Robert C. Murray's Blog, page 5

Episode 116: Spring Hike

A few weeks back, my wife and I went on a hike with some dear friends of ours that we had not seen since the first pandemic restrictions went into place. Given that we're still working our way back to safe and I was at the time unvaccinated, we chose to get together outdoors and enjoy the Spring weather with a hike. And so this week's poem "Spring Hike" was born.

"Spring Hike" is straight from my Instagram account, where I post photos for which I write accompanying poems. If Insta isn't your thi...

Episode 115: Triple Check and CYA

Here I am again, updating on a Sunday. I did tell y'all that it would be every week-ish. Still my apologies for the delay, consistency is key to growing an audience, and while you're but a handful of faithful listeners (thank you!!) at present, maybe some day I'll explode. Who knows? It just takes one Buzzfeed article, right?

But you want to know about this week's episode. "Triple Check and CYA" was written to cheer up a friend several years back, after they experienced a quintessential Corporat...

Episode 114: Accompanist

Poetry covers such a broad range of the human experience that I wouldn't expect all of you who listen to the podcast to share this experience, but I'll be willing to wager that there's at least a partial overlap between listeners of this and people who have or will attend music recitals, or more broadly: intimate acoustic music performances.

"Accompanist" was born out of this experience. My specific memory is a bit fuzzy, but given the context of the poem, I'm fairly certain it was a guitar reci...

Episode 113: Eye Opener (An Easter Poem)

About 10 years ago or so I decided to try the whole giving up something for Lent concept. I went easy, I thought, I swapped out coffee for tea. As someone who's prone to headaches, it was a bit of a roll of the dice, but I found some good caffeinated tea that I could fit the bill. For the record, to know me is to know the deep abiding joy that coffee brings me - not just the caffeine, but the flavor. So now you know the about me. Anyway, when Easter finally arrived, I was back on the good stuff ...

Episode 112: Hubris and Roller Skates

"Hubris and Roller Skates" is my ode to Physics, of which I am a fan (still rooting for that FTL workaround that's sure to come any day!), but alas only have a very basic grasp. Like, I get vector math and grasp the concepts, but I'm not up to the math. Respect and love to all the physicists out there, you make Space Exploration and all this amazing technology possible!

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on ...

Episode 111: The Growing Season

Sad, wistful, metaphorical even. "The Growing Season" is a poem I wrote while going through some things many years ago, and now I'm sharing it with you! Well, to be fair, it's been available in my book "Blue." for a while, so.

It was also featured as a spoken-word piece a local college dance company used in a recital, but I can't find the video to share with you! If this rings a bell for you, share a link in the comments!

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether ...

Episode 110: Pistachios and Life

After last week's dramatic reading, I've chosen something a bit more dialed back, though philosophical in nature. I also promise that I wasn't high when I wrote this week's poems -- this is how my brain naturally works, if you haven't figured that out for yourself by now. "Pistachios and Life" and "A Response to Pistachios and Life" punch above their weight and while it's well-trodden philosophical ground, I think it's also a universal experience we've all shared in one way or another. Right?

Yo...

Episode 109: Fracture

Things get a little personal this week with "Fracture." I get low-grade headaches fairly often (yaayyyyy) but rarely, a full-blown migraine comes on. Less so now that I've learned to avoid certain triggers, but the experience inspired this poem. Also, Trigger Warning: If you're a migraine sufferer, listen with caution.

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podca...

Episode 108: Retinal Pressure in the wild on Mars and Adherence to Stricture, or Perseverance

It's a couple of mouths-full of titles for this week's episode, which I'm offering as a tribute to NASA and the JPL for all their hard work in getting another rover onto the surface of Mars. Well done all!

"Retinal Pressure..." is as much a poem about longing for Spring after tiring of Winter as it is about Mars, if not more so.

"Adherence..." is a celebration of the landing, pure and simple. My office got mighty dusty when I saw the cheer rise up from the control room last week, again I say wel...

Episode 107: Why Do Men Go to Sea

As promised, this week it's the later version of the same draft that I forgot to remove from my list of draft poems. It's in many ways the same poem, and maybe in my next book I'll blend the two together and make some sort of super poem from them. Anyway, it's a nice little bit of verse and I'm happy to have shared it with you. I'll close on this by quoting John Mulaney: "Well that's the same joke twice!"

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific p...