Poetry of Gloria G. Murray
Gloria Murrays chapbook can be purchased via: http://www.gggm.8k.com or e-mail glmurra@suffolk.lib.ny.us
JUST LIKE THE STUMP
from that old maple--
digging and tearing
you ripped me
out of your heart
one whole month
you worked on that tree
in the blistering August sun
until your fingers bled
and the skin pulled away
from the bone
and the veins in your neck
bulged into purple twisted vines
I took longer--
thirty-five years
tugging and wrenching
until you could break
open those roots
until you could dig out that earth
and close up the hole
where once I had stood
with long, leafy arms
and nest of birds in my hair
. . . . . . . .
ROLLER COASTER
it makes you dizzy
the ups & downs
the soaring to the sky
the plummeting to erth
the screams
the wind rushing through hair
the eyes wild with fear
and excitement
it reminds you of life
how it straps you in
how it jerks you around
how it makes you sick
how you'd vomit
if you didn't
have to clean it up
. . . . .
FEMINISMN
we are fragmented women
walking the narrow, cobbled streets
of desperation--
a baby under one arm
a resume under the other
.............Gloria g. Murray
LITTLE WOMEN
for Pam
my daughter wants bigger bones
instead of the small fragile ones
she inherited from me
she wants to become
an amazon woman
lift men off this planet
and whirl them to the moon
I tell her--
we are little women
need men to carry our baggage
build our nests
hunt our prey
she is angry that I gave her
willowy arms
breasts that ache
a womb that opens
leaving its crimson trail
across the earth
I tell her--
O daughter, wear your womanhood
like a proud banner in the sun
even the smallest bird can fly
and the root of the Bonsai
is stronger than the oak
I can't repeat what she tells me
. . . . .
WALKING ON EGG SHELLS
is what Iearned
instead of tap
or twirling on my toes
. . . . .
copyright 1999. ggm