The temple is not the mind
Emily Murphy
The temple is not the mind
is not the body is not the wasting
that carves away flesh
holding shapes in the heat
Not the fleeting pleasures bodiless
but their movement towards
all else cast away how leaves
curl up in fall hold summer
just a minute closer, always just a minute
closer to the stem there is a myth
known to certain trees that if a leaf reaches back
catches its own stem in its veins and radiance
no solstice no eclipse no shattered night comet
only the collapse of stars rolling out like waves
Emily Murphy is an MFA student at The University of New Mexico. Her work has appeared in Manzano Mountain Review, Beech Street Review, Inklette, and Garbanzo, as well as a very talented pigeon delivering hand-rolled poems to upper story apartments. You can follow her on Twitter @weightsandmeans.