Robert C. Murray's Blog, page 3

Episode 135: September's Rent

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It's not Fall yet, but as of this recording it IS September, so I'm going back into "Stand Right, Walk Left" for this week's piece, "September's Rent." It evokes a feeling f...

Episode 134 - Focus

I made the switch from Audacity to Garageband to record this week's episode ,and there's a little reverb in there I didn't catch until I was doing a final QA check on the mp3 file. So, for you dear listener, enjoy this week's episode as if it were coming to you from a 1970's recording studio, because damn they loved reverb back then!

This week from Regret & Opportunity is "Focus," a brief work about the transient nature of our existence.

Visit https://lefthandrob.net for more episodes, essays, a...

Tom T. Hall: A Personal Remembrance

Legendary Country Music songwriter and performer Tom T. Hall passed away at the age of 85 on August 20, 2021. This is my remembrance of a man whom I never met, saw in concert once at a fire company carnival, but has always felt like a distant uncle to me – as much as it is a remembrance of a man I knew most of my life, my father. 
The first time I heard Tom T. Hall's music … I can't remember because it's always been there. The music your parents - or whomever raised you - listened to is as much a...

Episode 133: My new home

With all the new homes under construction in my development, it's hard not to look back through my poetry books and pluck out this little gem to share with you all this week. It's a silly little ode written when I moved into a house I'd bought many years ago, full of optimism as a homeowner after years of renting a place.

Hey everyone, this is where I remind you that this podcast can't continue forever without your support! Pick up one of my poetry books, tell a friend about the podcast, the usu...

Episode 132: My Neighbor the Rabbit

A brief, light ode this week to the fuzzy little bunny who lets me take their picture and eats the grass (and probably carrot tops) in my yard. It's a fuzzy little poem that could use a little more work, maybe, just like the little bunny who isn't as scared of me as they ought to be.

My dear fans of the podcast, here we are after 15 months together. I began this podcast for 2 reasons: 1. To make the opportunity to read out loud the poetry I'd been writing for all these years, and 2. To sell some...

Episode 131: House Band at a Casino

I've spent almost no time in casinos, and given my awareness of my luck at games of chance there's a good reason why. However, I have been a working musician on and off over the years and many of my friends are full-time working musicians (damn good too). So I respect the hustle and the need to pay rent and furthermore just to perform (hi, I have a poetry podcast, whatsup). So with all that in mind, I give you this week's debut of "House Band at a Casino."

OH - quick note that this week's poem h...

Episode 130: Scoping

This poem has been, appropriately, in the works for some time. I believe it's the first I've ever written about my father, though I have thoughts for several more. The text of the poem is at the bottom of this post, as this is another debut of a work.

If you've read this far, you seem to have some interest in this podcast. Thanks for that, I appreciate it! This is more than a one-way communication, though. Your feedback is important to me. Did you like a particular rhyme scheme? Did a topic stri...

Episode 129: Ask Not For Whom The Vulture Lands, It Lands For Thee

Another fresh poem making its debut on the podcast this week! I've been reading a lot of more sparse poems lately, but "Ask Not For Whom The Vulture Lands..." is step back in the direction of using more words to give us some rhythm in addition to rhyme. You can find the text of the poem at the bottom of this post, but before moving on I wanted to offer my apologies to John Donne, Ernest Hemingway, and Edgar Allen Poe for borrowing from all of them in the writing of this piece. Like Harry Chapin ...

Episode 128: Axial Tilt

One of the things I enjoy writing poems about - as you may have guessed by now - is the weather as I experience it throughout the year. My problem of writing snow poems is well documented, both here on the podcast and in my poetry books (which you should be buying, look, the link is right there). But now I turn my sweated eye toward our current season here in the northern hemisphere, as we find ourselves in the depths of Summer. This is born "Axial Tilt," this week's entry. Well, last week's ent...

Episode 127: Ducklings

We walk the dog every morning and our walks take us past some of the drainage ponds that dot our little subdivided corner of the world. The pond in question - the pond that inspired this poem - is affectionately called "The Duck Pond" by my wife and me. Because last Fall we saw a number of ducks congregating there, I mean, it's pretty simple. Anyway, while walking the dog one morning recently I noticed a big white heron (egret? I think this was a heron, for the purposes of the poem it was a hero...