<DIV><p>“One of the best-read men in the Western world” is how <i>Poetry Review</i> describes Irish poet-critic Dennis O’Driscoll. <i>Quote Poet Unquote</i>, his compilation of contemporary quotations on all things poetry-related, proves that judgment spot on. The book grew out of O’Driscoll’s column “Pickings and Choosings” for <i>Poetry Ireland Review</i>, and contains nearly two thousand smart sayings obsessively gleaned from six hundred sources—including powerhouse critics, prize-winning poets, world leaders, and newspaper headlines. The voices in this volume are by turns provocative, deadpan, humorous, and inspirational:</p><p>“If you dribble past five defenders, it isn’t called sheer prose.”—Tom Leonard</p><p>“I do not give the honorific name of ‘poetry’ to the primitive and the unaccomplished.”—Helen Vendler, <i>The New York Times</i></p><p>“I started a PhD in English at the University of Chicago because I loved poetry—which I now realize is like saying I studied vivisection because I loved dogs.”—Michael Donaghy, <i>Verse</i></p><p>Organized by headings as forthright as “What Is It Anyway?” as playful as “Prose and Cons” and “No, Thanks” (on bad poetry), this collection is both a reference work and a supremely entertaining take on the poetry world. <i>Quote Poet Unquote</i> offers incontrovertible evidence—thousands of pieces of it—that poetry, and the passionate discourse it generates, is alive and kicking.</p><p><b>Dennis O’Driscoll</b>, former editor of <i>Poetry Ireland Review</i>, is the author of seven books of poetry and a collection of essays. He lives in Ireland.</p></DIV>