Poet Dennis O'Driscoll finds inspiration in the workaday world

Irish poet Dennis O'Driscoll
Irish poet Dennis O'Driscoll is being honored by the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.
MPR Photo/Tom Crann

It might be a cliche to call Ireland a land of poets. But the fact of the matter is that Ireland is the country that produced William Butler Yeats and Seamus Heany, winners of the Nobel Prize in literature, not to mention countless other notable poets past and present.

Another well-known Irish poet, Dennis O'Driscoll, is being recognized in Minnesota for his work.

For 10 years now, the University of St. Thomas has honored a living and working Irish poet with the Lawrence M. O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry. O'Driscoll is this year's winner.

O'Driscoll has been praised for the emotional realism of his poetry, and his work has been called "life-enhancing" by the Irish Times. O'Driscoll spoke with MPR's Tom Crann.