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markmurphywrites.com

Category: Poetry

  • What’s On Your Mind at 3am?

    Cold spring night 

    Wake from shallow sleep 

    Dreams were gentle 

    But busy 

    Mind is chaotic 

    Frantic thoughts dance around 

    Deep breaths to find rest 

    No use 

    Tiptoe down stairs 

    Hot pot of coffee 

    Unable to focus 

    Too early 

    Search for a pen 

    Open the journal 

    Writing for a cure 

    Or curse 

  • Cat Toots

    kitty tiptoes in

    a loud and triumphant wind 

    kitty toots begin 

    kitty erupts often

    powerful as an engine 

    kitty toots again

    kitty smells of salmon 

    before it gets under my skin 

    kitty toots end 

  • Running of the Bird

    The robin hears me coming 

    Long before I see him 

    He makes a run for it 

    Wings tucked tightly 

    Matchstick legs atwitter 

    Pausing to check my progress

    A small patch of ice ahead

    He does not recognize it 

    But I do 

    A slip and slide ensues 

    Tail feathers prevent a tumble 

    Back to his feet lightning fast 

    The matchstick scurry resumes 

    Robin weaves right

    I’m turning left 

    Why not take to flight, little bird?

  • 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.