Vol 1 No 1 2007
Introduction by Molly Peacock
Yvonne Murphy’s poetry has electricity and depth, verbal dazzle and rich emotions, sharp memory and the snap of contemporary life. It is intelligent, descriptively gorgeous, and alive with observation. Her subjects range from ekphrastic poetry to lyrics about urban life to narratives about rural life. She applies her intelligence and technical skill to all she perceives. Murphy has published in some of the most distinguished poetry journals in the United States, particularly in the influential POETRY magazine. “Hummingbirds,” the poem POETRY featured, was also picked up by the Martha Stewart satellite radio network, demonstrating Murphy’s versatility. Perhaps this has something to do with her attachment to the soil as well as the sidewalk. Though she’s a city-dwelling New Yorker, she comes from a farming family in upstate New York. It’s high time she was introduced to Canadian readers. Yvonne Murphy is a poet whose work will come to shape the landscape of contemporary North American letters.
Yvonne Murphy