The Apple That Astonished Paris: Poems by Billy Collins (Paperback)

~ (Author) "You thought it was just a pencil dot art students made in the middle of the canvas before they started painting the barn, cows, haystacks,..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Advice To Writers
Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House
Bar Time
The Blue
Books
The Brooklyn Museum Of Art
Cancer
Child Development
Death
Desire
Driving With Animals
Earthling
Embrace
Etymology
Flames
Flying To A Funeral
The Frankenstein Poet
Fur
Hart Crane
Hopeless But Not Serious
Hunger
Indoors
Insomnia (1)
Introduction To Poetry
The Lesson
Lost
Lowell, Mass.
Morning After My Death
My Number
On Closing Anna Karenina
The Past
Personal History
Plight Of The Troubadour
Poem
Programs
Putting Down The Cat
Remembering Dreams
The Rival Poet
Schoolsville
Strange Lands
Tourist: Dromahair, Co. Sligo
Vanishing Point
Walking Across The Atlantic
Winter Syntax
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

From the original press release for the book's publication:

Imagine Smokey the Bear walking through the forest carrying a red gasoline can and a box of kitchen matches, or Frankenstein absent-mindedly tapping the bolts on his neck as he composes an elegy. You have just imagined the world of Billy Collins.

Entrance can be gained to this world in THE APPLE THAT ASTONISHED PARIS, a collection of poems by Billy Collins published in June 1988 by the University of Arkansas Press.

Collins' irreverent images, such as Death stopping the car to get his scythe out of the trunk, strike at the deepest concerns of the human heart and mind in ways as delightful as they are provocative.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 61 pages
• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press (February 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155728024X
• ISBN-13: 978-1557280244
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #632,349 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some gems, March 28, 2000

By	Eric Antonow (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I think it's his best...[timorous], March 6, 2006

By	Ben Hodges (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

I haven't read all his other works, so take this with a grain of salt:

From what I've read, this volume is his best. "Vanishing Point", "Hunger"--just two examples of what made me buy this book without hesitation. I am very impressed by this collection of his work. It doesn't have "Memory" or "Lanyard" in it, but it's still bloody wonderful. It's my favorite of his individual volumes. Can't go wrong with it even if it isn't his best.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Amazing Billy Collins, July 5, 2009

By	Robert J. Barber "komoku" (Chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Apple That Astonished Paris (Paperback)

I don't have this book in hand, since I bought it as a gift. Over the years, I have often given Billy's books as gifts. He is a wonderful poet. Makes me laugh. Sometimes makes me tear up.