molten blue and amethyst

by

Christina Murphy

molten blue and amethyst Nereids

decorated with borders of sky and sea;

this is how the heart knows longing

and accepts moments of chaos in between

let random wisps of vapor form the clouds

into images of magical creatures;

let the colors of the sun mend all grief

from dust to dust into twilight

for the vine clings only as long as

the tree survives, and the beginnings of

closure are cobbled together into visions that

break the encasements of flames and loss

the counterpoint of the visible is silence,

as the hopes and fallacies of desire sparkle

like so much stardust at the peripheries of time

as sea nymphs gather near some axis real or imagined

Christina Murphy’s poems appear in a wide range of journals and anthologies, including, in PANK, La Fovea, Pear Noir! and Hermeneutic Chaos Literary Journal, and in the anthologies Let the Sea Find its Edges, edited by the distinguished Australian poet, Michael Fitzgerald-Clarke, and in Remaking Moby-Dick, edited by Trish Harris and published by EU Art Line. Her work has been nominated multiple times for the Pushcart Prize and for the Best of the Net Anthology. 

Roots 

Born from a seed,

My foundation begins from well below.

I hold the earth in my feet

And expel the atmosphere from my lungs.

The wind and rain batter my soul,

But I remain strong, less a few dead leaves,

A haven to the needy and less fortunate,

And a shelter to the homeless.

Often neglected and abused,

But the dead wood is shed.

More powerful I grow,

And more useful I become.

Across the world my ancestors traveled,

Yet here my place remains,

A beacon to the lost

And a champion to the uncertain.