The 2022 O’Shaughnessy Poetry Prize Winner

Abstract

The 2022 O’Shaughnessy Poetry Prize Winner Gerry Murphy The 26th O’Shaughnessy Poetry Prize winner, Gerry Murphy, was born in Cork City and has helped to shape the writing identity of Cork and beyond. He attended University College Cork, where he was part of a resurgence of literary activity under the inspiration of Professor Seán Lucy and John Montague. Among his contemporaries, described by Thomas Dillon Redshaw as “that remarkable generation,” were Thomas McCarthy, Theo Dorgan, Maurice Riordan, Greg Delanty, and Seán Dunne. He is a hugely popular reader of his own work. But “what makes Murphy unique among his contemporaries,” according to the late Ireland Chair of Poetry John Montague, “is his curious integrity, the way he has created an aesthetic out of nearly nothing, ex nihilo.” His many poetry collections include A Small Fat Boy Walking Backwards (1985, 1992), 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). Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 5] A Note at The End There’s nothing else for itbut to dream steadily,to concentrate on a spotbelow your left earlobetowards the napeof your neck,leave the front door open,a light in the hall,enough room in the bedand hope to wakewith your sleepy ghostsnug beside me. Summer Nights South Channel On Parliament Bridgewe would talk and talkover the churning roar of water,the occasional sigh of traffic.Until the tide turned,swelling darkly in the channel,kissing up under the arch,making the weir shut up. Melville Terrace for hugh Who knows?A hundred years from nowI may still be here.A swallow flitting in and outthrough warping roof-beamsor a rat scrambling acrossa jumble of worm-eaten books,unremittingly cheerful. [End Page 6] Rush Hour I know the pedestrian lightis in your favourand you must go and go now but I want to lingerjust a little longer in your embraceat the corner of Washington Streetand South Main Street. I want to kisseach individual hair of your headfrom root to tipwhile the lights change and change againand the city grinds to a shuddering haltand the sky tilts overto reveal teeming constellations,utterly silent, unbearably distant. After Seferis for theo As you sleep,one eye remains opento the immense choreographiesof the stars,one ear alertto the water frettingat the rudder. [End Page 7] Copyright © 2022 The University of St. Thomas