The Trouble with Poetry by Billy Collins

The Trouble with Poetry by Billy Collins

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.

From the Hardcover edition.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780375503825
ISBN 10	037550382X
Title	The Trouble with Poetry
Author	Billy Collins
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2005-10-18
Number of pages	112
Prizes	Winner of New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age 2006
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.