Joseph
Murphy won the Eisner Prize for poetry in the early 1970s, UC
Berkeley’s highest award in the arts. He began writing again about 10
years and recently began sending his work out. He has been published in
The Tower Journal, Chantarelle’s Notebook, and Umbrella. Upcoming publications include SP Quill, WestWard Quarterly, and Pure Francis.
Joseph evokes both the terror of a dream and the power of a storm in
this poem. Read it on a stormy night when you can’t sleep.
The Long Night
By Joseph Murphy
The wind wouldn’t relent
That night the rain ended.
Redwood tops tossed
As I tossed about, unable to sleep.
Sight of a shear white beam
Focused my angst.
I bolted up; pitched
To the window.
My opponent: the moon
Splintered
By swaying limbs.
