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Rating: 
Summary: Poems that Examine our Humanness
Review: Collins has a wonderful, dry wit that shines through many of his poems. He has gained quite a reputation as a highly accessible poet, meaning that his poems appeal to a wide audience. And perhaps this is one of the reasons why he was selected to be the Poet Laureate of the U.S.To say that Collins' poems are "accessible" may seem a bit of a slight. For, while Collins' use of simple and spare language may mean the average reader won't need to go running to his or her dictionary every stanza, that is not to say his poems are pure fluff. For example, in "Flying to a Funeral," Collins captures the emotional flux caused by a death:... Collins is light and playful in many of his poems. He highlights the mundane details of our lives and makes us delight in them, see them as something other than the dreariness we make them out to be. Collins is a very imaginative poet, as well. He is able to write about History as if it were a houseguest, or even write verse about "The Morning After My Death":... In this collection, Billy Collins covers the standard poetic targets of love, death, and art. In between, he helps us see the universality of experience, peppering it with laughter at ourselves -- and our humanness.
Rating: 
Summary: Some gems
Review: If you know and enjoy Billy's poems this volume is a necessity. There are some earlier pieces that are brilliantly focused and tight -- like a joke and a punchline. Others are more subtle, but always clear in language and meaning. There is no contemporary poet that I would recommend more highly. Also check out The Best Cigarette CD for a great collection of Billy reading his work.
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