“Again” by Sheila E. Murphy

Again

I am soothed by walking 
the halls of this hospital
seeing the quiet 
observing the mosaic art

the healing garden where
a miniature purple bloom
is washed by water 
rinsing the scars.

I hold dear the moment 
of keeping safe and loved 
those who arrive for help to fill
the hollow with halo

This is where I began 
clothed by Nurse Molnar
treating premies in a little ward
a springboard for lifelong gratitude

About the Poet:

Sheila E. Murphy’s most recent books are Permission to Relax (BlazeVOX Books, 2023) October Sequence: Sections 1-51 (mOnocle-Lash Anti-Press, 2023), and Sostenuto (Luna Bisonte Prods (2023). Murphy is the recipient of the Gertrude Stein Award for her book Letters to Unfinished J. (Green Integer Press, 2003). Murphy’s book titled Reporting Live from You Know Where (2018)won the Hay(na)Ku Poetry Book Prize Competition from Meritage Press (U.S.A.) and xPress(ed) (Finland).