In Vino Veritas

Funny thing is, I'd never even tasted it,
but Chartreuse was the first thing that came to mind,
looking up in my half-awakened state
at four or five yellow-green translucent beings
seeming to hover over the metallic table on which I lay.
Sounds ( presumably voices )
in a pitch I couldn't quite pin down -
vibrato, sometimes off the scale completely
but with a benign, not hostile tone.

My body numb, but not hospital-numb,
more a 'too much green liquor' floating sensation.
Futuristic diodes pointing fading honey-lime light
at various parts of my anatomy
indicated probing of some kind had taken place,
though I felt no pain or discomfort.
And their soothing Carthusian monk-chant
sounded like they were concerned, caring

... Anyways, there was an explosive firework sensation,
next thing I'm back in my car at the side of the road.
Dark as pitch, but somehow a tinge of luminous green
seeming to emanate from me, but fading.
Of course, no-one believed me, still don't,
so I don't talk about it anymore.

But since you asked, I had to explain
that I keep this bottle
for remembrance, not consumption.
Won't you have something else instead?
Creme-de-Menthe?  Benedictine?

(c) P.J. Murphy 2005

Note: This was an entry for one of a series of Allpoetry.com contests with colour themes, this one being 'Chartreuse'

The Sorest Loser (with apologies to Roget)

Betweeen the devil and the cobalt sea
I seem dismally to be.

Bawdy, ribald obscenities hide
disconsolate, melancholy thoughts.

Though I've cried
'till I'm gorgonzola in the face,
never in a sapphire moon
will you agree to take your place
as my "something borrowed" bride.

As your preference is to swoon
over those ultra marine and navy guys.

I gaze with peril into those
averted forget-me-not eyes
and sadly whisper
"...Beryl"

P.J. Murphy
(c) P.J. Murphy 2005

Note: This was a tongue-in-cheek entry for one of a series of AllPoetry.Com contests, where the themes were colours ( this one being Blue ) www.guitarsongs.info

Time Space Continuum

In another town, another country
She sits, cross-legged on the parquet
Smiling as she reads an email from her son
on the laptop he bought for her birthday

Presently she'll go out to the porch,
read a book, put her earphones on
He wonders if she still likes Steinbeck
or plays Cohen, maybe Doctor John

In a corner of her memory
do they still walk that raindrenched pier?
In a corner of her heart is there a flame,
In a corner of her eye a budding tear?

For that frozen moment when the Gods
Capricious, callous and perverse
Decree a storm of words, a thunderbolt
Thus sundering the universe

He doesn't know her mail address
Her son's called Ben, or is it Steve?
He could look her number up, I guess
But what the hell would that achieve?

Slice of life from another time
Before the new world would begin
Are her memories still shrinkwrapped
Or grown stale and powder-thin?

In another parallel existence
Are their hands and destinies entwined
In some futuristic astral plane
Is her soul with his aligned?

www.guitarsongs.info

Cause and Effect

Sodium Bicarbonate
Cimetidine, Bromazepam
There was a time when these
were not a part of what I am 

When gastroscopy might just as well
be probing into space
There was a table of the elements
where Barium had its place 

My bodystore of chemicals
was supplemented only by quantities
of alcohol, nicotine
curry pies and mushy peas...

... and other 'drugs of choice'
a distant voice in some strange dialect
mutters something like ....
'cause... effect..?'

P.J. Murphy

Copyright ©2004 P.J. Murphy
  
  

Website: http://www.guitarsongs.info

Thoughts on St. Valentine's Day

Do I really need this signpost on love's highway
This beacon over ardour's ocean
This festival of passion's patron saint
to remind me that I love you?

My love for you is eternal
Conceived at eyes first meeting
Fanned by loves young flames
Burnished by your radiant beauty

Grown more, as my child-woman bride
then child-mother, constant by my side
Our love defeating all life's challenges
Soaring upon it's many triumphs

I know it as my truth that I will love you
All through this life and beyond...forever...
However... I proudly, loudly say
I Love You, on this St. Valentine's Day

P.J. Murphy
(c) P.J. Murphy 2002

Website: www.guitarsongs.info

Give 'em up?

Give 'em up?
Can you not see
that every fibre of my being
clamours for this cigarette?

Do you think I choose
to take my place
in the New Minority
-with Ireland's New Age Lepers?

My once cosy perch
on society's ladder
now hovering precariously
in this bitter wind

Three rungs up
from miscreant priests
one down from
smug corrupt bureaucrats

No, stand with me here
in the sleet and the shame, my friend.
Then remind me again
That I choose to smoke

P. J. Murphy

(c) P.J. Murphy Jan 2005