MMW

markmurphywrites.com

Category: Poetry

  • Why Use a Typewriter?

    Why use a typewriter? 

    Pushing down a key 

    Feeling the tactile response 

    Seeing the striker rise 

    Hearing the paper pop 

    Watching a character appear 

    Feeling the carriage slide 

    Waiting for the margin bell 

    Knowing it will all happen again 

    With each and every touch 

  • Heavy Things

    The things I carry feel heavy

    Slowing my steps 

    Forcing me to negotiate 

    Lugging it all around 

    Just stay in today 

    Each year things feel heavier 

    My head aches

    My joints learn a new pain 

    So why not set something down 

    Do I need this heavy thing 

    Or that one 

    My body moves better

    A little less burden 

    My mind has calmed

    Hard to perceive at first 

    I continue forward 

    Leaving more things as I go 

    My body is still getting older 

    Some days some things hurt 

    I’ve left several heavy things 

    Fleeting memories 

    No weight to them 

    More clarity 

    My body free 

  • Dreams of Love

    What do I lose

       to love with all of my heart 

    Am I worried 

       that I’ll miss out on more 

    Of more and more 

    Am I saving 

       part of my heart in fear 

    The fear of pain 

       to love and lose again 

    Again and again 

    Or do I lust 

       after a fleeting dream 

    A dream of love 

       that is without hard work 

    Work and more work 

    Why not just love 

       you with all of my heart 

    Knowing I will 

       lose and have pain and fear 

    Dream loving dreams 

  • Taking Flight

    Who ever thought of taking flight?
    Those who were born without wings.
    It makes no sense to leave the ground
    Chasing foolish dreams.

    The gods took flight and only got burned,
    Surely mortals would never fly.
    The Renaissance brought failed designs,
    Structures impossibly heavy for the sky.

    Then mechanics from a city bike shop,
    Two brothers and a foolish team.
    Set out for some remote sandy dunes
    With wood, fabric, an engine, and a dream.

    Today we assume everyone takes flight,
    The entitlement of people to travel.
    But no one will venture beyond the sun,
    A problem too difficult to unravel.

  • Out of the Blue

    I can’t explain why airplanes
    sometimes fall out of the sky.
    Even after half a lifetime
    spent learning to fly.
    Aerodynamics, meteorology,
    jet engines, and hydraulics.
    Oxygen, electrical systems,
    fuel and avionics.

    Fortunate to attend,
    lucky to complete training.
    Spent a season flying the around world
    and complaining.
    Then I got called back
    to where it all began.
    Creating new aviators
    from pedestrians.

    I’ve been rolled upside down
    by mistake.
    But my plane flew out of it
    once clear of the wake.
    One autopilot tried diving us
    straight into the ground.
    But emergency procedures kicked in
    and we went around.

    So why do some airplanes
    simply break apart?
    Raining down with men and women
    dear to my heart.
    Watching the flight recorder
    and hearing the tape.
    Why did God chose them
    but let me escape?

    Billions of dollars
    and millions of hours.
    Over-engineered
    and often over-powered.
    But sometimes things go wrong
    and good people die.
    And I cry out loud
    and still wonder why God, why?

  • Morning Formal Brief

    Time hack zero five hundred

    Anxiety runs high for students in the room

    Instructors sit back waiting on perfection

    We hear weather and notices to air mission

    Aircraft systems and the emergency procedure of the day

    Students squirm while the instructors grow bored

    Zero five thirty and the formalities must end

    It’s time to brief individual flights

    The takeoff schedule waits on no one

  • Icy Glare

    The wind blows over the frozen streets,

    The ice pellets raining down in sheets.

    The dark before dawn broken by the street lights,

    The howl of the wind as it cuts and it bites.

    I stoke the ashes and watch the flames grow,

    I hold my coffee tight and glare out the window.

  • Winter break has come to an end

    Winter break has come to an end

    The morning rush inside the house

    Shuffling bags and papers and lunches

    How did we ever get into the car on time?

    Traffic converges on helpless schools

    Parents jockeying for the perfect drop off spot

    And in a flurry of byes and I love you’s

    Winter break has come to an end

  • Risking

    We all take risks in life

    Our first step, our first bike

    The chase of something bigger

    We all fell, we all failed

    Most of us took more risks

    Our first love, our first sip

    The need to feel something more

    We got burned, we got bored

    Some of us stopped taking risks

    Our safe job, our safe house

    The thought of being stable

    We were content, we were conformed

    Few of us recalculated the risk

    Our dream life, our dream land

    The purpose realized and sought

    We fought, we found

  • Simple Gifts

    What do I want for Christmas?

    my children gather ’round to ask.

    Come closer and I’ll tell you,

    putting the little one on my lap.

    My son guesses a pocket knife,

    all those boxes to open and fold.

    My daughter guesses aftershave,

    so I don’t smell quite so old.

    Those gifts are all nice, I say,

    and maybe some dark chocolate, too!

    But all I ever really want for Christmas,

    are hugs and handmade cards from you.