Erin Murphy
Rhododendron
I want a rhododendron,
its waxy evergreen leaves,
its bursts of purple
in early spring. No
I want to be a rhododendron,
sprawling yet hardy,
a woman who sits
on the bed’s edge and leans
into your story while
massaging lotion
into her tapered arms and legs.
Or maybe I want the word
rhododendron, how it travels rhythmically
along the roof of the mouth,
the way a driver taps
the rim of an open window
to the beat of a song
on the radio. But not
just any song—
a deep cut. A song
she forgot she
knew. Forgot she loved.
Erin Murphy’s most recent poetry books are Human Resources (2025) and Fluent in Blue (2024). Her work has appeared in Ecotone, Women’s Studies Quarterly, The Best of Brevity, Best Microfiction 2024, and elsewhere. She is a professor of English at Penn State Altoona and poetry editor of The Summerset Review. Website: www.erin-murphy.com