Bird Fame

The angels puff out chest

feathers and turn up noses

at the bread crumb legacies

that pigeons poke and peck at

while circling park benches.

Cocked halo gestures would

pluck from hearts harp images

in Hansel and Gretel heads.

Good faith spirits in guys and gals

for whole lifetimes and artists,

gambling that a canvas or statue

beats the clock, sun, moon, Milky

Way and the expanding universe,

wing it at an international

Olympic breath holding games.

Filling each life with homemade

meaning so that purpose drives

the body/mind auto systems

through each day and night,

the key to the vehicle then drops

into the dark between the stars.

About the Author

Rich Murphy grew up in Lynn, MA where his drive to become a writer, a poet, began early. He believes that daily practice is Wile E Coyote chasing the Road Runner, and at some point, the practitioner runs alone off a cliff without emerging from the bottom of the canyon. Who knows, some of the products of practice may survive.

His latest collections, Elephant by Bass Clef Books, Storage Shed and Inside Stories by Resource Publications and Mind of Europe: A Genealogy to The Fat Man and Susan Constant by Cyberwit were published 2024-2025, following First Aid and Footholds (2023).


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