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enjoy this writing from Joseph Murphy in the free 6" x 9" 2017 PDF file chapbook: Crafting Wings (click on the front cover image or the title text to download the free PDF file)				You can also order this as a 2017 6" x 9" perfect-bound paperback ISBN# book! Click on the book cover or this title to get Crafting Wings as a book at any time!

My Slender Oars

Joseph Murphy

I want to pitch out my oddly-shaped parts,
But they keep out-reaching me;
Out-living clarity.

One piece wills its way up, slips past.

Others follow, press forward,
Bruising my thoughts;
Having their way
With the curve of my wrist.

I dream of a beach at dawn;
Fire still smoldering within a circle of stone.

For a moment, the blare subsides,
But soon I’m rubbed raw
By doubt.

Outside, the rain has stopped; street lights illuminate
What the age considers real.

But I’m bowing to another half-lived night.

I want to pitch these sheered bolts
Before the rug comes loose;
The sand hardens.

I’m working, pulling, hoping
Relief will follow,
But the past keeps unfurling,
Jamming my slender oars
Against the stone.

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