By Sheila E. Murphy
Nights she does not drink, she lives through, watching television,
Talks about the drinking times before, the times to come.
A child stands at the frosted window, looking at the many
Things to count, too many to begin, so takes in color, shapes.
Words happen by accident, life may not be chosen, but occurs
Before being gathered up and spoken of, as though invented.
Framed mirror shows another side, retrieves what others see
And calls it something reductive, but a name.
What has grown is quiet now, the yard, on hiatus.
One can look there and forget occasions, all the dates, and times.
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Sheila E. Murphy. In 2020, Luna Bisonte Prods released Golden Milk. Murphy’s book titled Reporting Live from You Know Where (2018) won the Hay(na)Ku Poetry Book Prize Competition from Meritage Press (U.S.A.) and xPress(ed) (Finland). Broken Sleep Books brought out the book As If To Tempt the Diatonic Marvel from the Ivory (2018). Murphy is the recipient of the Gertrude Stein Award for her book Letters to Unfinished J. (Green Integer Press, 2003). As an active collaborator, she has worked with Douglas Barbour on an extended poem called Continuations. Initially educated in instrumental and vocal music, Murphy is associated with music in poetry. She earns her living as an organizational consultant and researcher and holds the PhD degree. She has lived in Phoenix, Arizona throughout her adult life.
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