saints

(x = space)

x

x

saints

(1 november 2020)

x

small-s day

and tomorrow

today is for the living

who keep churches going

tomorrow for the dead

who have done their work

and now have

new assignments

the capital-s people are here

as well and will be busy

on both days

if the doctrine is correct

though they should know

who they are

it’s the other ones

the ones without an alphabet

to support them

it’s, well, you and me

and everyone who’s interested

and busy

not for the sake of busyness

but the sake of her

and him

and animals

and earth

and everyone in need

x

that is the ministry of saints

the living who will

slide over to the next

day for all souls

when it’s time

tragic or a relief

finally to sleep a while

before the call

a clarion perhaps

to wake us all

into revelation and the next course

of energy and will

saints and souls

to keep it intimate for now

and cosmic later on

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by nina staer nathan on unsplash

bali, indonesia

x

Rescue Me

Rescue Me

 

Once, I was in trouble

It was fixed, I don’t know how

Someone appeared

 

And kept the fall from hurting worse

Somehow in fact

Abbreviated all the crisis

 

Pulled my substance

Soul-enfleshed

Back from the next edge, so

 

That I might go home

One more time that day

And with my spirit

Lean into tomorrow

 

I don’t think the saints are gone

Or angels, either

Like the elves from Middle-Earth

 

We won’t need

White shores

While we are defended, now

 

C L Couch

 

 

Georgia National Guard from United States – Air Rescue, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70915161

 

The Way

The Way

 

Saints and sinners

We need them both

Maybe it’s just me

I can’t be saintly as a rule

And sinning is too easy

 

Yet the yoke must be easy

The rule must be a way

Not only to do better but

To be reminded there are

Better ways

 

And sinning? I don’t know,

It could be easier, too, in

Its own way

Less costly

Maybe the Catholics are on to

Something with venial and mortal

 

I am mortal

So are you

Saintly and sinly are what we have

We are

 

Saintly too severe

Sinning too lazy, until it becomes

Too close to all there is

 

Asking why

Might not help so much

We have these ways

The issues, consequence, and

Choices

Though I doubt we’ll say, Today

I’ll sin this way

Then devout an hour later

I imagine this works out, anyway

 

And since it does

Well, maybe there’s reality

We can’t define one against the other

I doubt we can place the essences

In Erlenmeyers, drink from one flask

Or the other from time to time

 

We have to live now

And sometimes we’ll be good

Sometimes not so much

We have both, we are

Measures of prayer and pardon, too

The way it is

It’s Monday

Must move on with what we have

Turning the needle toward the better way

Understanding when the dial slips

And we must live in contrition

For a while

 

It’s what we have, it’s what we are

It’s how we live in four dimensions

Adding time and maybe soul

For fifth-dimension living

It has to be well enough

To get us into Tuesday

 

All of it

There is no other way

And is this way so bad?

Yes, sometimes it is

 

Then we are needed:

To employ discretion through

All the parts

The substances

The issues

All the matters

 

Our way through

The best we can,

The best we will

 

C L Couch

 

 

Skitterphoto / 2097 images

Pixabay

 

All at Once Everywhere

All at Once Everywhere

(for Christmas day, anytime)

 

It’s a holiday everywhere

Except where it’s not

Sometimes in some places that

Is normal

Some places not so much

 

Where there is suffering

Where there is illness without comfort

Where there is nothing but alone

 

And, you know,

Christ came for these

An infant will grow up into infinity

We will treat him horribly

He will return, because he loves us

More than that

He is here

He is with us, now

And all the angels

With the saints

That’s us

 

C L Couch

 

 

suesnyder722 / 8 images

https://pixabay.com/en/frost-winter-morning-snow-season-633826/

 

Living Church

Living Church

(all saints day)

 

I sing a song of the saints of God

Small s people

Some of the names we know

Many, many, many

We will not

But this is their day

Your day

A day for living in the church

For the church

The kirke

The iglesia

Is people, translated

And without translation

Who could know?

Another song mentions a spark

But really it takes a fire

A fire on the inside

Enflaming eyes and ears

The touch, the taste, the word

Senses made alive

We burn together

Heritage and prophecy

Say so

It is the living church in irony,

For fire consumes

It can be used in punishment

Or condemnation

It makes a pillar for a promised people

Its clouds guiding by night

Set fire in the only safe and saving way

The saints of God are led

And leading

Keep us going

Take us there

 

C L Couch

 

 

Isabella Thomas (right) and Starla Williams-Neeley chat while serving the annual Thanksgiving dinner at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Milwaukee. Lynnda Guyton (center) organized this year’s meal. Also serving were (from left) Mary Banks and Denzel and Jasmine Tidmore. Credit: Kristyna Wentz-Graff

Free Meals Make Thanksgiving for Many in Milwaukee

http://archive.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/free-meals-make-thanksgiving-for-many-in-milwaukee-v036kfj-134474133.html

November 24, 2011

Don Behm reporting

 

canonized

canonized

(days for all saints)

 

a process for remembering

those who live the

faith

in a church that is

a canticle of memory

 

who slips out, unseen

after the formal part is

done

to work a holy thing that

none of us will

know

 

there is a record, maybe

doesn’t matter

we sense without consciousness

that something good

happened

 

and there will be re-collecting

of it in the sharing of

all our legacies

 

C L Couch

 

Our Lady

Our Lady

(12 December, the Solemnity of Guadalupe)

 

The roses fell

Into his cloak made

Of rough cloth

He took the flowers

To the priest who

Wanted proof before

Believing him

And in the lady

 

Man of Aztec culture

And holy woman

So hard to believe

 

Might all our miracles

And visitations

Go over so easily

For fleshly saints

And innocents

 

C L Couch