My Flirtation with International Socialism

GERRY MURPHY is an Irish poet, born in Cork in 1952. His poetry collections include A Small Fat Boy Walking Backwards (1985, 1992) and five previous collections from Dedalus, Rio de la Plata and All That (1993), The Empty Quarter (1995), Extracts from the Lost Log-Book of Christopher Columbus (1999), Torso of an Ex-Girlfriend (2002), My Flirtation with International Socialism (2010) and Muse (2015) His latest collection is The Humours of Nothingness (2020). Dedalus also published End of Part One: New and Selected Poems (2006). He has published two chapbooks with Southword Editions. Murphy's poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Poetry Ireland Review, The Well Review and The Future (Arlen House, 2018). Pocket Apocalypse, his translations of the Polish poet Katarzyna Borun-Jagodzinska, appeared in 2005 from Southword Editions. Murphy's own poems form the basis for a live poetry-and-music show by Crazy Dog Audio Theatre, entitled The People's Republic of Gerry Murphy, which ran at the Cork Guinness Jazz Festival in 2010 to considerable critical success. REVIEW EXCERPT "Murphy's voice is salacious, funny, pithy, angry-making, often verging on the side-of-the-mouth and, dare one add, tender... This is a worthwhile book, energetic and wise." — Fred Johnston, Poetry Ireland Review