​

When the driveway collapses in a landslide    the second winter in a row   you sit in meditation

​

barbed arrow    of verbiage   

click-click abacus    algebra of ache  

the constant unseeable ahead 

 

through the wire fence     graceful 

invasion of native grasses and 

shoots of black acacia

 

in the tunnel of accidental

aloneness   tired and tried   walking

toward being     the flawed gorgeous 

 

resurgence of a tree that fell

between shoulders of house and shed

and the rocks are beginning to weep

​

​

​

​​Julie Murphy’s poems appear in Salt, The River Heron Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, Atlanta Review, Massachusetts Review, CALYX, Catamaran, SWWIM, and How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope. A psychotherapist and educator, she developed Embodied Writing™, a mindful approach to creative writing and taught at Salinas Valley State Prison. Julie is a member of the Community of Writers as well as The Hive Poetry Collective, which hosts a poetry show and podcast on KSQD as well as local poetry readings. Julie lives in Santa Cruz, California. 

​

​