“Rich Murphy’s remarkable ability not only aligns ideas but transform them into something entirely new and profound. For this, we have given him a new title: “The Alchemist Syzygyan.” Just as a syzygy aligns celestial bodies, Murphy’s poems align disparate ideas, and just as an alchemist transmutes base metals into gold, they transmute these alignments into intellectual gold.” -- Emeniano Acain Somoza, Jr., Editor of Syzygy Poetry Journal, Philippines

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​“GPA USA is a watershed publication for Rich Murphy, where poet meets the moment, where Murphy’s skill and sardonic vision take us behind the Potemkin Villages of contemporary politics and culture. This new collection is not just a winking sidelook at the absurdities of our modern existence: rather it’s an unblinking gaze at the contradictions and convenient fictions we are asked to accept as the cost of comfort, complacency. Political sleight of hand and social chimera are scalpeled open and exposed to hard light. What Rich calls “Orwellian Creep” is tracked through myriad “American molds” that turn us into “cynical parrots.”
 
“His language in these poems is surgical and multi-valanced, always with a return to that “Orwellian Creep” we all suffer. Without access to truth, we become transparent, without substance, awed by the national puppet shows, our “life siphoned off on the cheap” in the title poem. I have been a fan of Rich Murphy’s poetry for decades, marveling at his ability to catch nuance and prism it into clarity and insight. This collection is a step or two beyond that. If you wonder why tyrants always come for the poets before taking control, this collection illustrates why.” -- Robert Smart, Professor Emeritus, Quinnipiac University