Poetry
Nathaniel Murphy

Photo Credit: Cristina Corti

Worldly Responsivity

triumphant
like dandelions on the lawn
I sing beauty
through the destruction
of serenity
sending hopeful winces
like schadenfreude embraces
down otherwise conservative spines

resplendent
like long curves
in the fold of
smooth afternoons
hazy and nostalgic
for another face
that seemed to have
meant something then

illustrious
like the name of the one
who slips through
mercury synapses
I leave traces
in futurity
like clues to find
your way home

zealous
like the newborn
hunting for speech
letting sensations
rot vacant
in memories misshapen
yet formed
with a precision
like gold

tenuous
like backwards narratives
wove around
diachronic clocks
that tick millennially
or not at all

giveaways

free quilts on the sidewalks
might smell a little musty
but they are full of
life and old winters
and quite frankly
shyness only gets
you so far

Another Night Together

We will dance ourselves
beyond
what we thought sustainable…
where we imagined
the limits of oblivion to be
standing there naked
trying to pretend new skins
trying to lend
each other light
beyond what we previously thought necessary
to behold one another longer
than mirages in animation
teasing out old thoughts
along the circumference of
a life still beholden
to what is beyond
the essence of trite distant fairy tales
where I win you win we win
and in the end
there is nothing left
but dancing beyond

Nathaniel Murphy is a stay-at-home father of four sons. He is a recent BA recipient in Philosophy from California State University Fullerton and will be entering the PhD for Comparative Literature program at University of California Irvine in the fall. Email: nmurphy3[at]me.com