The Granite Orchard: Book 1

By Eddie Ray McMurray

With unique and introspective vision and the critical eye of a poet, in his Seven Book collection, Eddie Ray McMurray brings us a "graveside view", that leads us on a journey into the lives and deaths of innumerable historic and fictional characters; exposing what he, they, and we all might feel when viewing the specter of approaching death.

In this setting, Mr. McMurray, through the avenue of poetry, explores every nuance of the subject of death and dying, though he contends that this is not about death, but about life. Poet, Eddie Ray McMurray is one for the ages and you will be granted the remarkable privilege of walking with him through an immense, though imaginary, Granite Orchard (his euphemism for a cemetery) to peer into history, culture, politics, and the lives of the poor, the famous, the infamous, the noble, the ignoble, murderers, villains, saints, and the fascinating people from his childhood.

Prepare to be entertained and to fall in love with poetry as never before. Everyone is bound to find someone they knew and admired.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9781513636306

Book preview

THIS IS A COLLECTION OF POETRY. IT IS NOT A TOTAL WORK OF FICTION SINCE NEARLY ALL OF THE PEOPLE ARE REAL, BUT VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF THEIR LIVES MAY BE FICTIONALIZED AS SUCH, TO ACCOMMODATE POETIC UTTERANCES.

COPYRIGHT © JANUARY 2018 EDDIE RAY McMURRAY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

INCLUDING THE RIGHT OF REPRODUCTION

IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM, WRITTEN OR OTHERWISE. POEMS MAY NOT BE COPIED OR DISPLAYED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISION OF THE AUTHOR.

BLUE APPLE BOOKS & MUSIC

A DIVISION OF APPIAN WAY, INC

A NON-PROFIT, TAX EXEMPT

501c3 ORGANIZATION

ISBN: 978-1-5136-3636-8

eISBN: 978-1-5136363-0-6

FIRST EDITION PRINTING

Dedication

To the one only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory (splendor),

majesty, might and dominion,

and power and authority, before all time

and now and forever

(unto all the ages of eternity).

Amen (so be it). Jude 25

TO THE SUPREME BEING

The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed

If Thou the spirit give by which I pray:

My unassisted heart is barren clay,

That of its native self can nothing feed:

Of good and pious works thou art the seed,

That quickens only where thou say'st it may:

Unless Thou show to us thine own true way

No man can find it: Father! Thou must lead.

Do Thou, then, breathe those thoughts into my mind

By which such virtue may in me be bred

That in thy holy footsteps I may tread;

The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind,

That I may have the power to sing of thee,

And sound thy praises everlastingly.

