Update

"O'Driscoll is a quietly exciting, subtly intelligent poet."—Poetry London

"O'Driscoll's crisp, unobtrusively musical precision gets to the heart of so many subjects, large and small."—The Guardian

"O'Driscoll is a real poet: his lines stay with you, and crop up unbidden in your mind as you go about your day."—Poetry Ireland Review

Update, the final collection of work by the late Dennis O'Driscoll, weaves a memoir of his past into the state of the world today. The poems embark on a vivid journey through consumerism, our environment, and our fragile existence. Update is O'Driscoll's parting gift, granting a shimmering glimpse of what it truly means to be human.

Ticking the Boxes

Tick the relevant boxes
in this census form tonight
if you are still in the land
of the living at that time.
You must remain
in suspense until then.

You have all morning still.
You have all afternoon long.
One continuous hour.
A whole six minutes.
Twenty-eight precious seconds left.
Three.

Two.
One.

In which to lose your job.
Your citizenship.
Your house.
Your spouse.
Your child.
Your mind.
Your sight.
Your faith.
Your life.

Count on absolutely nothing yet.

Dennis O'Driscoll (1954–2012), editor of Poetry Ireland Review, was the author of ten collections of poetry as well as book of interviews with Seamus Heaney, Stepping Stones. Poetry Review called O'Driscoll "one of the best-read men in the Western world."