Essential Poems

The essential selected works of Ireland's leading poet, Micheal O'SiadhailWith an illustrious literary career that has spanned over fifty years, renowned poet Micheal O'Siadhail has cemented his place on the international stage. From his debut collection, The Leap Year (1978), to his latest collection, Desire (2023), O'Siadhail captures evolving struggles with love, faith, and humanity. Here, spanning the entirety of his outstanding career, is the essence of his masterful body of work.The Essential Poems voyages through traditional and innovative poetic forms, investigating love and passion, joy and loss, world-shaping events and personal experiences. O'Siadhail sounds the depths of meaning and evokes wonder, surprise, anguish, and delight. A lyrical meditation on the relationships between humanity and nature, despair and faith, and the richness of courage in the acts of healing completes what proves to be this unforgettable and necessary collection of the inimitable Irish poet.

Micheal O'Siadhail was born in Dublin in 1947. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and the University of Oslo. A full-time writer, he has published eighteen collections of poetry, receiving numerous awards, including the Marten Toonder Prize for Literature and the Irish American Cultural Institute prize for poetry. He has been a lecturer at Trinity College Dublin and a professor at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and is still writing poetry, splitting his time between New York City and Dublin.