One of my favourite poets is Dennis O’Driscoll. Born in Thurles in 1954 he has published nine collections of poems. He has a wonderful eye for the contemporary issues of the day and many of his poems have a cynical, wry and cutting edge to them. What he sees and feels he speaks – in essence the traits of a good poet! I like his work because it cuts to the bone – but not in a destructive or mean way. He speaks as an observer of life and its stages, twists and turns etc. Indeed, his latest book is worth purchasing (as are all the others too!) for the first poem alone. In the poem ‘Yesterday’ he deals with how time passes us by and how the past easily falls into the background, as we grow older. I have met many people who are trapped in the past. Others are suffering great anxiety because of their obsession with the future. If we lived each day as a gift, as a golden opportunity to be mindful of its everyday treasures, there would be a lot less mental anguish out there! In his poem Yesterday he finishes with the lines:

“Its like will not

be seen again.

Those of us alive then

had the whole world

to ourselves.

The whole livelong day.

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