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INTERNATIONAL CHAPBOOK
COMPETITION 2017

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New Irish Voices
Poetry chapbooks by
Roisin Kelly & Paul McMahon

Liberty Walks Naked
by Maram al-Masri, trans. Theo Dorgan

Chapbooks by Fool for Poetry
Competition Winners 2018

Not in Heaven by Molly Minturn
Bog Arabic by Bernadette McCarthy

Richesses: Francophone Songwriter Poets
Edited and translated by Aidan Hayes

Munster Literature Centre

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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)