Dan Murphy

Confronting Fear with Poetry: A Conversation with Tracy K. Smith - The Rumpus “Poems allow me to work toward momentary clarity or to see a problem through a metaphor that makes it something I can work upon or live with in a way that always feels like a blessing or some kind of ...

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therumpus.net/2026/01/12/c...

#PoetryNews #PoetrySky

POEM: You Who Wronged BY CZESLAW MILOSZ You who wronged a simple man Bursting into laughter at the crime, And kept a pack of fools around you To mix good and evil, to blur the line, Though everyone bowed down before you, Saying virtue and wisdom lit your way, Striking gold medals in your honor, Glad to have survived another day, Do not feel safe. The poet remembers. You can kill one, but another is born. The words are written down, the deed, the date. And you'd have done better with a winter dawn, A rope, and a branch bowed beneath your weight.

The weak response from Can, EU and UN to Trump's flagrant crimes in Venezuela is striking.

It exposes that much of the world has been cowed.

Most notable exception: the Latin American left.

That is why the Trump Admin has gone to enormous lengths to defeat the left across the continent. 1/3

POEM MADE OF FRAGMENTS WRITTEN ON VARIOUS PIECES OF PAPER—NAPKINS, SOCIAL WORK PAPERS, MED ORDER FORMS, THE BACK OF MED SUPPLY RECEIPTS, GAS RECEIPTS, AND SOME AFTER WAKING FROM DREAMS. I did not kill myself today. It was a Tuesday. And since you are reading this, neither did you. Neither of us were sent to war or had to hide in the basement. No one was standing under the streetlight at 3 AM. I tend to walk with my hood up, my head down. I tend to take my hood off if I see a cop. I tend to look away from bridges. The day the crocuses arrived I feel a part of me glanced up at the cardinal and flew away. Camus wrote, the moment that Sisyphus lets go of the stone, there is a moment he is free. But I say why doesn’t he sit down? Why doesn’t he refuse to go on? Is there not a Union in the afterlife? No wonder when we die, they used to say, “He punched his clock.”

During the Balkan wars, who was the cellist—I googled it!—Vedran Smailovic, who brought a chair to the square in Sarajevo, sat down during the siege, and played Adagio in G Minor. Death prefers the minor keys. Vedran Smailovic is still alive. He is still playing in concert halls, but behind the veil he is forever playing in the square as the snipers look into their sights. And here is the ghost girl running through the halls again. Where has she come from? There are moments it seems I cannot even spell my name. As if I myself have been disappeared. Then I return. Sean, I write on the form that says I watched over humans tonight, and no one died. Is everything I write about your absence? How it hovers above you when you bend your head to read. When I was a boy, I used to love to take apart old radios. Not to see how they worked but to see how they looked like a miniature city, with tiny streets, skyscrapers of tubes, bodegas of fuses. Once, years ago, I walked far out onto the ice, and

when I was out far enough that the world was only sky and clouds and frozen lake, I sat down. There is no anniversary for this day. I drive past the abandoned farmhouses. I am the sadness of horses standing in the rain. I learned to love you the way one learns to love the emptiness of winter fields. I tried to put you away in a drawer full of lost things. I found you in the coffee grounds this morning. And in this way, the voices drift, labyrinthine. An emptiness like a cathedral in my chest. I ramble along the tracks, a bit wary, a bit weary, headed towards nowhere I can name. There is nothing here to translate, sentence by sentence on this earth we are bandaged or bound to grieve. I lay down in the park, drowsy in the afternoon light. I begin to disappear. Leaving behind the weight I’ve carried. If you were to try and find me, all you would see in the grass is the hollow my body made. Sean Thomas Dougherty

“I did not kill myself today. It was a Tuesday. And since you are reading this, neither did you. Neither of us were sent to war or had to hide in the basement.” —Sean Thomas Dougherty (@seanthomasd.bsky.social), “Poem Made of Fragments…” @boa-editions.bsky.social

feels so familiar in a pleasing way…

Beautiful poems. The Poem for G is particularly great. Thanks for posting.

Okay!!! Posted on all platforms!!! This will be in print in the NYT Book Review on Sunday.

Happening now!

Bearded Bards Of BlueSky Online reading to raise funds for Tans Lifeline. December 13, 2025 Featuring: Jared Beloff Barlow Adams Dan Murphy upfromsumdirt Gregory Crosby J-T Kelly https://beardedbardsofbluesky.weebly.com

TODAY!!!! DON’T MISS IT!!!!

Join us for live literature, and help raise funds for @translifeline.org

It’s FREE and ONLINE so anyone can join from anywhere!

REGISTER NOW at: beardedbardsofbluesky.weebly.com

Dec. 13 December 13, 2025 2:00-3:45 pst/4:00-5:45 cst/5:00-6:45 est Register for Zoom link here Featuring: Jared Beloff Barlow Adams Dan Murphy upfromsumdirt Gregory Crosby J-T Kelly Hosted by: David...

I'm reading tomorrow!
5-6:45 PM ET Saturday Dec 13th

A fantastic lineup that includes @monostich.bsky.social @readinstead.bsky.social and @upfromsumdirt.bsky.social @barlowadams.bsky.social and @dmurphy.bsky.social

beardedbardsofbluesky.weebly.com/dec-13.html

thanks, David! looking forward to our reading on Saturday!

