 Most
recently his poems have been published by Poetry New Zealand,
Poetry Scotland, The Warwick Review (UK), Istanbul Literature
Review (Turkey), The Paris Atlantic Journal (France), The
American Dissident (US), The Tampa Review (US), Left Curve (US)
and The Stinging Fly (Ireland).
Mark A. Murphy
17 Ridge Close
Primrose Hill
Huddersfield
West Yorkshire
HD4 6DT
UK
Seven Lines for Hannes Alfven
What turns? The earth turns. Without God.
The universe turns. Without God.
Love turns. Without God. The universe is infinite, if you like.
Love is infinite. If you do not like read your Einstein,
no one knows for sure, outside the meta-galaxy
if such a concept can be grasped,
the meta-galaxies proliferate forever, without God.
Immolation
Wear your long hair up with your Celtic barrette
now as the little dove flies from the cedar tree at Nickerson
Let it tell the world of a girl tortured by death
feasting on her breasts as she reaches for salvation
death as real as any vulture watching the pot-bellied infant
the kill that does not stop for any dialogue
death that denounces any reason
the kill with no intent, beyond the suicide of a girl
seated in a tree swing
Love, wear your long hair up with your Celtic hair clip
as I undress you, one more time, upon my knees.
Photograph March 5th, 1960 or Condemned to be Free
Where are Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir?
Alberta Korda cut them out
preferring instead to crop his image to frame the ill-fated, Che
Guevara.
Where indeed is Fidel Castro?
Korda shot Che from 25 feet away with Kodak-Plus X pan film.
Che looks determined as the Gurerellerio Heroica.,
implacable, a man without ego,
then Guevara is killed on October 9th, 1968
and the March photograph is set to become iconoclastic
beyond all comprehension. Revolutionaries, liberals,
conservatives
of all denominations court the portrait,
worn on shirts, badges, bags, all manner of regalia.
Korda disparaged all money from the reproduction of his famous
portrait,
 and
though Guevara overcomes his nausea
at his impending execution,
the viscosity of life, the godless universe,
Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir never face the firing
squad.
For the Future
My lady will come
ahead of you who would scorn me,
you who would knock me to the ground,
opposing my verse, opposing my thinking.
In from the cruel night
alive with love and love’s indulgence–
she will come into my meagre house
without any thought of leaving.
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