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Summary: Ha Ha! Mr. Collins is funny, Ha Ha!
Review: Ha Ha! Mr. Collins is soooo funny, Ha Ha! Yet even when I laugh, I cry. He has put a poem in my eye! I recommend this book for everyone!
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Summary: Told in the simple things
Review: More and more I appreciate the poem that brings poetry down to the familiar, even the mundane. A cup of coffee and a cigarette, or the way leaves look just before a storm. Billy Collins is a master of this kind of simplicity. He grounds you firmly in the world, and then lets the truth of it open out before you. Accessible though never simplistic, direct and dryly funny, Collins is a gem. Read him.
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Summary: Unusually delicious!
Review: This is the kind of book that slowly draws you into the web. Collins delicately threads the tangible with the abstract so seamlessly that the reader fades into the material without warning. His casual way with words allows the reader to taste the mundane in a refreshly intimate way. Not a book to read in one setting. Instead it should be explored and savored like a rare bottle of wine.
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Summary: It's really pretty simple...
Review: Billy Collins' poetry is fun. What makes Collins' poetry stand above others' poetry? Collins makes profound observations without a moment of pretension. His poetry is accessible and written with the assumption that poetry should be read and enjoyed by all kinds of people, not just academics and students.
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Summary: Billy Collins sings the Muse
Review: In this collection of new and selected poems, Billy Collins riffs on a variety of themes. In "Nostalgia" he asks if we remember the 1340s, or even this afternoon. In "Japan" we feel the weighted wait of a moth on the surface of an ancient temple gong. He reminds us not to beat poetry to death in a backroom with a rubber hose. In essence, Billy Collins reminds us to dance in delight with our words; it is indicative of his success that the best parts of this review are mere paraphrases of his own verse. Tolle, lege: take up and read.
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Summary: Marvelous Poetry
Review: I bought this book at the recommendation of Dave Lee, and I haven't been more pleased with a book of poetry since I first read Gary Short or Yusef Komunyakaa. This book is my current constant companion. I can't speak highly enough of it. Simply beautful and simply astounding. These collected and new poems by our current Poet Laureate are the poems that you have always heard echoing in the recesses of your mind, now fully articulated by an external voice. And what a voice! Billy Collins deserves praise for this wonderful book on that point alone. Billy, as one reviewer in the dust cover notes, draws us in with humor to deeper, more significant moments of life. Each poem is in itself a treat that at first appears simple, but winds up being a vast ocean of thought. My favorite poems include "Shoveling Snow With Buddha" and "Marginalia." In my opinion, Billy Collins represents the best of American poetry with the same importance as William Stafford and William Carlos Williams. I am certain you will feel the same way after you read this book.
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Summary: Crisp Poetry, No Tweed!
Review: Billy Collins's SAILING ALONE AROUND THE ROOM is a compilation of poetry from the master of suburban verse. Witty, humorous, and acutely observant, Collins never disappoints in his poetry. Though some critics have lambasted Collins for writing cushy, suburban, "white" poetry, I disagree. Such poetry is refreshingly different from the usual autobiographical, self-indulgent, polemic verse that is so dominant these days. Also, Collins does not lapse into the abstruse or academic; his poetry is "hospitable" (to use his own words) and lucid. A great read from a master of American Verse. I hope more poets will go in the direction Collins is going: away from the turgid, self-centered poetry and towards a vigorous, clear, and engaging poetry of the American landscape.
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Summary: Buy This Book!
Review: I heard the author on the Diane Rehm Show (NPR) one morning while driving in my car. He read some of his poems from this book and I just couldn't believe it: I understood them! They are about every day events or things which Collins transforms for us into unique ways of thinking about them! Some of his poems are sly and funny! He has the most wonderful speaking voice and is such a likable man! Too bad he didn't come with the book! Maybe it's on tape.....Buy it!
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Summary: It gets better
Review: I am a voracious reader of contemporary poetry, but I have never previously been interested in Collins's work, which has seemed to me more or less insignifant. I read this book after he became Poet Laureate, and although I don't hate it, it's not exactly earth-shattering either. I suppose that's the point: Collins wants to be charming and minor, and he's both to a tee. His best poems riff on some well-known idea (like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin) and then kind of get distracted by an image. By associative logic, the poems veer off their own path -- which is often pretty well-trodden -- and into more mysterious and interesting territory. This often works as a technique, although it gets predictable. And Collins is funny, which is a big plus. I tended not to mind that he didn't really have much significant to say. This is poetry as beach reading. One thing about Collins's technique: you can see Collins's ear getting better in the later books. The first 50 pages or so are just unmelodious, ugly even, and I don't think it's really purposeful. In the later books he gets more comfortable with his breezy sentences and takes more chances with the line. It's not like he's ever a poet of much risk, but the phrasing is (usually) not dull or flat in the later books.
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Summary: a good use of humor
Review: i wasn't exactly sure what to expect from collins. the man seems to inspire people to be either rabid supporters or rabid haters of his work. his selected poems is a strong selection from his work and some good new poems. after reading this collection, i can tell you his work is good. he'll never be considered one of the most important poets, and not all of his poems are strong. but he has a great use of humor, and there are several times i found myself laughing out loud. collins is definitely a poet worth reading.
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