William Wordsworth

From the Italian of Michaelangelo

Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die. Isaiah 57:1-2

Table of Contents

DEDICATION

PROLOGUE

TO AN ATHLETE DYING YOUNG

The time you won your town the race,

THE GRANITE ORCHARD

THE GRANITE ORCHARD

They lie here damp with mosses, green as an emerald’s eye,

COMMEMORATION

TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

In an alternate reality, I would be living

CHRIS KYLE

WITH A HEROES HEART

Grief cannot hallow this ground where you lie

HARRY W. LEAVELL†

SERGEANT

We now grow tall beneath your shadow

CONOR CLAPTON

ENIGMA

Death could not suck the color from your face,

REUBEN JAMES MCMURRAY

DARK ROBE

When my father died,

JUANITA MCMURRAY

UNDER THE CATALPA

As she crosses the yard, I watch her

PROMENADE

WHEN MOTHER’S FRIENDS DIE

Days close their eyes and wash their faces

RONNIE BOZEMAN

FLASH MOMENTS

Often, I utter a desperate cry

THEODIA KING WYNN TALLEY SMITH

SHOE

I have come to your room

JAMES DWIGHT MCMURRAY

UNTOUCHABLE

My brother wears Ban-Lon

MAYA ANGELOU

AN UNCAGED BIRD

Since you were born to sing,

MEDGAR EVERS

IN THE FLESH

You got the ball rolling

PROMENADE

PEARL

I enter the gullet

VIOLA LUIZZO

VIOLET

From the moment the mirror held

JAMES REEB†

APATHETIC AND SQUIFFY-EYED

Segregation was a ghost living in the air

JONATHAN MYRICK DANIELS†

LOWNDES COUNTY

In 1965 Lowndes County stewed

GRAHAM STUART STAINES†

JOYFUL HEART

I know that our Great God is Just and Kind

THE EDMUND WINSTON PETTUS BRIDGE

IF A BRIDGE COULD SPEAK

You’d think that if I could handle four lanes

J. W. MILAM

AT THE HEART OF THE MATTER

Hatred like the curled shoots of larkspur

PROMENADE

WELL GROOMED

He lives as if life is slapped

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING

A DREAM

When sleep leans on my eyes

FIRST LADY

A BRIEF SHINING MOMENT

In the curved depths

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY

A HAUNTING MEMORY

Refusing its own death, your life

LEE HARVEY OSWALD

I HAVE MY DOUBTS – THE SAME FATE

Leaves know when touched

J. D. TIPPIT

WALK THE OTHER WAY

With a secret signal, I wave to you

PROMENADE

PRAYER

When death stills

JACK RUBY

A QUICK END

Death, on solitary limbs

LESTER MADDOX, SR.

ALL THE FINE YOUNG BIGOTS

I watched as you walked off

BASS REEVES

LONE RANGER, BLACK GUN SILVER STAR

If you do not believe that I am who

PROMENADE

CHILDHOOD’S FOREST

Into the forest deep, I wandered,

ELIZABETH TAYLOR

FALLING OFF MY CLOUD

I fell off my pink cloud

LANNIE VEAL

COLLARD GREENS

The thick, broad leaves of Collard Greens

WHITNEY HOUSTON

LOSING MY FOOTING

I always seem to hold my best kicking foot

LONNIE D. GUILLORY

WHITE GAL

White Gal left like a boot lick.

SCOTT FAIN

LOCRIAN MODE

Drunk and drugged out of your mind

JAMES ALEXANDER DWIGHT

MUD PEOPLE

I wish these darkies would

PROMENADE

MOSS

The moon slings silver chapped legs

REV. DEPAYNE MIDDLETON-DOCTOR, 49

FOR THOSE KILLED IN SOUTH CAROLINA

They’re gone, alas, each one of these

SHARON WALKER

A NEW MATH

At the same time, in a new math,

PROMENADE

EMPTINESS

The television’s retina closes

JOHN F. KENNEDY, JR.

CAROLYN BESSETTE-KENNEDY

LAUREN BESSETTE

BENEATH THE WATERS

Beneath these waters of grief there is no

JOHN F. KENNEDY, JR.

CAROLYN BESSETTE-KENNEDY

LAUREN BESSETTE

IN HOPE

We feel along time’s razor edge in hope

JOHN F. KENNEDY, JR.

CAROLYN BESSETTE-KENNEDY

LAUREN BESSETTE

STILL GONE

Time, the last illusion we believed, comes

JOHN WALLACE COOK

THEY CALLED YOU JACK (I CALLED YOU MR. COOK)

They called you Jack, may I call you Jack?

WILD BILL HICKOK

A PESKY MOSQUITO

Guilt is a pesky mosquito that whines

PROMENADE

TRAPPED

He was not dead

MARY JO KOPECHNE†

THE DEAD WOMAN IN TED’S CAR

Wading knee-deep in the cold waters

VICIE WASHINGTON

LAST OF THE GREAT BISCUIT MAKERS

The elders often called them catheads

GEORGE WALLACE

THE FIGHTING LITTLE JUDGE

You were a fighting little judge

FARAH FAWCETT

WHAT CANCER IS

This malevolent creation in a sodden bundle,

THE SPARROW

THE SPARROW

He floated down

MAE LEE PAYNE

SHO’ DIDN’T THINK HE’D KILL ME

I met him at the burger joint;

