Dear LifePaperback, 19 April 2014

Dear Life was Dennis O'Driscoll's ninth book of poetry. Like his earlier work, it engages with contemporary issues - the internet era, the compensation culture, global warming - as well as providing fresh perspectives on the timeless topics of working and ageing, loving and dying, God and Mammon. Several startling poems give voice to twenty-first century Western attitudes towards religious belief. With its wry, double-edged title, the title sequence 'Dear Life' attempts nothing less than an exploration of the nature and purpose of human life. This second edition includes a foreword by Seamus Heaney in which he pays tribute to the many sides of Dennis O'Driscoll - poet, critic, essayist, anthologist and nurturer of talent - and discusses the special qualities of Dear Life.