Sheila E. Murphy
Chair
Look at the wood painted blue
kisses on both cheeks
a rabble roused inflection
spawns delinquent splash
of glitz and same
in equal measure
stilted tones to mime
intention coiled around an absent center
never enough windows
to invent transparency
only a word unpolished,
unconfirmed, withdrawn
and still in costume
throughout the hours of daylight
turned to frost and dusk
until accentual contentment frames the rest
Clyfford Still
Why yellow here
Why blood black
I just heard breath go new
In this aroma near sparks that sustain
I dry my hands of all your paint
The scant young semaphore still faint
I blush into the woodwinds I would play
Were it not for you and death and parity
Hay(na)ku
touch
a tercet
with bare hands
hold the flute
hostage just
once
listen
to retort
after retort, then
circumcise original intent
call it
something
else
do not
refer to it
at all, surmise
the present
tense
give
up your
virginity or symmetry
just shut up
for once
rescind
presumed
belief system
toss it out
to lusting wolves
consistency starved
for
genuflection
popcorn and
raw meat spoken
for by other
wolves unnamed
anything
surrender
the violin
when least convenient
hear ye hear
me all
year
vibrate
insurmountable neglect
at least once
truce
fervor loosens the weave
sweet soft arms clothed
in gentle threads of wool
made white from bleach
the land in parallel
achieves a peace
and many nights concede
to the intelligence
of leitmotif made thin
as ice yet warm
the small lane near
a pasture wide
and lavished with
inflection that means
avenues are poised
toward destinations combed
Sheila E. Murphy
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Chair
Look at the wood painted blue
kisses on both cheeks
a rabble roused inflection
spawns delinquent splash
of glitz and same
in equal measure
stilted tones to mime
intention coiled around an absent center
never enough windows
to invent transparency
only a word unpolished,
unconfirmed, withdrawn
and still in costume
throughout the hours of daylight
turned to frost and dusk
until accentual contentment frames the rest
Clyfford Still
Why yellow here
Why blood black
I just heard breath go new
In this aroma near sparks that sustain
I dry my hands of all your paint
The scant young semaphore still faint
I blush into the woodwinds I would play
Were it not for you and death and parity
Hay(na)ku
touch
a tercet
with bare hands
hold the flute
hostage just
once
listen
to retort
after retort, then
circumcise original intent
call it
something
else
do not
refer to it
at all, surmise
the present
tense
give
up your
virginity or symmetry
just shut up
for once
rescind
presumed
belief system
toss it out
to lusting wolves
consistency starved
for
genuflection
popcorn and
raw meat spoken
for by other
wolves unnamed
anything
surrender
the violin
when least convenient
hear ye hear
me all
year
vibrate
insurmountable neglect
at least once
truce
fervor loosens the weave
sweet soft arms clothed
in gentle threads of wool
made white from bleach
the land in parallel
achieves a peace
and many nights concede
to the intelligence
of leitmotif made thin
as ice yet warm
the small lane near
a pasture wide
and lavished with
inflection that means
avenues are poised
toward destinations combed
Sheila E. Murphy