Reality Check

by Dennis O'Driscoll and o-driscoll-dennis

Book Overview

"Dennis O'Driscoll . . . is one of the most interesting poets now writing in English."--Adam Kirsch, Slate

"Dennis O'Driscoll has produced an extraordinary body of work...Some of his poems have already achieved the status of classics."
--Poetry Ireland Review

"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."
--Poetry Review

"His terrain is, in effect, without borders: mordant, open, sharp, generous, and sad."
--The Guardian

" 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."
--Library Journal

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 Reality Check was published last year in the United Kingdom, it was named one of the top ten books of 2007 by The Independent of London.

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.

Lean on the green recycle bin
in the yard where roses run amok,
scent intensified by last night's rain . . .
Rest on the laurels of your elbows.
Consent to mind and body going
their ways amicably, a trial separation.

Dennis O'Driscoll, author of ten books, is one of Ireland's most popular poets and critics. According to Poetry Review, he is "one of the best-read men in the Western world."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1556592809
• ISBN13: 9781556592805
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.9" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

His poetry is entertaining as it enlightening about a modern people

Stereotypes are offensive because they assume, and Dennis O'Driscoll seeks to combat the Irish stereotypes with "Reality Check". Writing about Ireland in a world of Globalization and what it has done to his homeland, both positive and negative, his poetry is entertaining as it enlightening about a modern people. "Reality Check" is a solid choice for poetry readers with an interest in Irish culture. "Diversions": Lean on the green recycle bin/in the yard where roses run amok, scent intensified by last night's rain.//Life your eyes to the sunlit hills, hedge/ perforated fields are first day issues/tweezered askew in your childhood album.//Rest on the laurels of your elbows./Consent to mind and body going/their ways amicably, a trial separation.