The Camel's Back

Recollection, it appears, is a critical aspect to Keith Murray’s poems, serving him well in these intimate narratives. Existence itself is measured and studied, opening with a portrayal of cosy flat life and ending with the austere existence endured at Auschwitz. In between, though, and above all, lies the matter of love, where a density of feelings is tangible, and aching reflections are like an umbra on the page. Sometimes political; always the dreamer, herein lie poems that rain and shine, where pigeons feed from his library hands and herring are framed in the shores of time… 

Venus
 
Her eyes have lifted men
beyond the longest beaches
 
cast them driftwood
on coarse salt seas  
 
their quest for love ignited
in Botticelli’s cup
 
yet looking deeper in her eyes
our reflection stings
 
as the starfish squander
the essence of each grain of sand
 
and my poet’s hand
draws her sadness 
 
that lingers in the mind
a single star
 
in a desert of black.

Bio: Keith Murray was born in a windy April five decades ago. He has written at least one good poem during each of those decades. He believes that the weight of the world could break his back the way a straw could. That’s what he expects from a life full of ups and downs. But he’s a survivor and he’s back. The camel’s definitely back. He runs a small press (Malfranteaux Concepts) while running enough water for coffee and baths. He enjoys life, and spending time with his dad and friends.