Dennis O’Driscoll (1954–2012), born in County Tipperary, Ireland, was the author of nine poetry collections, including Dear Life (Copper Canyon Press, 2013), as well as a compilation of nearly two thousand contemporary quotations on poetry. An editor of and contributor to many periodicals in Ireland, the UK, and the United States, he was also the author of Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney. His prizes included a Lannan Literary Award, the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry. O’Driscoll worked as a civil servant in Dublin.

Cassandra

by Dennis O’Driscoll

        after Hans Magnus Enzensberger

For years, all we showed
              her for her pains
were two deaf ears,
              as she fumed over
global warming,
              emitting dire predictions
in her smoky voice:
              catastrophic floods, etc.,
high-rise high-rent condos
              marinating in brine . . .

People on couch
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