Sheila E. Murphy


Weather Sestina

It’s time the cat came in from weather.
We earn our happiness behind closed doors.
A rectangle of a flashing story holds our eyes.
I stay in the mood to watch you watch
uneven spatters of storied deception
we summarily hash out again.

Everything we do we plan to do again
within the confines of this monsoon weather.
Despite predictions, we agree there is deception
by authorities who function behind doors.
We pretend them out of thinking as we watch
the evolution of a story in their eyes.

No matter what emerges from twinned pairs of eyes,
people who know declare we will repair again
to safety where the planets are available to watch.
But viewing differs under every weather.
We tell ourselves we are protected by the doors,
to keep from falling prey to a deception.

I know how weather people are with water, a deception
rimmed around their darting eyes.
If only there were open doors
to foster coming in and going out again
to find agreement about weather
and help us form decision trees to watch.

Once we have called the cat, then we can watch
what neighbors do to maintain the deception
of predictability in weather
that begins to bring out allergies in eyes.
We go through rituals and Kleenex again,
making sure to close the windows and the doors.

Whose idea was it to buy French doors?
Now we have agreed we have to watch
the traffic and sidewalks again
to keep out the deception,
verify the safety with our own eyes
as the desert serves us weather.

For now, we must avert all semblance of deception.
It is not enough simply to watch
amid this variable and seasoned weather.



Ghazal for Here

Op cit’s from the Galatians baby, let the pastor go.
For lamentation’s breathy trill and middle age is slow.

Dapper gents are dime a doz’ and wicked boring low.
Better take the plunge to find a glistening young doe.

Tempt cash out of the register and let your feelings glow
Let winter pass and lose the gloves and tender what you sow.

Swirl through totem taciturn authorities in tow.
And give yourself some wiggle room and hit the old dance flo’.

Eternity’s a big blue bag of epicentral flow.
So get your moxie flowering, put on a gorgeous show.

Be quick to cue temptation, bring it on right in a row
Allure the mirror images to come transcend each beau.

Transubstantiate the outtakes, chafe the status quo
Align again with wilderness amass the art of glow.



Pantoum for Autumn

The lonely ones arrive and do not leave.
Listen to pond light carry stages of deflection.
I think I am mimetically in love.
Against the grain go dove tones from past lives.

Listen to pond light carry stages of deflection.
When an opening arrives, be sure to ping a candidate.
Against the grain go dove tones from past lives.
Professors emeriti hold fast to offices and documents.

When an opening arrives, be sure to ping a candidate.
Photosynthesis reveals new hope for the faithful.
Professors emeriti hold fast to offices and documents.
A hall pass may have seemed my fondest wish.

Photosynthesis reveals new hope for the faithful.
What kind of feather floats from a mid-level branch?
A hall pass may have seemed my fondest wish.
One daylight not the same as any other.

What kind of feather floats from a mid-level branch?
The power of reasoning leaves many wanting.
One daylight not the same as any other.
Optimize the granular experience before it fades.

The power of reasoning leaves many wanting
Metrics taste of virgin olive oil.
Optimize the granular experience before it fades.
The Amalfi Coast reflects an inner warmth.

Metrics taste of virgin olive oil.
Rapport descends to factual material.
The Amalfi Coast reflects an inner warmth.
How can a Lazy Susan match rotating crops?

Rapport descends to factual material.
I think I am mimetically in love.
How can a Lazy Susan match rotating crops?
The lonely ones arrive and do not leave.




Sheila E. Murphy's recent books include Reporting Live from You Know Where (Meritage, i.e. Press, and xPress(ed), 2018), As If to Tempt the Diatonic Marvel from the Ivory (Broken Sleep Books, 2018), and Underscore (Luna Bisonte Prods, with K.S. Ernst, 2018).
 
 
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