This is a fantastic book. Highly recommend.

Estate Sale - Dan Murphy Praise for Estate Sale “Early in Dan Murphy’s elegiac debut, Estate Sale, the poet writes: ‘There is only so much sweetness/in this world. I kiss and kiss and it’s gone. ‘Haunted by the inevitable gri...

Today's the 5-month anniversary of the release of ESTATE SALE by @uofupress.bsky.social & while it had a kind of soft launch over the lazy summer, I'm pleased w the response this fall. If yr interested, here's a list of places where you can find a copy: dmurphy.online/estate-sale/ #writingcommunity

Bearded Bards Of BlueSky Online reading to raise funds for Tans Lifeline. December 13, 2025 Featuring: Jared Beloff Barlow Adams Dan Murphy upfromsumdirt Gregory Crosby J-T Kelly https://beardedbardsofbluesky.weebly.com

TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!!
Just look at that lineup!!!!

Join us for live literature, and help raise funds for @translifeline.org

It’s FREE and ONLINE so anyone can join from anywhere!

Info and registration at: beardedbardsofbluesky.weebly.com

Turkeys & Church Gently, they print their trinities in last night's snow

Today’s Featured Poem:

“Turkeys & Church” by @dmurphy.bsky.social from Estate Sale published by @uofupress.bsky.social

Read here:
poems.com/poem/turkeys...

TODAY - 3pm EST! #poetsky #poetrycommunity #poetryreading

CECILIA WOLOCH & FRIENDS POETRY ON ZOOM PRESENTS A CELEBRATION OF NEW BOOKS BY ROBERT PINSKY 3- TIME US POET LAUREATE & DAN MURPHY WINNER OF THE AGHA SHAHID ALI PRIZE IN POETRY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23 NOON PACIFIC * 3PM EASTERN* 9 PM PARIS FOLLOWED BY A BRIEF READING BY CECILIA AND A Q&A * ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Hey #poets, #readers, enthusiasts—really excited to join @rpinsky.bsky.social this Sunday on Zoom (3PM EST) as we read work from recently-released collections. Poet Cecilia Woloch is hosting! Pre-registration req’d: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Join us!
#writingcommunity #poetrycommunity

This one’s in the books. Wonderful readings from all six readers. Generous participation from the attendees. We have now brought the total amount raised for @translifeline.org to more than $2,400!

Join us on December 13th for one more installment featuring a great lineup (see my pinned post)

Join us for the next reading on December 13 to raise funds for Trans Lifeline and listen to live lit from:
@readinstead.bsky.social
@barlowadams.bsky.social
@dmurphy.bsky.social
@upfromsumdirt.bsky.social
@monostich.bsky.social
@j-tkelly.bsky.social

Check out the link in my pinned post.

The Weight of Money by Sean Thomas Dougherty the weight of money is more than can be measured

The Weight of Money
by Sean Thomas Dougherty

"Is worth mentioning is one gram. But a Benjamin is a liter of blood. I often remind my kids that a Happy Meal costs a quarter of an hour. Your bicycle was a week’s wage."
www.onlypoemsdaily.com/p/the-weight...

Yesterday's No Kings protests were apparently the largest since the first Earth Day in 1970

The NYT covered that story with a six column headline across the top of the paper and two full pages inside

Today, two small pics below the fold and a story on page A23

They constantly let America down

Now is an excellent time to register for this:

Text from Boston Globe digital: Dan Murphy ("Estate Sale"), Nathanael O'Reilly ("(Un)belonging"), and Nina Palisano are introduced by Karl Kirchwey to read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Grolier Poetry Book Shop and virtually via Zoom. (Reservation is required.)

Hey, look who's (kinda) in the Boston Globe:
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/18/a...

Excited to read from my book ESTATE SALE tonight alongside two excellent poets, Nathanael O'Reilly & Antonina Palisano. 7pm at the Grolier in Harvard Sq. #poetsky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity

Text from Boston Globe digital: Dan Murphy ("Estate Sale"), Nathanael O'Reilly ("(Un)belonging"), and Nina Palisano are introduced by Karl Kirchwey to read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Grolier Poetry Book Shop and virtually via Zoom. (Reservation is required.)

Hey, look who's (kinda) in the Boston Globe:
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/18/a...

Excited to read from my book ESTATE SALE tonight alongside two excellent poets, Nathanael O'Reilly & Antonina Palisano. 7pm at the Grolier in Harvard Sq. #poetsky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity

A poetry book on a wood counter: Distributary by Luke Johnson. The cover appears to be an atmospheric painting with dark coloring, a bird squawking, the moon centered, but distant, a figure holding an old lantern, maybe.

Big congrats to @lukejohnsonpoet.bsky.social on the publication of his #poetry collection, DISTRIBUTARY. Can’t wait to dive into it, hopefully this weekend? 🤞😆 #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #poetsky

TONIGHT!

TONIGHT!

And here’s some more info: richardhowe.com/2025/09/17/p...

Hey #poets/ #poetry readers—I’m reading from my book tomorrow at Lala Books in #Lowell, Mass. Poets Paul Marion & Nina Palisano will join me. Nina just had her book published, too. @akasomeguy.bsky.social chose it as winner of the 2024 Tomaž Šalamun Prize! Come by at 6:30. #poetsky #writingcommunity