Shelia Murphy

Portrait: E

Hair a tease of auburn
cut short so the ears show.
Eyebrows appear sketched.
One, slightly more artistic.
A slight wry smile as though 
she is thinking of a bright retort. 
Left eye wide, right slightly lower.
Her skin an off-white 
cream foundation with 
a tiny wrinkle.

 

Tendre Croppes

Spare me Midwestern gray
the opposite of heyday 
in my heart resistant
to lingering near dark.

I look for shoots along
the western roadside. I cannot
spare weak light within.
I translate myself to you

well within hearing, I think 
you know to enjoy 
the small things with me,
hold them in common. 

Yesterday for the first time, 
we chimed. It was a sunlit day. 
Paved with simplicity, the belief
that practice makes sure.

Projection

Don't magnificat me despite some fictitious longing 
you think you see. Longing won't translate to another's 
dance. I won't call it journey. Hate that word.
I hear gurney. Table for two-timing proper nouns 
that flummox me. Improper gestures as proxy to
some commercial blast from history: You'll wonder 
where the yellow went. Cement's its own abrasive 
punishment. I knew two guys who went to China 
to teach pavement. Paved roads decimate meditation 
while depicting surface calm. Is there a Ram Dass 
in your demeanor? Serve don't swerve 
in another direction. Defection hurts the cause, 
if just because. Don't magnificat me 
out of my longing. 

 

Some Day

We moved in almost
completely, except for
several shelves all in 
one room I could not 
face. We keep that
door closed. Some day.

I don't know what keeps
me from digging in
and shucking what must
be discarded as if
in a poker game. 

I blame myself for not
un-filling the shelves. 
My idea of wealth 
is empty space 
inside the house, ready
to fill but never filled. 

The best gifts are invisible
or no more palpable 
than books. And books, too,
get in the way. 

I love looking 
at what is not
there. An affair 
of the upstart heart.

 

Sheila E. Murphy. Work has appeared in Poetry, Hanging Loose, Fortnightly Review, and numerous other journals. Forthcoming: Escritoire (Lavender Ink), October Sequence 52-122 (Chax Press), and an as-yet untitled collection from Unlikely Books. Most recent book: Permission to Relax (BlazeVOX Books, 2023). Received the Gertrude Stein Award for Letters to Unfinished J. (Green Integer Press, 2003). Was awarded the Hay(na)ku Book Award from Meritage Press (2018). Resides in Phoenix.