AMY RAE MERCURY

NOT THE WAY TO GO OR LIKE AS A COMMA

Like these dreams rubbed my brain,

PROMENADE

ROADKILL

They seem so humble

CHUCK CONNORS

THE RIFLEMAN

Memories clatter and shake

JONAS SALK

MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT

How many empty nets

W.E.B. DUBOIS†

LET THE PLOW GO DEEP

Let love’s ardent plow go deep into earth’s

PROMENADE

WHY I DON’T EAT BEEF

With acumen, they bound him with a rope,

LETTIE MAY GASKIN

INTO THE DARK

She loved the train,

CALLIE MAE LESTER

WHILE I SLEPT

While I slept, visions of myself

THE SHOES

THE SHOES OF JEWISH CHILDREN

Now they sit Shiva

MIKAL DAVID CROWE

WAITING FOR MY MOMMA

School was out.

KAREN CARPENTER

SUPERFLUITY OF NAUGHTINESS

Food becomes the enemy

PROMENADE

ADVENTURES OF THE DANCING MEN

Grace avoided these limbs

WINSTON CHURCHILL

ODE TO BORED WITH IT ALL

Life that used to shine loses its luster

LUTHER JACKSON

THE LAST DAY WE WORKED

Biting at silent time,

LEADBELLY

GOODNIGHT IRENE

What fueled your anger and rage,

MAHALIA JACKSON

TOAST OF THE TOWN

Always bringing a taste of heaven

EVA BROWDER

GONE FISHIN’

You always called me my boy

PROMENADE

THE LIGHT BULB

I am singularly fascinated

JESSE JAMES

HATE RIDES A BLIND HORSE

With shoes of steel and reins of brass

LENA HORNE

CABIN IN THE SKY

Surely by now the stormy weather

DOYLE TUCKER

GOSPEL PIANIST

In the avenues and boulevards

JUDY GARLAND

WIZARD OF OZ YEARS

If you were still alive, you might dance

JOE MUELLER

PAINTER

Flushed with a Bardolphian hue,

PROMENADE

DAWN APOCOLYPSE

Dawn comes

ROY ALLEN WYNN

ROYALTY

Summer’s Sundays simmer in my mind

ELLA FITZGERALD

SCAT MASTER

In the Oval Office of heaven,

ROSEMARY NORTON

ANTHUS - DEW OF THE SEA

Insolent death cared not to ring

LARRY BUTLER†

FUNNY HOW TIME SLIPS AWAY

On silver slanting slivers of rain

RALPH ABERNATHY

NOT IN A RUSH

Not in a rush of waters

PROMENADE

MOVING DAY

This bandana will hold

ADAM CLAYTON POWELL

BROADER THAN LIFE

That thing that ails all men,

HAZEL SCOTT

CLASS

Your Sunday foot walked in

DOROTHY DONEGAN

LITHOGRAPH – LADY DYNAMITE

Like a Toulouse-Lautrec lithograph

MERCY

Knowing God as I do, I have little doubt

PROMENADE

CROWS

A crow screams a noisy greeting as he,

OKLAHOMA CITY CHILDREN

IN GRIEF

In grief the somber moon has shone

JESSE OWENS

HARPS IN THE WILLOWS

Your fleet feet fiddled

ROBERT E. LEE

THE DARKNESS OF WAR

With one hand steadying

EMMETT TILL

TALLAHATCHIE RIVER

I was only 14 years old,

WILBUR LEON HAYES, SR.

SHEPHERD

With a world-changing gait

PROMENADE

GENESIS

Silence washes the hillside

BETTE DAVIS

IN THIS OUR LIFE

You should know me well enough

MICHAEL JACKSON

KING OF POP

If I had known my leaving was so soon

CLARK GABLE

THE KING

Life is a funny old dog, I tell ya’,

DONNIE JOE GIDDINGS

WEST NILE VIRUS

My friend, Donnie Joe, has died

AILEEN CAROL WUORNOS

SERIAL KILLER

You are little more

PROMENADE

FROM WHERE I LAY

Sunlight burns

SAMMY DAVIS, JR.

