Poetry. Dennis O'Driscoll is one of Ireland's most popular poets and critics. In REALITY CHECK, his first book of poetry published in the United States, he strips away Irish stereotypes with sly wit, candor, and an ear attuned to the tragedies and comedies of a globalized Ireland. Visions of a "donkey-cart-to-creamery age that no longer / dares to speak its shabby name" are interspersed with the language of modern life and business. His job as a civil servant for nearly forty years--"a lifetime's fug of arbitrations, ordinances, inter-agency liaison"--has made him privy to the world of bureaucracy and office politics, and given him a knack for transfroming poetry's themes through "workaday words" and present-day concerns. In "Cassandra," the Trojan princess's prediction of global warming becomes "a hot topic suddenly / on every chat show" and the long closing poem "Skywriting" is a sustained, impressive, and gorgeous meditation called "the best work O'Driscoll has done yet" by the Dublin Review of Books.

Dennis O'Driscoll is one of Ireland's most widely published and respected critics of poetry. He is the author of seven previous collections of poetry and one collection of essays. His awards include a Lannan Literary Award, the E.M. Forster Award, and the O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry. He lives in Co Kildare, Ireland.

Reviews and Other Links
http://www.bookslut.com/poetry/2008_11_013680.php