RICH MURPHY

The Steep Learning Curve

For Tim 

 

Face to face with granite walls
a spider man, suspended by rope,
and clutching fissures and reliefs,
while packing strategy and carabiners,
stares down monument, mausoleum,
headstone, and what lies beneath.

Whether crawling up a brow
or repelling into a valley,
gross and fine motor skills engage
in problem-solving on the fly
for the day when toes and fingers
biceps and thighs know from instinct too.

From below or above, sweat
empathizes with a dangling hope
from an observer, just in case...
a grip slips or spike or piton lets go.

All the breaths held so the air stills
from crown to foot; the insect wearing
a useless helmet gets to study
nature from boot to steep slope.

You can read more work from Rich Murphy in The Left Behind,
Winner of Prize Americana.

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