THE REAL CANDYMAN

On an episode of Ben Casey

JAMES M. LETHERER†

AMPUTEE

There is a life-size statue

FREDERIC DOUGLAS

FREEDOM FOR ALL

When freedom spreads its mighty skirts about

TERRI SCHIAVO†

EUTHANASIA

With a once-in-a-year breath we amass

GERONIMO

THE LAST INDIAN TO SURRENDER

I am Geronimo, prominent leader known

PROMENADE

WATCHMEN

The sky is a deserted beach,

ELIZABETH SHORT

CULTURAL INTRIGUE

Your murder in the Leimert Park

MEADOWLARK LEMON

NASTY WID IT

Like a potato that was so hot

REALY SMITH

THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

Even now, reaching back in my three

JELLY ROLL MORTON

MISTER JELLY ROLL

That jazz itself was created at all

TECUMSEH

TECUMSEH

Let fresh sweat come like unbearable tears

PROMENADE

IN THE SHADOW OF A RAINBOW

He drops first names

MARY JUANITA MILAM†

MARY DID YOUR HUSBAND KNOW

Mary, did your husband know

THADDEUS LEGION BLON

MZEE* MCINTYRE

He sho’ nuff was tall

ROY BRYANT

LET THE GOD-DAMNED STUFF DIE

Before hatred spawned its acid

JOYCE DURDEN

FOUR SHOTS IN THE BACK

Years show us their yellowed

NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON

KISSED BY THE MADNESS

Though in horror we may shield

PROMENADE

MOVING DAY

This bandana

GENE SAMPLEY

SUDDEN DEATH

With the ears on my ’63 Falcon

RON GOLDMAN

DON’T COME KNOCKING

Unless blood is rusting on your heels

JULIE ANN LOVE

AN EASY INCONVENIENCE

What makes murder such a great event,

JIMMY FLOURNOY

TOWARD A SUNSET CLOUD

With corn’s grinning teeth and orange pumpkin,

PROMENADE

OBITS

Age slips and catches another cog,

STEVE IRWIN

A THOUSAND UNDERSTANDING TREES

Raising their hands in alarm,

GERALD EMERSON MILEY, III

LANDSCAPE

Random and rude brush strokes

ELLEN THELMA ALDEMAN

RESOLUTE

Come as you will, passing years though I choose

JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE

MAN FROM ZION – BUILDING A CITY

Reason took an angry bow

J. W. WEBB

GOD’S GLORY

Scarcer than hen’s teeth in cackling days

REDD FOXX

MUCH TOO BLUE

Grabbing the hottest part

PROMENADE

HOLD ON, OH DEATH

Hold on, oh death, you calloused man

VIRGIL WARE†

RACISM’S STENCH

The pungent smell of fifteen sticks of dynamite, planted

JOHNNY ROBINSON†

FIRST, SLURS AND SODA BOTTLES

Pillars of ebony, your thighs, still stand

PROMENADE

DRESSED TO CHILL

Winter dresses

CAROLYN PALMER

THE FOX

Before cock’s crow and morning colors

CLEAL SHINE

BATHED IN LIVING WATERS

In colors before the sun,

JOHN HOWARD GRIFFIN

THE FATE OF A NIGGER LOVER

Who anchored this nefarious

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING

IS THIS THE DREAM

In the night season,

ANTHONY SCALIA

OPINIONS

They glitter like fool’s gold on water

PROMENADE

COME BEFORE WINTER

Come before winter

APPENDIX

A LEGEND TO HELP YOU

The Poems:

The Poems are mostly written in a narrative voice. In reading them, read them as prose, observe the punctuation, and take your time.