World Water Day

(x = space)

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World Water Day

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Today is Water Day

And everyone deserves a drink

Of safe water

Drinks throughout the day,

In fact

Or, as my nephew used to say

When a child

Overhearing,

Drink up, Shriners

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That didn’t mean water

Though

We mean water

Accessible and easy

Without lead in

Flint

Or lack of pipes at all

In western Africa

Or flooding that makes pipe-works

Dangerous

Across the land

And ‘round the world

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Who digs wells,

Who makes the pipes

xxxxxLays them

xxxxxAnd keeps them?

Why, that would be us

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This is our responsibility

Since we decided that civilized

Is a good thing

Some thousands of years ago

Then when we discovered microbes

In the water

And later on

When we knew

We had

Polluted everything

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This is not nature

This is human

Our human responsibility:

Safe water for everyone

Everywhere we are—safe

And provided for

The things of nature,

Too

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Greed

Gets in the way

And inertia

But there is great energy

And energetic interest

In

Sating all agendas

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The time is needed, yes,

And

You know

The money

So give the money

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Let the people work;

Let all people drink;

It’s ethics,

Even anthropology

That is

Why the peoples of the Earth

xxxxxRise, maintain,

xxxxxOr fall

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Let’s have the world

Let’s have the world have water

First

Today

Into tomorrow

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C L Couch

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we may contribute to The Water Project (https://thewaterproject.org/) and similar, sound groups

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Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

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A Living Season

(x = space)

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A Living Season

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Food and water

Bread and wine

For mass

And other celebrations

After

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Liturgically,

We note salvation all the time

Symbolism’s good

The real things

Are better

When they meet our needs

To lift the worldwide press

Off a crushing world

(metaphor again

they teach)

Are better

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Symbolic food

Give actual food

Safe water in the present

Wine to seal the deal

For those who allow

As in that crass (unclassed) and useful way

We might worship

And also act in the world

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Give money from a distance

Distribute packages

Place clean rims of containers

Upon parched, maybe dying lips

When everything’s all right

We’re fit

To talk about the rest

Negotiate

For healthy people

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All this would make a season

Health is good for the economy

Living without

The need to bury

‘Til the righteous time

Worked into the primal design

And a pattern

For humanity

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That make us better

People for the moon and Mars

Keeping us whole

At home

A home to have

And to return to

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C L Couch

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Photo by Rebecca Matthews on Unsplash

My husband and I have begun a few new ventures after getting back to ‘normal’ from the house fire we suffered in Feb. this year. I now make handcrafted soap, and he bakes bread and cookies. Our new neighbors love us, as they get to enjoy the fruits of our labors!

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Dreaming Impossibly

(x = space)

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Dreaming Impossibly

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This is for real

But every now and then

I must imagine

Like one Lewis or the other

Things that cannot happen

Happening

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A hole

Through which

The world is further out

Horizons wider

Air that moves just right

Enhancing breath

Progressive fields

That do not have to tire

We can take them slowly

Discovering

Along the way

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Water we can take

It’s safe

And not worry

About returning

About returning overall,

Well, that’s another matter

After exploration

After delight

And rest

And learning

From this impossible day

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C L Couch

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Photo by Florian Rieder on Unsplash

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Cold Comfort

(x = space)

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Cold Comfort

(without irony)

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I’ve gone on before about

The cup of cool water

I mean it’s cool

And it’s water

And to offer it

Is so good

Is it easy?

In an applianced culture,

Maybe,

Where ice is a small push away

But in a desert land,

One must find the water

And if inside rock

The water might be cool

And we can offer it

To relatives

To friends

And strangers

Even adversaries

Enemies who might need

To drink first

Before starting negotiations

Or given simply because

The gift of water

Is small

Amazement

Brings peace to the home

And for any

Table

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C L Couch

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Photo by Ilya Plakhuta on Unsplash

Ukraine

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Declared

(x = space)

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Declared

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Here,

There’s food for energy

And water

I know, for many

An easy trip to the store

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War ruins this,

Of course,

There and by extension

My shopping receipts attest

All our bills

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There has been the war of greed

There and here

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Though

Away from war

Except for greed

I don’t have to fear for bullets

Or wait for other missiles small and large

Cry the air,

Find my flesh

Find yours

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The planet will reclaim

The Earth to wait

And us to judge

Well or poorly

The killing of each other

Loss

Hardship

And disease

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Our tries everywhere

To build

To know each other

Energize the world

Food

Water

Safety

A just ambition

Peace

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C L Couch

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Photo by Антон Дмитриев on Unsplash

Sunset in the exclusion zone.

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The Wonder Dog

(x = space)

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The Wonder Dog

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I used to let

The dog go

In the creek

Taking off the leash

Once we were behind

The houses

What a happy dog

Upstream was all right

There was freedom in that,

Too

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Muscles got used

That needed using

The shaking of the chain

Hanging in the closet meant

That

All this could happen

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Once released

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C L Couch

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Water Flowing over Rocks

Photo by Robert Zunikoff on Unsplash

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Give It Up

(x = space)

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Give It Up

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How childish

I sound to myself

When I think

Cynically

Cynical is futility

We have

Que será será

It is what it is

For defense

A shield from

Reality of change

Rather settling

Into the world’s wisdom

Trying on

The burden of

A chain

That has no chance

For change

No hope here,

Thank you

Only resignation

You want change,

Talk with

The cult meeting over

Somewhere

One side of the Galilean

Waters

Or the other

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C L Couch

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Photo by james ballard on Unsplash

Sea of Galilee, Israel

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The Ravens

(x = space)

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The Ravens

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The Ravens came to Elijah

Carrying food

In beaks or claws

They might have been confused

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The food they have

Is not for them

Or baby ravenlings

The (grown-up) ravens on a mission,

Nonetheless

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There is a prophet outcast

Alone and starving

We suppose there’s water near

(God says so)

But there is no food

No animal or plant at hand

Maybe Elijah

Isn’t a hunter, anyway

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Food is delivered

In spite of impulse

In spite of everything that

Should be natural

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The prophet

Will live on

There is a mission there

As well,

Having many words

To quote,

To deliver of his own

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C L Couch

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² Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: ³ “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. ⁴ You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”

⁵ So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

1 Kings 17 (NIV)

the entire passage tells of this miracle and others (2-16)

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Photo by Valdemaras D. on Unsplash

when I saw this, I was right away reminded of the story of Elijah and the ravens

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People Need

(x = space)

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People Need

(we need)

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Work

And salvation

Food and drink

Both safe

And a revival now and then

Safety itself

And companionship

Light in darkness

Not blinding

Not enigma

Shows the way

Only some direction needed

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A place to go to sleep

Maybe with others close by

To wake up in a medium

Of security

Here, we call it democracy,

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Which begs the first

And final matter

That is freedom

That we paid a paradise

To own

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C L Couch

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Photo by Matthew T Rader on Unsplash

Plano, TX, USA

A water drinking fountain with water flowing from it | Check out my blog: matthewtrader.com/unsplash

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