Micheal O’Siadhail knows desire, love, trust and wonder, while at the same time facing suffering, tragedy and loss. His life has always been a yearning for meaning, and these four decades of poems work both head and heart towards a ripe wisdom. They are not only richly personal – marriage, friendship, vocation, grief – but also engage with what matters in culture and society – music, language, city life and the dynamics of history. His deep roots are Irish but O’Siadhail’s scope is global. This is life lived to the full with jazz-like leaps and let-go where classical forms and variations make for playful freedom and innovation. His Collected Poems draws on thirteen collections, and includes a CD of him reading a selection of poems.