Religious belief and religious practice, the blindness of absolute faith, and, in its many and various incarnations, the fall from grace – all find their way into the latest collection of poems by Cork-born Gerry Murphy, a poet of wit and irreverence whose stunning frame of reference (from world classics, to history and politics, to the work of his fellow poets) masks a shallow, smart-alecky, throwaway cynicism (Eh, hang on, maybe that should be the other way around – Ed.) Fall Guy, as perhaps all poetry books should, ends with a nod to Beckett and starts with a bang on the head.
“In his latest collection, poet Gerry Murphy is moving in surreal regalia through the fair of poetry, and if he is not doing that he is being sardonic and mischievous, Cork colourful and catch-all in the best sense … In sum, Murphy is a poet of real vision, with a flair for the kind of humour – be it related to nothingness or not – that is in large part absent in contemporary poetry, be it Irish or not, and more’s the pity.”
—Patrick Kehoe, RTÉ CultureMurphy’s hilarious existential angst seems more relevant than ever during lockdown.”
—Martina Evans, The Irish Times“[A] thrilling and provocative master of poetic monologue and social commentary.”
— Thomas McCarthy“[O]ne of the finer love poets writing today.”
— Dean Browne
His Next Move Was Sure to be His Next
after Joyce
One time he would be a play actor,
then a sutler or a welsher, then nought
would keep him from the bear-pit
or the cocking main, then he was for the ocean sea
or to hoof it on the roads with the Romany
folk, kidnapping a squire’s heir by favour
of moonlight or fecking maids’ linen or choking
chickens behind a hedge.
Anything, anything but a poet.
***
Fur
after Pere Quart
What shall we fashion
from the skin of the supermodel?
A winter coat for the vixen?
A spring jacket for the mink?
***
Reversal
for William Wall
Where is Christianity
if the wood is returned
to the forest,
the nails
to the iron mine,
the carpenter
to his parents?
Fall Guy by Gerry Murphy
140 x 216 mm
November 2026
ISBN 9781915629593 PB
ISBN 9781915629586 HB
