I love Billy Collins. I am not a huge Poetry person and I am sure many could say a great deal more than I could about this collection. It's a Mix Tape of his greatest hits. You could read this pretty quickly if you wish. I believe, instead you will find yourself slowing down and thinking about each one wondering, how does he do that? They just keep turning and turning and always surprise.

My Favorites are of course: Introduction to Poetry as well as Advice to Writers, The History Teacher and Nostalgia to name a few.

I am sure there is one in here just for you...

I don’t think Billy gives a rat’s ass that I’m a philistine; that I’m unschooled in the appreciation of fine arts; that I can’t even fake knowing jack about poetry. He writes for guys like me, too. In fact, it might be kind of his thing. (My friend Scott, who does know poetry, commented just today that Collins has a reputation for being less serious. Evidently, the hegemons of verse took exception when he was named Poet Laureate and called for their own choice.) But he won me over on the very first page:

Another Reason Why I Don't Keep a Gun in the House

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark
that he barks every time they leave the house.
They must switch him on on their way out.

The neighbors' dog sill not stop barking.
I close all the windows in the house
and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast
but I can still hear him muffled under the music,
barking, barking, barking,

and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,
his head raised confidently as if Beethoven
had included a part for barking dog.

When the record finally ends he is still barking,
sitting there in the oboe section barking,
his eyes fixed on the conductor who is
entreating him with his baton

while the other musicians listen in respectful
silence to the famous barking dog solo,
that endless coda that first established
Beethoven as an innovative genius.

Like I said before, I’m a poetry nitwit. It was only recently that I learned they don’t have to rhyme. The rule is, as long as it has blocks of broken up lines it qualifies, right? So yeah, I may be a dummy, but at least I’m open to Billy’s way of approaching them:

Introduction to Poetry

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to water-ski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

Muchas gracias to Penky and Stephen M for their great reviews of this one.

They, along with Scott,
fracked the rocky ground
from which poetry flows
like gas into a wellbore.

That’s almost poetic, isn’t it? Especially when I break it up, right?

A bit of humor, a slightly skewed eye, an attitude of approachability, and an artistry with words that’s hard to describe (but easy to like) – it all adds up to a lot of stars.

Billy Collins is the perfect poet for people who don't really care for poetry. He writes little stories in free verse that are accessible and often very funny. This is a collection of, as the title says, new and old poems. Some of my favorites are: Marginalia where the poet ponders the kinship he feels with people who write in the margin of books; Another Reason Why I Don't Keep a Gun in the House where the poet struggles with his ire at the neighbor's barking dog, and Passengers, his observation that the other passengers in the waiting area of the airport gate may very well be the "possible company of my death" if their plane crashes. His Introduction to Poetry mirrors my own exasperation with students who demand to be told "what the poem is about." This, and The Complete Robert Frost, are two poetry books that I pick up constantly to reread.

Another wonderful collection by Billy Collins! My favorite poems in this book (though liked most of them) are "Student of the Clouds", "Nostalgia", "The Dead" and "Candle Hat". Looking forward to reading more by this author!

Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com

31 dicembre 2016, a letto con 38 di febbre, bevendo un brodino caldo in compagnia di Billy Collins

Billy Collins, americano, è un poeta che divide: amato dalla gente, anche da chi non frequenta assiduamente la poesia, ma giudicato dalla critica accademica un poeta banale, irrispettoso della tradizione, leggero, privo di spessore.
Io l’ho scoperto grazie alle recensioni di due amici anobiani e mi ha sorpreso: semplice, coinvolgente, fresco.
A me è piaciuta tanto questa:

COMPIENDO DIECI ANNI
L’idea stessa mi fa sentire
come se mi fossi buscato qualcosa,
qualcosa di peggio di tutti i mal di pancia
o mal di testa che mi vengono a leggere con poca luce –
una specie di morbillo dello spirito,
gli orecchioni della psiche,
una deturpante varicella dell’anima.

