Jerome Ellison Murphy

What a fun time. Reading with Poets Afloat at South Street Seaport. Aboard Tall Ship Wavertree. Thanks to my City College and NYU students for attending. And to Brad Vogel for organizing. Root beer float for Poets Afloat. @poetsafloat @bowerybird @nosaintjerome

I’m reading for POETS AFLOAT 2pm Sun May 17 South Street Seaport on a ship! ⚓️ Join us @poetsafloat @bowerybird @nosaintjerome

“Bond … gay Bond” 🌈 😂 Birthday vibes - reminiscing on dapperer days #Bondage

We could not be any prouder of @nyucreativewriting alum James Ciano on the release of his brilliant debut collection THE COMMITTEE OF MEN - holding us rapt last night at @ptknitwear with his poems that explore existential concerns with visceral sensations, “a sudden gasp, / then a laugh like popped bubble wrap.” With Catherine Barnett, mentor to so many of your favorite poets, offering the gift of her own work & her insights on Ciano’s”impossible formulations.” The quoted phrase is from the poem “Do Your Best,” and this National Poetry Month, James Ciano definitely has. Congratulations 🍾 James! Shout out to @victoriakornick & the whole community of writers & readers for creating an oasis of presence during these busiest days - a few moments out of life to savor those deeper delights that creative talent makes possible. And P&T Knitwear bookstore & cafe is a really good venue. #poetry #nycpoetry #poetrynyc #nationalpoetrymonth

Roald Dahl, as channeled by John Lithgow, emerges morally grimy in Mark Rosenblatt’s GIANT, which grapples with Dahl’s late-in-life antisemitic remarks in the ultimate “don’t meet your heroes” scenario. Set in the 1980s, the same creative period in which Dahl produced classics like The BFG, The Witches, and Matilda (with much under-recognized input from his editors) the show’s reckonings with violence in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon feels ripped from today’s headlines. It’s not a pleasant watch. But it’s an impressively direct consideration of human fallibility and the ways in which individuals try to navigate the larger cultural currents. Only missing is the pronunciation “Roo-all” for Roald which you can hear in clips of the old show Way Out, a kind of Twilight Zone series Dahl hosted in the 60s. I’m curious whether his British family actually pronounced it Roald, or if this was dramatic license to avoid audience distraction. In 2026 theater remains relevant - disturbing, vital & alive.

Yesterday I a) locked eyes with Connor Storrie in the West Village, and b) much more importantly: watched the most deserving poet & friend @jdbrecords hold his debut collection for the first time. Jeffery Berg’s RE-ANIMATOR resurrects what Anne Rice’s vampire Lestat called the “demonic, shimmering” 1980s in poems as fluent, intelligent, & compellingly alive as Jeffery himself - a genre I might call electric elegy. Congratulations to @indolentbooks publisher Michael Broder and @jdbrecords on this achievement being celebrated as only the East Village can - with a die-hard dive bar crowd of fans and then afterward, a nice sloppy cup of borscht at Veselka. We have been officially re-animated. Get your copy today. #poetry #gaypoets #queerpoetry #nyc poetrynyc

UPDATE TO EVENT - NEW FEATURED POET In his pamphlet Democratic Vistas (1871), Walt Whitman scourges the hollowness at the heart of materialism and calls for a moral and spiritual renewal through the work of literature. We are again in a time of fantastic economic inequality and fascistic political takeover, and we call on poets and poetry to open again the highways and byways of democracy. Africa Wayne is the author of tiny pony and the editor of Dürer in the Window: Reflexions on Art, a selection of art writings by Barbara Guest. Her poems are published in Aufgabe and How2, and a new collection is forthcoming. Jerome Ellison Murphy is a poet and critic based in New York City. He earned his MFA from the Creative Writing Program at New York University, where he currently serves as Manager of Undergraduate Programs, while serving part-time as a Consulting Editor for Park, Fine & Brower Literary Agency. R. A. Villanueva is the author of two collections of poetry: A Holy Dread, winner of the Alice James Award (2026) and Reliquaria (University of Nebraska Press, 2014), winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Cat Fitzpatrick is the Editrix at LittlePuss Press and teaches at Rutgers University—Newark. Her novel-in-rhyme The Call-Out won the 2023 Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Fiction. She has also published a collection of poems, Glamourpuss. Her next book, The Dinner Party: A Book About Love, is forthcoming from Seven Stories Press in 2026.

Live now broadcasting on MNN Lifestyle channel. Workday A Celebration of NY Poets with Emily Wallis Hughes, Jerome Ellison Murphy, Beatriz Albuquerque, Cameron Vanderscoff, Kaushik, David Moscovich, Febby Orida, and more. Also broadcasting on Cable channels FIOS 34, RCN 83, SPECTRUM 56 and 1996. @beatrizalbuquerqueart @sherlockwhisperer @nosaintjerome @emilywallishughes #louffapressnyc #poems #newyork #culture Dec. 6 at 3pm, Dec. 9 at 6pm, Dec. 11 at 10.30pm

Nicely timed with the Court’s current refusal to overturn Obergefell, a poem with a gay wedding theme. Big warm thanks to @jeekohpoet and the editors at The Evergreen Review for giving these poems a home in their fall issue. Interpolated through the text is the visually delicious work of artist S. Emsaki @im_an_oil_man - curation that almost creates a sense of walking through an installation. Link in bio. Keep scrolling, the text continues after the white space and images. It’s loooong. Inspired by the wedding of @blackboytraveljoy and @teachwithmemrc , an equally memorable act of curation. Taste the rainbow. 🌈 With a little historical background on Evergreen Review for a sense of lineage. Great to see this sort of journal persist. #lovewins #poetry #gaypoetry #evergreenreview #nycpoets

A huge congratulations to @ryanjamesblack who is celebrating the publication today of his debut middle grade thriller, THE DARK TIMES OF NIMBLE NOTTINGHAM! Congratulations Ryan on your creative journey, and on the recognition of your work by the legendary R.L. STINE, among others. Living the dream! NIMBLE is the perfect seasonal page-turner as we head into fall — funny, touching, and deliciously ominous in atmosphere. It’s been an honor to support agent @petejknapp and the amazing team at @parkfinebrower on this fantastic project. Pick up a copy today. @penguinrandomhouse

Congratulations 🎉 to Ying Ping Low @lowyingping on her first American publication, forthcoming in summer 2026! Her brilliant middle grade fantasy SONG OF THE YELLOW DRAGON is not only an action-packed adventure with a bittersweet coming-of-age journey for its main characters, but an inventive meditation on the art of storytelling. It’s a magical read. Ying Ping Low’s previously published work has earned her a Singapore Book Award, among other accolades. It’s an honor to work with her and agent extraordinaire @petejknapp . Check out more at lowyingping.com! #middlegradebooks #fantasy #bookstagram #fantasybookstagram #fantasybooks #publishersweekly