Ballistics: Poems
by Billy Collins
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Book Summary Information
Author: Billy CollinsEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-09
ISBN: 1400064910
Number of pages: 128
Publisher: Random House
Book Reviews of Ballistics: Poems
Book Review: Poetry That Begins In Delight and Ends in Wisdom
Summary: 5 Stars
When I recently heard Billy Collins read several of the poems from this new collection, he was compared, both in the printed material and by the person who introduced him, to Robert Frost in that both writers have the "rare combination of critical acclaim and broad popular appeal," a dubious comparison at best since I can think of six or eight other contemporary poets who would fall into that category as well. I certainly am not suggesting that Mr. Collins, Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003, is not a fine poet; that he is. He just sounds nothing like Robert Frost nor any other poet for that matter. His poetry does, however, fit Frost's definition of poetry as beginning in delight and ending in wisdom. I was reminded once again that except in the rarest cases that no one reads poetry as well its author and that poetry should always be read aloud.
Mr. Collins writes with charm and humor about the most ordinary of subjects. "This Little Piggy Went to the Market" is all about playing with children. Animals float in bathtubs in "Bathtub Families." And in the poem "Ballistics" for which this volume is named, the poet imagines that in the high-speed photograph of a bullet piercing a book, that the "executed book/was a recent collection of poems written by someone of whom I was not fond."
In addition to these poems that will make you smile, often written with tongue in cheek, many of Mr. Collins' poems would fit his description of poetry as giving form to misery while others fall somewhere in between these two extremes. I would nominate the thoughtful "An Old Man Eating Alone in a Chinese Restaurant" as one of those where Collins is glad that he resisted the temptation as a young poet to write about a lonely old man eating in a restaurant. Now he finds the food delicious, the light "which falls through the big windows this time of day italicizing everything it touches --" and his enjoyment of reading a "book --Jose Saramago's BLINDNESS as it turns out --" and the smiling waitress (the poet says he learned the proper use of the dash from Emily Dickinson).
Mr. Collins can say volumes in few carefully chosen words as in the poem entitled "Divorce."
Once, two spoons in a bed,
now tined forks
across a granite table
and the knives they have hired.
Then there is the darker poem "A Dog on His Master" where the dog hopes that his master understands that he in all probability will outlive his dog.
Finally my favorite poem of so very many is "On the Death of a Next-door Neighbor" which begins with the following lines:
So much younger and with a tall, young son
in the house above ours on a hill,
it seemed that death had blundered once again.
Was it poor directions, the blurring rain,
or the too-small numbers on the mailbox
that sent his dark car up the wrong winding driveway?
Surely, it was me he was looking for --
If these lines do not put chills on your spine, you have to be like the next-door neighbor. A wondrously beautiful poem.
Summary of Ballistics: Poems
A Billy Collins poem is instantly recognizable. ?Using simple, understandable language,? notes USA Today, the two-term U.S. Poet Laureate ?captures ordinary life?its pleasure, its discontents, its moments of sadness and of joy.? His everyman approach to writing resonates with readers everywhere and generates fans who would otherwise never give a poem a second glance.Now, in this stunning new collection, Collins touches on a greater array of subjects?love, death, solitude, youth, and aging?delving deeper than ever before. Ballistics comes at the reader full force with moving and playful takes on life. Drawing inspiration from the world around him and from such poetic forebears as Robert Frost, Paul Valéry, and eleventh-century poet Liu Yung, Collins drolly captures the essence of an ordinary afternoon:
All I do these drawn-out days
is sit in my kitchen at Pheasant Ridge
where there are no pheasants to be seen
and, last time I looked, no ridge.
Collins reflects on his solitude:
If I lived across the street from myself
and I was sitting in the dark
on the edge of the bed
at five o?clock in the morning,
I might be wondering what the light
was doing on in my study at this hour.
And he meditates on the effects of love:
It turns everything into a symbol
like a storm that breaks loose
in the final chapter of a long novel.
And it may add sparkle to a morning,
or deepen a night
when the bed is ringed with fire.
As Collins strives to find truth in the smallest detail, readers are given a fascinating, intimate glimpse into the heart and soul of a brilliantly thoughtful man and exemplary poet.
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