Robert C. Murray's Blog, page 6

Episode 106: Prayer for the Eternal Wanderer

This doesn't happen often, but occasionally I'll pull together a draft of a poem and then rework it into its final form, even publish it in a book, but keep the original draft filed away. And then I later discover that draft after the first poem is already out there in the world. And then I rework the draft again and publish it in another book. So far, this has only happened with one poem, of which I am reading the first iteration to you this week, "Prayer for the Eternal Wanderer," from "Blue."...

Episode 105: Clean Sweep

It's currently over 50 degrees (F) outside my office where I sit as I type this, but we've just come out of something of a cold, windy spell. You know, Winter. Some winters back, when I lived in a very old house with an old furnace plugged into an even older chimney, the gas meter reader came out of my basement with some bad and dare I say life-threatening news - there was a big build up of carbon monoxide around the furnace. And I thought the sleepiness I felt every evening as I sat in front of...

Episode 104: Existential Angst & Espresso and Coffee: Good for the Soul

Coffee. It's what has been keeping me warm since the weather took a sharp downward turn vis a vis the mercury this January. As such, I offer for you 2 caffeinated poems from my first book of poetry that touch on or directly address the beverage itself.

"Existential Angst & Espresso" sprang from an empty chalkboard meant to tell us who was pulling our shots and adding our sugary flavored syrups that day. "Coffee: Good for the Soul" is a brief ode to the beverage itself - not the last I have writt...

Episode 103: The Lure - Cool Breeze

After the last few up and down weeks that we have had here in the States, I wanted to offer up a poem written after one of the most peaceful moments of my adult life - surf fishing at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I've only done it once, and I'd do it again give the opportunity (and the loan of some gear!) It was a gorgeous summer day and just being there was - well, listen to the podcast. "The Lure" covers those events. Along for the ride is "Cool Breeze," a shorter poem that I think pairs...

Episode 102: Ode to MD 67

After last week's foray into corporate pride-swallowing, I'm coming at you with a much more bucolic work, "Ode to MD 67." This one is straight from the heart and a little rough around the edges. For a couple of years I spent a lot of time on that old state road, and to the future it ultimately delivered me into. 

A little meta-commentary, I've updated the podcast's closing to be a bit more streamlined. I know everyone always listens to the end to hear that end theme, so this will hopefully get y...

Episode 101: Yes Man

Welcome to Season 2! New Year, same podcast. Hopefully that's a comfort to you, especially after the attempted insurrection that happened earlier this week in DC. Coincidentally, this week's poem is titled "Yes Man," and it came from an actual experience I had at work, long long ago. It's not happy, nor absurd, in fact it's a little sad and it's a poem I wrote to process the feelings that burrowed themselves deep into my chest when the event occurred. All these years later they are just echoes n...

Episode 036: Tiny Dog Infestations

I hope you enjoy this little essay that was selected by a dear friend or me to read as part of an afternoon of music and poetry at my home town library a few years back. "Tiny Dog Infestations" is yet another absurd look into the fact that when people have a tiny dog they somehow always have more than just the one. There's also some historical context in there as well. It's all as true as you want it to be.

You know the drill:

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

Episode 035: Mental Sorbet

The audio this week is a little more  ... intimate sounding that it usually is. I used a different setup, but hey, keeps things interesting for your ears! The poem this week is "Mental Sorbet," which I describe the genesis of said phrase in the poem itself. It's a quick one and something a little weird for you as we head into a weird holiday season when I hit publish on this episode. For those of you downloading and listening in 2020 (or likely too far into 2021), I hope you're safe and secure a...

Episode 034: On the Meaning of a Single Snowflake

Folks -- at this point, I think I can even say Friends -- I have a problem. Whenever snow starts falling out of the sky, my brain slips into a poetic mood and unbidden it begins to crank out verses about the stuff. My poetry books are littered with snow poems. So obviously when the first proper snowfall of the winter happened here where I am, I leafed through said books and found a poem on the subject to read for you. And so we have this week's episode "On the Meaning of a Single Snowflake." Of ...

Episode 033: I Played for the Queen of All Elephants

If you're a regular listener of the podcast, you may have thought that I was finally cashing in on the "or so" part of when I originally told you that this podcast would publish "every week *or so*." Fear not, friend, for I have a fresh episode for you right here. If you're finding this episode at some point in the future - Hi! How's the future? Do we have flying cars yet? 

This week, a poem based on a photo I discovered online, I think it was likely a writing prompt, and if so prompt it...