By Kalena Reynolds | Staff Writer
Micheal O’Siadhail calls himself an Irish poet, but it only takes one look at his biography to realize the full depth of his artistry. One of those insights is his new poetry book, “Desire,” which retells his experiences and wisdom of living through the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
From 4 to 5:30 p.m. on March 19 in the Foyer of Meditation at Armstrong Browning Library, O’Siadhail will do a reading of the book, with a signing and coffee reception afterward. The event is hosted by Baylor University Press and the English department.
Originally from Ireland, O’Siadhail has lived in New York City with his wife, who is a surgeon, for the past 10 years. O’Siadhail begins his book by discussing the pandemic and its relation to climate change, which was inspired by readings from the Journal of Science as well as his wife’s experiences throughout the pandemic.
“It is what we’re doing to the planet,” O’Siadhail said. “It seems to be causing these pandemics because the climate changes, and within the climate change, animals are moving their habitat, and we’re coming in contact with viruses that we just don’t have immunity for. It may happen again very shortly.”
O’Siadhail said climate change has been fueled by overconsumption, which he said is ultimately caused by an addiction to the internet.
“The third section describes how the internet has been used,” O’Siadhail said. “It’s obviously both a blessing and a curse, because it’s a wonderful thing, but it’s also being used to spy on us and exploit us and to drive the algorithms, to drive consumerism, which in turn is destroying the planet. So I think we’re faced with that problem of greed and convenience.”
The book’s ultimate question, however, is of desire, which O’Siadhail said was the core question related to the pandemic, climate change and overconsumption.
“It seems to me that there’s actually a much greater question, and that is really, what is worth desiring?” O’Siadhail said. “In the light of the fact that our lives are so brief, so ephemeral and thrilling — you know, having seen the intense danger of this, which intensified our questioning about our values — what is worth desiring?”
Dr. Richard Rankin Russell, graduate program director in the English department, said “Desire” is O’Siadhail’s modern-day interpretation of current crises.
“It is about the pandemic, but it’s also about our response to the pandemic. It’s about what I call the plague itself,” Russell said. “His wife is a doctor in New York City, and so he saw a lot of things, I think, fairly close at hand or close up. But it’s also about our response to [the pandemic] and online surveillance, which had already started before then by just tracking people, and then also the ecological crisis. So it’s his artistic treatment of those three sorts of intertwined, interrelated issues.”
O’Siadhail’s book was published by Baylor University Press in late 2023 and is available to purchase on Amazon or the Baylor University Press website.
“Baylor University published me, and I’m very proud to be published by them,” O’Siadhail said. “They do beautiful books, absolutely beautiful books, and they are a wonderful pleasure to deal with. So I want to just pay tribute to that.”