Mi dici che è troppo presto per guardare indietro,
ma lo dici perché hai dimenticato
la perfetta semplicità di avere un anno
e la bella complessità introdotta dai due.
Ma posso starmene sdraiato a letto e ricordare ogni cifra.
A quattro ero un mago arabo.
Potevo diventare invisibile
bevendo un bicchiere di latte in un certo modo.
A sette ero un soldato, a nove un principe.

Ora invece sto spesso alla finestra
a guardare la luce del tardo pomeriggio.
Allora non spioveva mai così solenne
sul lato della mia casa sull’albero,
e la mia bicicletta non si poggiava mai al garage
come fa oggi,
con tutta la sua velocità blu prosciugata.

Questo è l’inizio della tristezza, mi dico,
mentre attraverso l’universo con le mie scarpe da ginnastica.
È ora di dire addio ai miei amici immaginari,
è ora di girare il primo grande numero.

Mi sembra solo ieri che credevo
che sotto la pelle non ci fosse altro che luce.
Se mi tagliavi non potevo che splendere.
Ma ora quando cado sui marciapiedi della vita,
mi pelo le ginocchia. Sanguino.

https://youtu.be/CoONtDv9eJg

Il 31 dicembre, a letto con 38 di febbre, sorbendosi un brodino caldo, condividere con un poeta la struggente malinconia per il tempo che passa, lo rende un momento davvero speciale. Consola.
Buon anno!

I didn't love every poem in this collection, but I did really enjoy three quarters of them and that exceeded my expectations by a whole lot.

I recommend Introduction to Poetry, Forgetfulness, Days, On Turning Ten, Marginalia , Dharma, Reading an Anthology of Chinese Poems of the Sung Dynasty, I Pause to Admire the Length and Clarity of Their Titles, and Insomnia.

I would so definitely read and buy more Billy Collins. I can believe I like poetry. When did this happen?

Too much Billy Collins.

Billy Collins has been called a "major minor" poet, and I must admit, I hadn't heard of him before my friend brought one of his poems to poetry night this past December. The same friend chose this poetry collection for our April meeting of book group, and I'm so glad she did.

Billy Collins' poems are delightful, accessible, funny, yet deep. His commentary is never biting, his criticism always revelatory. He paints things with words. He doesn't use set forms, unless he is mocking the set form.

Perhaps my favorite poem of Billy Collins is probably "Introduction to Poetry":

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

Some of my other favorite poems in this collection were "Workshop," "American Sonnet," "Not Touching," and "The History Teacher."

At book group we also had this awesome moment with the poem "Paradelle for Susan." He's making fun of very strict forms by writing a very terrible paradelle, with lots of extra words and prepositions that he throws in at the end of the stanza to match the form. Most of us at book group didn't know that Billy Collins had actually created this entirely new form so he could write a bad version of it. Or course, now some people take this imaginary poem seriously.

People don't read much poetry anymore. But reading a few poems a day over the month of April was a lot of fun.

I love Billy Collins' poems. I know he is lauded as being accessible. He is. Mostly though he is clever and downright hilarious at times. As all good poets he twists words and ideas just enough to make you see the world differently. His writing is warm and his subjects are often everyday thoughts and ideas--nothing esoteric here. Collins'poetry makes me want to read more poetry . . . and not just his.

Highlights are numerous in this collection, but include:

Plight of the Troubadour
Winter Syntax
Introduction to Poetry
Forgetfulness
Workshop


And many more.

Act now and receive a bonus album of Chris Christopherson singing Collins' entire repertoire.

There were a couple of interesting thoughts on writing, but some of this was just baffling, like the one where he spins around on his carpet and imagines himself like DaVinci's Vitruvian man.
My favorite poems were "The Night House" and "Winter Syntax."

All I can say is by the end I understood why Billy Collins is so admired. You saw his intelligence and his creativity. And if you have a heart for the cynic in the room, or if you sometimes are the tender cynic in in the room, you will enjoy.

A nice collection of Collins's poetry. Took me a while to finish, even though it is a short book. These were my highlights during my first read:
The wires of the night
Not touching
Purity
On turning ten
Pinup
Marginalia
The death of the hat
Passengers
Aristotle
Dharma
Times
Man listening to disc