Yvette R. Murray
Two Poems
State v.
One hand can lift up life
as well as take.
All that is needed is.
One to be as true as
blue cannot be
if all is all
that they
see.
One hand can take a life
is the asphalt rhyme.
All that is needed is.
One to exist blackly
in Metropolis,
down home down,
any street, anywhere, any,
any
The Hand of
Is one hand all
to save a life. a heart. beat.
All that is needed is.
Five fingers. Oh. Five?
A just hin, honest scales,
bring some light,
hand him some hot tea,
drink.
All one hand can
play is one song. Is.
All that is needed is.
Unbalanced forces
The. Take. Kill. Shoot.
Of thee I
die there. Right
there.
A Geechee Death: Vallejo
Why, of course, I will die in Charleston
on a cobblestone street wearing one
high heeled patent leather shoe
because it had just stopped raining
and the cobblestones were still slippery.
South Carolina, not West Virginia!
Pearl of the South.
And I shall eat boiled peanuts from a sweetgrass basket
on my way to Condon’s to get me another shoe!
Where I will finally be able to stick my actual foot
into the shoe before I buy it. Imagine!
I will get caught up in a parade with the Burke High School
marching band even though I left my instrument
in my empty home on an empty shelf that is itself empty.
But my stomach will still be full from the peanuts.
A fried jumbo shrimp and his lover will come walking
towards me on Broad Street.
Such a lovely couple.
We will chat briefly.
They will expound upon preferring stationary bikes
to the treadmill.
Yvette R. Murray will insist on having the “R” in her name
on her tombstone because that’s what she has always done.
On that afternoon it will again start raining.
This time cats and dogs. Frogs will sing
“Oh, Happy Day” because Yvette is gone, gone, gone
though not until the sun comes out pulling
steam from the concrete.
The devil will chase his wife.
All on a Thursday.
Yvette R. Murray received her B.A. in English from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has been published in Fall Lines, The Petigru Review, Catfish Stew, Genesis Science Fiction magazine, and on www.agatheringtogether, and www.akashicbooks.com. She is a 2019 Pushcart Prize nominee. Presently, she is working on her first poetry collection and a children’s book series.