I have transitioned from oak and ice
To saguaros with kiss flowers at their tops
It keeps being June again I walk in flare temperatures
recalling lush green boughs above midwestern driveway
Mock orange bushes cushioning familiar yard
The identical moon shines down upon me here
Christening me for listening to heat a form of privacy like snow
Rain dreams down within our hidden psyches
_______
Poems have appeared in Poetry, Hanging Loose, Fortnightly Review, and numerous others. Most recent books are Permission to Relax (BlazeVOX Books, 2023) Murphy received the Gertrude Stein Award for Letters to Unfinished J. (Green Integer Press, 2003). Reporting Live from You Know Where (2018) won the Hay(na)Ku Poetry Book Prize Competition.
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