On The Town: With a wry smile, poet Dennis O'Driscoll calls his latest book of poems "the compilation album". New and Selected Poems, with a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation, represents work from six poetry collections that span more than 20 years.
It was launched at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin this week.
"The day job has prompted a number of poems," said O'Driscoll, who works in the customs section of the Civil Service. Also, he says the collection deals with "the classic subjects of love, death and the meaning of the world".
How does a poem arrive?
"To use a customs metaphor, they smuggle themselves into all the hidden crevices of thought, arriving unbidden, unexpected, and often at untimely occasions," O'Driscoll explained.
According to Joseph Woods, director of Poetry Ireland, "O'Driscoll is a unique observer. He picks up on things. Even though he's a very modern poet, he's also a compassionate poet, a humorous poet. He's often the poet of the daily grind".
Tom Guckian, a retired civil servant, who worked for a time with O'Driscoll, said: "He deals so well with the everyday, as well as the highs. Some of his sketches of office life brings you back there."
Artists Patrick Pye, Ann Graham and Melanie le Brocquy and sculptor Imogen Stuart were among those who came along to applaud O'Driscoll's book.
"I love the new poem about Count John McCormack . . . I know exactly where he's coming from," said fellow poet Tony Curtis.
Other poets who came to congratulate O'Donnell included Paddy Bushe, whose own collection, The Nitpicking of Cranes, was launched later in the week; Gabriel Rosenstock; Katie Donovan, with her baby son, Felix Sensbach; journalism lecturer Harry Browne; and Maurice Harmon, whose own collection, The Doll With Two Backs and Other Poems, is due out shortly.
New and Selected Poems, by Dennis O'Driscoll, is published by Anvil Press Poetry