Sheila E. Murphy


The Wrong Answer

It was worded so artfully,

I desired to live

amid its plush moss in repose,

astride well-chosen words,

robust with accidental freshness

on the cusp of weathering, with resonance,

a lily in my fingers feeling firm as soap.

The window left small lighting

on imagined flowers

to relay the bounty of this grace.

I wanted truth to be replaced

by rote.

I wanted to be empty of exactness,

not beholden to Iscariot,

held to candle poise.

A constancy, regime, a litmus given holdings

of a stipulated quiet, small with gemstones.

Ultra-violet earth noise,

Livernois, undrunk.

Thinking the specious joys,

wildflower season known,

imposing blooms by other names,

soft silk, a feminine.

The concept yonder, whippoorwill,

a lodestone, any day now.

Blankly and

kissed open.

Embroidery Pantoum

Obbligato modifies plain speech
You hear canticles, and half retreat
Limber grass blades lose their specks of dew
Sunlight evaporates night light

You hear canticles, and half retreat
Prayer summers in a window box
Sunlight evaporates night light
Semitones enact the quaint vernacular

Prayer summers in a window box
Some fervent thinking magnifies vox populi
Semitones enact the quaint vernacular
A pictured heaven happens without warning

Some fervent thinking magnifies vox populi
You meander to the couch
A pictured heaven happens without warning
Sudden neighbors overtake the reasoned moon

You meander to the couch
Quite within earshot you learn ostensible monotony
Sudden neighbors overtake the reasoned moon
Topography reveals unplanned magnificence

Quite within earshot you learn ostensible monotony
Traps are good when there are lives to catch
Topography reveals unplanned magnificence
The upshot of a victory is simply victory

Traps are good when there are lives to catch
This magnifying glass arranges accidence
The upshot of a victory is simply victory
Remove your hesitation and become the earth

This magnifying glass arranges accidence
Limber grass blades lose their specks of dew
Remove your hesitation and become the earth
Obbligato modifies plain speech


Sheila E. Murphy is a prolific poet who has published numerous individual and collaborative books of poetry. Her book Letters to Unfinished J. appeared in 2003, and received the Gertrude Stein Award from Green Integer Press. Recent titles include Collected Chapbooks, Permutoria (with K. S. Ernst), How to Spell the Sound of Everything (with mIEKALaND), Quaternity (with Scott Glassman), Circumsanct and Reverse Haibun.

Since 1993 Murphy has led a consulting firm (now Sheila Murphy, LLC) that provides Customized Artistic Designs for public and private spaces; keynote speaking; and corporate consulting in Strategic Corporate Communication; Individual and Team Executive Advisement and Succession Planning.
 
 
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