Two Poems
Rich Murphy
From Regional Reason to Sublime
“From birth to death we Indians are enfolded in symbols as in a blanket.”
— Lame Deer
Facing space time, to recognize the fabric
from local organization perspectives,
transforms the volunteer
so that now stretches to envelop all.
Big Ben and Time Square,
thanks for the service.
Cities, home-furnishings, and toolboxes
lose lore and lure for the enlisted
threads woven from the looming.
The once goods Samaritan drops
from the blue to become the dilated alien
where Earthlings wearing glasses
cry for help using pliers and silverware.
A fraying fiber reaches out from the dark
to warm the blinded panic hoarding
and holding gravitational pull
that won’t loosen the tug though lifetimes grip.
Here past and tomorrow teem up,
perhaps a blanket … maybe enfolded.
Culture Revision
Numberless technicians stretched
for the lightbulb beyond reach
to change the mind for civilization.
Though all the major cities
across the continent applauded
at the twisting that ended with a shout,
the shock to the ladder climber
and stool stepper zapped
into a dance trend merely.
Almost poets march through schools
enrolling rhyming and rhythm
with drum majors who beat
the daylight from selfish thinking.
Wrong! But getting close.
The capacity to suffer tests
at the sound bow for bell clapper
living and learning in the cosmos.
New language and symbols
by conscious lens crafters
embed through assumption
in news, manuals, and small talk,
another artificial glow for an epoch.
Rich Murphy’s Footholds was published at Cyberwit in India in September 2023. First Aid was published by Resource Publications at Wipf and Stock in summer of 2023. Meme Measure, a collection of poems, was published by Resource Publications in 2022. His poetry has won The Poetry Prize at Press Americana twice for Americana (2013) and The Left Behind (2021) and Gival Press Poetry Prize for Voyeur (2008). Space Craft by Resource Publications also came out in 2021. Books Prophet Voice Now, essays by Common Ground Research Network and Practitioner Joy, poetry by Resource Publications were published in 2020.