Quotidian
No, I said.
I would not
Like that.
I held
still. The offer
on the table
stalled. He walked.
I stayed
apart. He started
thought and speech.
I heard. One word.
Born on the Cusp of July
Is it officially monsoon yet
Are we about to be hush wet
Showering constantly repeatedly
Pre- and post-walk the east
Valley husky with loaded clouds
And hail and winds and gloom
Confirming gravity all very
Garlicy and fraught
In Cherrapunjee, India, rainfall
Lasted 86 consecutive days imagine
Arizona like that no broom sturdy enough to
Push away the ruins lodged
Between repeat signs on the
Page
Hush Puppies
Hush puppies on the soles
of the feet of David Ignatow
at the podium one foot atop the other.
Warm young safe shoes. Hush
puppies belonging to David Ignatow
He spoke in plain tones that rose
in the carpeted auditorium
where students would go to hear
poetry slide into the tonal registers
of daily life. Hush puppies below the soft cuffs
of the trousers of David Ignatow
a gentle plow through speech allowed
its reach from his matter of fact
voice that cared. A flock of early voices
honored him flapped their wings locating their
span.
The Jugular Is Blotched
Within-ness tends to thin. From afar
Someone ekes out an expletive
Ripe as shame. Justice, meanwhile
Scampers out the back by way of
The loose screen door rattling proof
Of departure, in haste and how
Left behind one probably is.
Punch lists Judy as his
Executrix, meanwhile the bottler
Keeps things going and flowing.
Included in a firm punch list
A scattergram quotidian enough
Not to bother with a pinata plump and
Strikable
Cognitive Dissonance 2
I say I’m busy
I’m always busy
Being busy but
I am doing something
Defining I’m always
Listening to myself
Learn it’s just that
In your view
I’m not busy at all
Because I’m not
Going anywhere
With you
Sheila E. Murphy’s most recent book is Permission to Relax (BlazeVOX Books, 2023). Awards: Gertrude Stein Poetry Award for Letters to Unfinished J and the Hay(na)ku prize for Reporting Live From You Know Where (Meritage Books, 2018).