You Too Were Once on Fire

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Murphy takes you on a journey through the cosmos an intergalactic dad asking philosophical questions to ponder but the fire is in moments of eclipse where the I is examined through a microscope and the speaker is tided / into the fog admitting blindness. New Jersey references to zombie-like traffic jams and Atlantic City Boardwalk realizations underscore the harsh realities that this collection welcomes into its universe with naked introspection. Shoreline floods are connected to both Galileo's visions and myopia and when contemplating dust the use of second person doesn't hide the speaker's own fear of an ego so fierce it sucks you / into its own black hole. The Bad History that spurred many of these works from butchering times to no less gruesome Insta influencer moments ends with a star wish to </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>be somebody</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>. Murphy is clearly still immersed in flames and invites us to share in the warmth and the burn. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>     -Grisel Y. Acosta</span></p>