Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems - The Poetry Shop

Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems

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Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems - The Poetry Shop

Random House Trade

Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems

$16.00
Sale price  $16.00 Regular price 
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Playfulness, spare elegance, and wit epitomize the poetry of Billy Collins. With his distinct voice and accessible language, America's two-term Poet Laureate has opened the door to poetry for countless people for whom it might otherwise remain closed.

Like the present book's title, Collins's poems are filled with mischief, humor, and irony, "Poetry speaks to all people, it is said, but here I would like to address / only those in my own time zone"-but also with quiet observation, intense wonder, and a reverence for the everyday: "The birds are in their trees, / the toast is in the toaster, / and the poets are at their windows. / They are at their windows in every section of the tangerine of earth-the Chinese poets looking up at the moon, / the American poets gazing out / at the pink and blue ribbons of sunrise."

Through simple language, Collins shows that good poetry doesn't have to be obscure or incomprehensible, qualities that are perhaps the real trouble with most "serious" poetry: "By now, it should go without saying / that what the oven is to the baker / and the berry-stained blouse to the drycleaner / so the window is to the poet."

In this dazzling new collection, his first in three years, Collins explores boyhood, jazz, love, the passage of time, and, of course, writing-themes familiar to Collins's fans but made new here. Gorgeous, funny, and deeply empathetic, Billy Collins's poetry is a window through which we see our lives as if for the first time.

Book Details

Publisher:
Random House Trade
ISBN:
9780375755217
Binding:
Paperback
Pages:
112
Authors:
Billy Collins
Published Date:
2007-04-01
Language:
English

About Billy Collins

Billy Collins served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003 and as New York State Poet from 2004 to 2006. Born in New York City, he is a distinguished professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York. His collections include The Apple That Astonished Paris (University of Arkansas Press, 1988), Sailing Alone Around the Room (Random House, 2001), and Aimless Love (Random House, 2013). He received the Poetry Foundation's inaugural Mark Twain Award in 2004 and the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets.

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