Minnesota

by Sheila E. Murphy

It is fun to say it, why don't you say it with me? Minnesota. Four syllables of equal pulse. I have grown fond of fireflies apart from guilt at having jarred them when young. Collectively they changed the climate of a room and had a certain smell. I also think of winter in my brother's living room near Lake Harriet and my refusing to go out into the 22 below with God knows what wind chill, as the relentless heater cranked a husky 80-plus degrees throughout the building.

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Sheila E. Murphy is an American poet who has been writing and publishing actively since 1978. In 2020, Luna Bisonte Prods released her latest work, Golden Milk. Murphy's book 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). Broken Sleep Books brought out the book As If To Tempt the Diatonic Marvel from the Ivory (2018). Murphy is the recipient of the Gertrude Stein Award for her book Letters to Unfinished J. (Green Integer Press, 2003). As an active collaborator, she has worked with Douglas Barbour on an extended poem called Continuations. Initially educated in instrumental and vocal music, Murphy is associated with music in poetry. She earns her living as an organizational consultant and researcher and holds the PhD degree. She has lived in Phoenix, Arizona throughout her adult life.