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Garrett Murphy was born in Alameda, CA in 1957
and raised in Oakland, where he resides. Though he has been writing since he can remember, it has been with trying his
hand at poetry in the mid-1990's that he began to receive critical attention. He has been published in Milvia Street,
the Towne House Literary Journal, the Peralta
Press, the Baker Street Irregular, Street Spirit, the Sacred Grounds Anthology, the New Now Now
New Millennium Turn-On Anthology, Signature Poems: Poetry at Spasso, and For You World Peace Imagine, part of
the Farewell to Armaments trilogy. He has also been published on the websites Poets Against
the war and the Soul-Patrol Digest. He published his first chapbook, None Dare Call it Making Sense in an
American Lesson, in 2001, and has won prizes in the International Black Writers and Poets, the National Library of Poetry,
and the Dancing Poetry Festival. His second chapbook, Call 9-11 (and Mister Punch), was published in 2004.
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"Excellent satirical writers are rare and not only do audiences
love the pungent humor and wisdom in Murphy's writings, but the pure music which sometimes echos with unsung gospel runs and
work songs of he Deep South that make this not political rhethoric but poetics, powerful in performance due to Murphy's inimitable
wry style."
---Dorothy Jesse Beagle, from the introduction
to None Dare Call it Making Sense in An American Lesson
"Not many can be compared to Langston Hughes, the preeminent
American poet of the 20th century. Garrett Murphy is one."
---Mark States, from
the introduction to Call 9-1-1 (and Mister Punch)
"Mr. Murphy has a masterful way of hammering home the finer points
in his works. I haven't heard this kind of biting political satire and humor since Dick Gregory, Mark Twain or Richard
Pryor ."
---Paradise FreejahLove Supreme
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| Oakland poet Garrett Murphy in action |
EDUCATION: B.A. (1984), M.A. (1988), San Francisco
State University;
also additional study, Laney College, Vista (now Berkeley
City) College, UC Extension.
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