a poem and 4 haiku by Tim Murphy

Hamartia

In memoriam Sinéad O’Connor (1966–2023)

I too am prone to transforming into a gangsta bitch my deal is I get really extreme so if someone pushes me to the edge then I might threaten to rip the person’s head off and shove it down his or her open neck until it’s so lubricated with blood as to be unrecognizable and only fit for burning which isn’t very become-the-change-you-wish-to-see a positive version of which I try to practice otherwise I’m usually quite a peace-and-love type person but that doesn’t mean if I’m assaulted I turn the other cheek and as for the why of it all — well why do you think?

4 Haiku

a lost cat

runs along a quiet street

pathetic fallacy

*

a moon lizard chills

on the wabi-sabi garden wall

high humidity

*

old regrets

a budgerigar limps

into my backyard

*

orange juice gathers

on the kitchen knife blade

winter sun

____________

Tim Murphy is an Irish writer based in Spain. He is the author of four pamphlets, including There Are Twelve Sides to Every Circle (If a Leaf Falls Press, 2021) and Young in the Night Grass (Beir Bua Press, 2022). His first full-length collection is Mouth of Shadows (SurVision Books, 2022)