The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two years after his very visible stint as U.S. poet laureate, Collins (Sailing Alone Around the Room) remains one of the nation's most popular poets. His light touch, his self-deprecating pathos and his unerring sense of his audience (nothing too difficult, but nothing too lowbrow) explain much of that popularity and remain evident in this eighth collection. "The birds are in their trees,/ the toast is in the toaster,/ and the poets are at their windows," the volume begins: the poet as sensitive everyman, moved if not baffled by literary legacies, and attracted to simple pleasures, constructs a series of similar days and scenes. "In the Moment" depicts "a day in June," "the kind that gives you no choice/ but to unbutton your shirt/ and sit outside in a rough wooden chair"; "I Ask You" opens on "an ordinary night at the kitchen table." Collins's comic gifts are also much in evidence: "Special Glasses" describes spectacles that "filter out the harmful sight of you"; "The Introduction" makes fun of footnotes and obscurities in other poets' poems. The dominant note, however, is a gentle sadness, accomplished with care and skill, sometimes (as in "The Lanyard") garnished by autobiographical wisdom. (Oct.)
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From Booklist

Collins is one of the most popular and most disarming of poets. He draws you close with his swinging lines, twirling metaphors, homey imagery, and coy self-deprecation. But he is as likely to be hiding a cudgel behind his back as a bouquet of flowers. How fitting it is that in "Theme," a suavely disconsolate poem, he tips his hat to Cole Porter and the great composer's "put-on nonchalance." Porter's wry and clever style is Collins' style, too, and he uses it with mastery and purpose in easily consumed and devastatingly funny poems in which he shares his discernment of the wonder and torment of life, the terror and banality of death. In meditative poems blissfully free of labored allusions, Collins detects the metaphysical dimension of a hot shower or a glass of iced tea, even as he writes candidly about how difficult it is to control the unruly mind. Skeptical of love and scornful of pretension, Collins is breathtaking in his appreciation of the earth's beauty and the precious daily routines that define life. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Random House (October 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 037550382X
• ISBN-13: 978-0375503825
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #64,052 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Billy Collins Does it Again, March 8, 2007

By	Cynthia R. Wyatt (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"The Trouble With Poetry," the title poem of Collins' most recent book, is not, as Auden and Frost complained, that it doesn't make a difference, but that it is so dynamic, so important, so chock-full of truth that we wish we had written it ourselves. This strong collection of new poems will leave you with just that sentiment, the "I wish I'd said that" moment when you spot something on the page that is so apt, that so perfectly captures a small (or not-so-small) truth about life, humanity, the human condition, dogs, or love that you covet it. Collins comes across as a friend to the reader, a congenial companion, never lecturing, always sharing, knowing that the shared "moments" are welcome. No wonder Collins has broken tradition and actually sold books, lots of books, during his career which includes being appointed Poet Laureate of the United States. He was our Poet on September 11, 2001, and when asked what poetry could help people ease their anguish, he said we could open any book of poetry and find comfort, because poetry by definition embraces and celebrates life, warts and all. Well, his does. Bravo.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, Sweet, and Dry, December 10, 2006

By	Darcy M. Boynton - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Billy Collins has outdone himself. The Trouble with Poetry (brilliantly titled, yes?) will make you laugh, cry, and think. I just read a review criticizing Collins for his lack of complexity. Billy's LANGUAGE is simple, yes, but his poetry is not. It is straighforward, concise, and yet it packs a punch. Upon reading the nine-line poem "Carry", I found my eyes welling up, such was the pure emotion captured in those three stanzas. It is hard to read Collins when one is alone- the desire to get up out of your armchair and share your newfound treasures with the world is overhwelming.

50 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A more solemn Collins, October 26, 2005

By	Linda Williamson "wordoday" (Calistoga, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Collins has a strong connection to Emily Dickinson, and in one of her poems she says, "I am older now, Master." Collins seems to be saying that "I am older now, Reader." The poems in this volume are still as elegant, but more solemn. Many of them are about taking the time to study the interior of his house, as thought this simple pleasure might not last forever. A stillness pervades some of the poems, almost a deathly stillness. This is a memorable volume, and definitely worth the wait.