Two Poems

 

Tim Murphy

 

 

 

 

Detoxification

 

 

A muffled song freezes in the flowering night,

the felt swell of dying dreams invades my skin;

mild madness seesaws in stony silence,

waves of shimmering rain meet my burning teeth;

a gleaming moment challenges the dark horizon,

invisible hysteria weaves around my impatient arm.

 

Vile whispers resound in voracious sadness,

remnants of panic pour from my parched pupils —

yet the debris of cascading delusion delivers me

and a quirk of cool delirium carries me home.

 

 

 

 

Night Map

 

 

ravers of the ancient night

when you spy a woman

pulling through glorious fingers

the empty brightness of her eyes

if then you also detect

above a valley

bluebirds dancing in electric light

and pick up signals too

from the cacti

you tend and love

by these portents you will know

that you are not yet

come to morning

 

 

“Night Map” is modeled after Jean Follain’s poem, “Signes pour voyageurs”, which appears in English translation by W.S. Merwin [“Signs for Travelers”] in Transparence of the World (Copper Canyon Press, 2003).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Murphy is an Irish writer based in Spain.  His poems have appeared in journals such as Anthropocene, Snakeskin, Snapdragon, The Honest Ulsterman and NOON: a journal of the short poem.  His first collection is Mouth of Shadows (SurVision Books, 2022).  Tim Murphy at ē·rā/tiō

 

 


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