GO TO MLC HOMEPAGE

ONLINE BOOKSTORE FEATURED TITLES

Best of Irish Poetry 2010
Editor: Matthew Sweeney

Songs of Earth and Light
Barbara Korun poems translated by Theo Dorgan

Done Dating DJs
by Jennifer Minniti-Shippey
Winner, 2008 Fool for Poetry Competition

Richesses: Francophone Songwriter Poets
Edited and translated by Aidan Hayes

Munster Literature Centre

Create your badge

GERRY MURPHY

Gerry Murphy was born in Cork in 1952 where he still lives. His latest collections of original work are End of Part One – New & Selected Poems (Dedalus Press 2006) and My Flirtation with International Socialism (Dedalus Press 2010).

Photo © John Minihan

Self-Portrait on a Christmas Morning

The boy goes patter-pat

down the chilly stairs,

his six-year-old heart

thumping in his chest.

Agog to discover

if Santa has left

that hoped-for gift

beneath the tree.

To find a cold bare parlour,

a childless old man

staring back at him

from the hallway mirror,

a clock ticking loudly

through the empty house.

©2012 Gerry Murphy

Author Links

Poems and audio of Murphy at Poetry International Web

Poems and audio of Murphy at Dedalus

Profile of 'The People's Republic of Gerry Murphy' (YouTube)