Matthew Murrey
There Was a Room
Blue wallpaper, a wood floor,
and lines of light through the blinds.
A green scarf, a yellow nightgown,
and the blue handle of her brush.
Her hair was the color of wishes,
like birds who leave in the fall.
One time we drove to see the line
where blue sky meets blue sea.
All these years gone, I’m the traveler
holding a postcard, saying, “This
is the one that broke my heart.”
Matthew Murrey is the author of Bulletproof (Jacar Press, 2019) and the forthcoming collection Little Joy (Cornerstone Press, 2026). He has recently had poems in One, Anthropocene, Whale Road Review, and elsewhere. He was a public school librarian for more than 20 years. He lives in Urbana, IL with his partner. His website is at https://www.matthewmurrey.net/, and he can be found on Bluesky and Instagram under the handle @mytwords.