In a Pandemic Dream

In a Pandemic Dream Tim Murphy (bio) I am with Nadja in the airport.The seats are plastic and red.Soldiers are handing out face masks.I grab two but Nadja looks away.Her hat becomes a forest of autumn browns and greens.Seizing hold of her elastic hatband I fly over the trees.Down below, Nadja grunts and strainsas she drags a body-shaped bagalong a wet stone surface.She hauls the sack beside a low-walled well;with groans and a final heave, the bag drops into the darkness.The well also draws me in.I find myself alone in a roomsketching a mandala in a black notebook.Outside a police car crawls down the street.I rush through the dusk to the bottle bank.The smash of breaking glass becomes dawn chorus. [End Page 111] Tim Murphy tim murphy is an Irish writer based in Spain. He is the author of four chapbooks, including There Are Twelve Sides to Every Circle (Edinburgh: If a Leaf Falls Press, 2021) and Young in the Night Grass (Tipperary: Beir Bua Press, 2022). His first full-length collection is Mouth of Shadows (Dublin: SurVision Books, 2022).