My Flirtation with International Socialism

From 'Three Borgesean Fragments' to 'A Random History of the Desmond Rebellion', in this sixth collection of his poems Cork-born Gerry Murphy proves himself to be one of the most inquisitive and unconventional of contemporary Irish poets, moving from the blink-and-you've-missed-it one-line observation to the more considered and affecting poems (not least those of love and loss) which are among his great strengths. Throughout there is his anarchic humour, his robust engagements with historical and literary figures, and a deep-seated pride in his native place-to which his work so often serves as homage. Gerry Murphy was born in Cork in 1952. His collections of poetry include A Small Fat Boy Walking Backwards (1985, 1992) and four previous volumes from Dedalus, Rio de la Plata and All That (1993), The Empty Quarter (1995), Extracts from the Lost Log-Book of Christopher Columbus (1999) and Torso of an Ex-Girlfriend (2002). End of Part New and Selected Poems appeared in 2006 to critical and popular acclaim. In 2008 his work was adapted for actors and musicians by Crazy Dog Audio Theatre and, as The People's Republic of Gerry Murphy, had a week-long run at the Everyman Palace in Cork. Pocket Apocalypse, his trans-lations of the Polish poet Katarzyna Borun-Jagodzinska, appeared in 2005 from Southword Editions.