by Billy Collins
This was, I think, my first encounter with Billy Collins's poetry. I've been aware of him for years, and sometimes remember to look for his books when I'm browsing bookstores or the library, but it took until now to actually find one.I liked this collection, overall, but it didn't blow me away. I'm ...
As always, I enjoy this man's poetry. Wry observations and surprising analogies. That said, this book wasn't as satisfying as some of his others. In any poetry collection, there are some poems that work for me and some that don't. I found many more that didn't in this one. I enjoyed this one: Table ...
Not every poem Billy Collins writes is a stunner, but so many manage to be funny, wise, epicurean, full of gusto, or just flat- out perfect, and there's always at least one poem in each of his books that is worth the price or admission. In this volume, it's "Table Talk" because no one else can blend...
I enjoy Billy Collins, but despite the airplane on the cover of this, the poems in this collection never really took off for me. The poems lack turn, they seem often to lack purpose. And sometimes they go on too long. The title poem, for example, is amusing and there's the promise that the writer mi...
Really enjoyed this collection. Not every poem works for me, so it feels uneven at times, but the good ones more than make up for the bumpy ones. Some amble along not making much of an account for themselves til the very end, where a single idea can win you over. The strongest of them impact you fro...
Reading Billy Collins' poetry is like running into an old friend who always has an amusing story to tell. He is the perfect poet to introduce to someone who thinks he probably would not like poetry.
A Billy Collins poem is very clearly a Billy Collins poem. The characters in a Billy Collins poem live regular lives and say regular things and eat regular food and do regular things. But there is always a twist, a what-if, a if-only. Beautiful little poems that can be read and enjoyed by old people...
Some are enchanting. Some...be sure to continue taking your antidepressants. The tone is not exactly dour--more fatalistic, OCD and looking forward to rest. (THAT, I identify with, probably a bit too much.)