Days of Surprise

WINNER OF THE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IRISH BOOK AWARD 2014Paul Durcan never imagined he would be clasped by a woman again, but life is full of surprises! After all, would it surprise you to learn that at the US Ambassador s Residence in Dublin his libido almost destroyed the Peace Process? There is a new Pope, too, a man of constant surprise , although in St Peter s Square Durcan encounters a monk wholly lacking in the Holy Spirit. Elsewhere he muses upon the pre-crucifixion scenario of being prepared for surgery, the gift of a malacca cane, the joy of retail therapy, the horror that is wheel-clamping, the starry mystique of the weather forecaster Jean Byrne, suicide, bird-watching, stammering, art, Mayo, New York City, New Zealand, murder in Syria and the commemoration of 1916. Perhaps the greatest surprise is the voice of the late Seamus Heaney coming down his chimney: Are you all right down there, Poet Durcan? The Days of Surprise is proof that the great poet of contemporary Ireland is in fine fettle.