Drastic Season

(x = space)

x

x

Drastic Season

x

Soon it will be Lent

Time to think

Of Jesus

For all the times

Out scatter-gun approach

(sheesh)

Hopes to hit the mark

x

Forty days

With time off

For Sundays

For Communion

For the Catholics,

A churchly kindness

x

Otherwise,

We count

And do not count

For who says

Well, today is Lent 19

When we have it

In a book

If we must know

x

No, the season moves

Slowly

(it’s even in the name)

And we wish

For Easter treats

Especially because

We might give up something

For these days

x

It is tradition

And some choose

Something that it’s

Helpful

(healthy)

To avoid for a time

If not forever

x

Something small

Like caffeine

Something bigger

Like adultery

Or other

Eldritch bond

The priest might say

If saying

That is mortal

Meaning uneternal

For our lives

x

My, that would be a season

Of such change

To right a wrong

And who decides

Not priest

Or even angel on the shoulder

But the motivation

Of one’s own

In time

x

And such a season

Angels would approve

Though the loss

Of what sin brings

Forever

Shall seem to hurt that way

For the while

While things change

For forty days

(now a dreadful count)

And fifty

And beyond

x

As the healthy sun

Lights from far

The mortal planet

That in renewal

Might have something better

In its molecules

And the un-atomed spirits

After judgment

Knowing joy

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

x

Slow Men

(x = space)

x

x

Slow Men

x

God bless slow men

(I don’t mean still waters)

Who are not evil

Who have sins in the past

And who knows

For the present

x

But do not move in haste

To rule the world

Or a part,

Who listen sitting down

Or walking ‘round the block

x

Who are not old

But take pleasure in

Slow ways

To make love

And have love, after

X

I might talk slow women

Except

They know the wisdom

When to be fast

When to be still

X

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Benjamin Smith on Unsplash

Rockford, United States

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

Slowdown Season

(x = space)

x

x

Slowdown Season

x

Lent could mean

Anticipation,

If we would allow for that

In the midst of conversations

About sacrifice

x

Having given up

On chocolate, we need

Something to talk about

How about why?

x

Sacrifice for its own sake

Being good,

Don’t get me wrong

Though we can

Say more

About the season

About church

About reading

About us

x

Lent means getting ready

Or it might

Lest we forget

Why we gave up the chocolate

Or the coffee

Or, I don’t know,

What do people give up

Nowadays?

(maybe screen time)

x

It seems we give up

Something somewhat bad

Somewhat good

Maybe it’s the excess

We surrender,

Which a good ancient Greek

Will say

Is always good

A lifestyle to adopt

x

Well, we’re not here

To parse

We’re here, in fact, because

We’re unified

We want one thing

Even if delivery

Is holiday disarray

x

We want a happy Easter

With rabbits

And eggs

(rabbits who lay eggs)

And back to chocolate

Like a former friend

Now reconciled

x

There is more

But it’s not mine to say

You must, must not

It is yours to say

To own a resurrection

Shown in nature

Told as story

A question and an answer

Of belief

It’s yours to say

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

Walk the Line

x

Lent 2

Lent 2

 

I need to slow down an anxious heart

Place it on the page

Start a new movement,

Lento, lento

 

Love and loss

I just heard those words

Spoken deeply by a woman

Respected deeply

Her low notes offer an easing of

Fast talking

Fast thinking

 

I have a whole season for everything

Take time

Forget or shelve at least

What’s too fast

Or bring it along, if that can’t be helped

But try to enter as fairly as possible

Maybe there will be a restful leavetaking

 

C L Couch

 

 

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