn

Bench

Await the start of something formal

Or walk

And keep walking

Chill and sunshine

And have church that way

x

Pray as I go

There are things I want

To pray for:

My brother’s health

Cancer

My nephew’s healing

COVID

My neighbor’s heart condition

Another neighbor’s children

COVID in the world

(cancer, too)

The horrid war in Ukraine

War in other places

Where it’s horrid

(always horrid)

Yemen, Myanmar, Sudan

Or violence undeclared

Peace thwarted

x

For food for everyone

Safe water

Safe living

I guess I can pray all these things

While walking

Pausing for crosswalks

Maybe I prayed for them now

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash

x

Cyber Prayer

(x = space)

x

x

Cyber Prayer

x

God, help

The people of Ukraine

And the Russians who

Protest the war

And are arrested

By autocracy

x

Brave days for faith

And hope

And love

x

Amen

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

Cyberpunk Tunnel

London, UK

x

God through Sleepy Eyes

(x = space)

x

x

God through Sleepy Eyes

x

God through sleepy eyes

I ask for this or that:

For health for my family

Keeping safe my friends

Even my enemies

(safe and far from me)

For some peace everywhere

In the world

And on the other side of sky

For a good day tomorrow

And a pony

(scratch the pony—wait,

now I’m scratching it

between the ears)

There is or should be

More but I am sleepy

And the day is ending

I’ll think of more

Tomorrow

In the new day

In the seconds

As you give them,

As I remember or I don’t

To pray for them

Thank you

And I pray

You have a good night, too

x

C L Couch

x

x

We were on the road in the Dolomites the day before the lunar eclipse with our van when we found out that we are very close to an observatory. We headed off there the next day and took this awesome picture on top of the mountain.

Photo by Niklas Priddat on UnsplashUntereggerhof, Cornedo All’isarco, Italy

x

Prayers for Alan Alexander

(x = space)

x

x

Prayers for Alan Alexander

x

Yesterday was A. A. Milne’s birthday

I didn’t know

And didn’t learn

Before posting time

(which sounds like horses

on the track

sorry, horses)

Anyway and, oh, bother

For not knowing

x

Nothing new to pray for

Regarding supplication,

I suppose,

Except that A. A. be welcomed

Into heaven

And his boy who died some years

After and for us

Some years

Ago

And that both and all

Go on to play in

The Hundred Acre Wood

Until it’s time for honey

Then rest upon the bridge,

Followed by

Trudging up the stairs

To bed

x

C L Couch

x

x

Sunset in the forest.

Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash

Poland

x

Petition under Glass

(x = space)

x

x

Petition under Glass

x

Liturgy is fine

Laid there year by year

Sunday by Sunday

Or Saturday, if chosen

Sometimes daily

Or whenever

x

We pick the pages up

And they have meaning

x

We follow nothing

When we sit

Or lie or stand

And weep the words

That matter more

x

For being nothing set

In stone,

A book resting upon wood

All consecrated,

But what pouring from

The heart

Like rain or wine

Mattering more,

x

The living need

The urgent cry

To God

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Bianca Berg on Unsplash

x