<DIV><p>“Dennis O’Driscoll . . . is one of the most interesting poets now writing in English.”—Adam Kirsch, <I>Slate</I></p><p>"Dennis O'Driscoll has produced an extraordinary body of work...Some of his poems have already achieved the status of classics."<BR>—<I>Poetry Ireland Review</I><BR><BR> "O'Driscoll's mind...ruminates on experience with alacrity, humility, and an unwillingness to pontificate. His talent -- which could equally grace a novel -- should stand the test of time."<BR>—<I>Poetry Review</I></p><p>"His terrain is, in effect, without borders: mordant, open, sharp, generous, and sad."<BR>—<I>The Guardian</I><BR><BR> "[O'Driscoll's] poems dance deftly on the tongue.... The collection offers a cornucopia of visual and aural delights, a Whitmanic appreciation of both nature and human creation that nevertheless recognizes the global dangers posed by the latter.... O'Driscoll's U.S. debut is a bracing introduction to a poet whose work American readers have gone without for too long."<BR>—<I>Library Journal</I></p><p>Dennis O’Driscoll’s poetry is invigorating, grounded, and modern, with an ear attuned to the tragedies and comedies of contemporary life in a “globalized” Ireland. When <I>Reality Check </I>was published last year in the United Kingdom, it was named one of the top ten books of 2007 by <I>The Independent </I>of London.</p><p>O’Driscoll, who tours regularly in the United States, excels at stripping away stereotypes. He incorporates the language of the business world into his poetry, often to comic effect. His job as a civil servant for nearly forty years, “a lifetime’s fug of arbitrations, ordinances, inter-agency liaisons,” has made him privy to the intricacies of bureaucracy, diplomacy, and commerce, and has given him a knack for transforming timeless themes through “workaday words” and present-day concerns.</p><p><I>Lean on the green recycle bin<BR>in the yard where roses run amok,<br>scent intensified by last night’s rain . . .<br>Rest on the laurels of your elbows.<br>Consent to mind and body going<BR>their ways amicably, a trial separation.</I></p><p><B>Dennis O’Driscoll</B>, author of ten books, is one of Ireland’s most popular poets and critics. According to <I>Poetry Review</I>, he is “one of the best-read men in the Western world.”</p></DIV>