Reviews

REVIEW OF GARRETT MURPHY'S CALL 9-1-1 (and Mister Punch)

by Marvin Hiemstra, Bay Area Poets Seasonal Review

Volume 2, No. 1, Winter 2005

Garrett Murphy's landmark book of understanding in the face of our current national travesties begins with a rich and informative introduction by Mark States, poet and performer extraordinaire:

Not many can be compared to Langston Hughes, the preeminent American poet of the 20th century. Garrett Murphy is one. Both legendarily shy and modest, both with keen insight into culture and politics, both strong voices against racial injustice and government misdeeds...while Langston Hughes feli it important to speak to the masses...and thus much of his work was simple rhyme, Garrett has become the master of satire. Satire is much more difficult to pull off, because as any satirist will tell you, people take the words too seriously---as literal truth as opposed to absurd.

In his excellent Author's Notes, Murphy explains the setting of "A Doctor is Needed Up in Heaven:" "In her effort to woo poets to her poetry celebration, Laura Bush often singled out Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, and Walt Whitman, all of whom were fervently anti-war. This piece is a send-up of how they might have reacted had they known that they were being honored by the Bush II regime. The poem begins:

Thank goodness the doctor has arrived.

Quick quick doctor, over here if you please

Three of our number have complaint of indigestion.

Identical, some say, to food poisoning

(only in this case it's fool poisoning.

The poem concludes:

Oh yes, forgive me doctor---the names of the current ones;

Miss Dickinson, Mr. Hughes and Mr. Whitman.

Oh this is particularly common among artists,

Especially those of good will and peace.

To suffer the indignity of praise

From the parasite of war-mongering fools.

No cure yet but it won't last long,

You just have to watch for that bad fool now and then.

"People Are Scared of Independence" is a statement painfully true. The poem takes us into that unfortunate state of mind: a major poem that should be required reading for all would-be Americans.

"One Hundred Cops..." is a brillant, eliminating chant poem: a metaphor for one of our free society's biggest problems. How to define, create, and need law enforcement. The first stanza starts the ball rooling.

One hundred cops come in here blowing off,

One hundred cops come in here.

Five learn how to read,

Start with lines on the wall,

Ninety-five cops come in here blowing off.

When poetry is really good, questions of technique are merely a waste of time. Garrett Murphy's technique is so superb it often defies description. "Where Are You Now!" becomes a statement of incredible resonance when the entire country slowly, but surely, is profiled. "Draft Flat Beer---No Float" note the demographics of the soldiers, rejects the unfair suggestion to make the children of congress soldiers, and decides the Congress hawks should go themselves. "Special Today---Afro-Flesh" makes Jonathan Swift look rather tame, but the poem's sensational stance is for a totally civilized purpose.

When I've had the privilege of experiencing Oakland poet, Garrett Murphy, read at various Berkeley venues, I am always astounded by his intelligent, honest, non-hostile understanding. "The Oppressor Rule book is my favorite. As Murphy succinctly states in the Author's Notes: "The Oppresor Rule Book---Self-explanitory. (Oppressors can be so predictable!}"

As I have been so moved while doing this review, I wish I could reprint the entire book so you all could read it and then send out copies as texts to every person clinging to this slippery planet.

GARRETT MURPHY'S CALL 9-1-1

Shawn Pittard, The Great American Pinup

January 12, 2007

The morning newspaper is brimming with opinions about George W. Bush's presidency and his Wednesday night speech. Reporters and pundits at NPR and AM Talk Radio offer their diverse and wide-ranging opinions. I know I should think enough is being said, but I'd like to add one more voice to the capophony: the voice of the San Francisco Bay Area's Garrett Murphy.

I had the pleasure to hear Mr. Murphy read, with the incomporable Marvin Hiemstra, at the Oakland Public Library a couple of years ago. Mr. Murphy was a voice crying in the wilderness, crying out at an urgent tempo, in a rapid-fire staccato reminiscent of Walter Winchell and World War II newsreels. I bought his book, Call 9-1-1 (and Mister Punch) (Beatitude Press, 2004). It is a masterpiece of satire and social commentary.

MY IDEA FOR A NEW KIND OF TV SHOW

While I was seated at home one day,

I got an idea for a new type of TV show.

The storyline went as follows:

The media of such-and-such a country

has been taken over by one cold-hearted

“big brother.”

It saturates the populace with unquestioning

reverence towards authority large and small

under the guise of heartwarming “family values.”

In this such-and-such a country

The schoolyard bully, for example,

has become the virtuous hero

of the dramas, the comedies, the court shows, the news

and even of all three branches of government.

And the populace is completely enervated,

they have learned to enjoy seeing humiliation

(even their own)

on a daily basis.

Shouting matches are the tonic of the day.

No “warm and fuzzy” with the schoolchildren here!

Whippings, beatings, slams on the walls

and tests tests

and more more tests

win the day here.

Police ride roughshod over those who are “different,”

be it by race, nationality, religion, or some other immutable,

and are subject to medals, promotions and veneration,

especially if they overreact and kill or maim.

Why, the country’s own “caretaker”

is a schoolyard bully

come to extend the skills

learned on the playground

and extended to the city, county, state and nation

to the rest of the world

simply because “he can.”

Now of course there must be a few

opposed to all of this,

but they shall not win!

These, you see, are the new bad guys

who are traitors of this such-and-such country.

and BAD GUYS NEVER WIN!

All have learned to

LOVE THE PERPETRATOR.

(and to hell with the victims)

How’s that for a new type of TV show?

I sent the idea to the producers of programming.

Surely they can see the numbers multiplying in their heads.

A few weeks passed before I heard from them.

Finally the response from them came

in the form of an envelope.

And I got the shock of my life as I read:

“Dear sir,

we regret to inform you

that we have rejected your proposal

for lack of originality.

We suggest you develop an imagination

or perhaps become a journalist,

for your work, you see,

as written as is,

is nothing more than a simple diary

of a very routine day.”