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The Best Cigarette
The selected poems of Billy Collins read by the author. 33 poems, over 70 minutes, very high quality recording on cassette or CD.
Audio CD
First published September 1, 1997
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About the author
Billy Collins
150 books1,608 followersWilliam James Collins is an American poet who served as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He was a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York, retiring in 2016. Collins was recognized as a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library (1992) and selected as the New York State Poet for 2004 through 2006. In 2016, Collins was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. As of 2020, he is a teacher in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 21, 2010
Let's see if this one is as good as his "live" audio performance. Today, my favorite poem of his is "Litany"
You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.
However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way you are the pine-scented air.
It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.
And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.
It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.
I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley,
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.
I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.
But don't worry, I am not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow-- the wine.
You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.
However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way you are the pine-scented air.
It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.
And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.
It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.
I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley,
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.
I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.
But don't worry, I am not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow-- the wine.
January 8, 2015
Forgetfulness
-Billy Collins
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Long ago you kissed the names of the nine muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,
something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue
or even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
-Billy Collins
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Long ago you kissed the names of the nine muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,
something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue
or even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
March 31, 2011
The title poem and this one are my favorites:
Thesaurus
It could be the name of a prehistoric beast
that roamed the Paleozoic earth, rising up
on its hind legs to show off its large vocabulary,
or some lover in a myth who is metamorphosed into a book.
It means treasury, but it is just a place
where words congregate with their relatives,
a big park where hundreds of family reunions
are always being held,
house, home, abode, dwelling, lodgings, and digs,
all sharing the same picnic basket and thermos;
hairy, hirsute, woolly, furry, fleecy, and shaggy
all running a sack race or throwing horseshoes,
inert, static, motionless, fixed and immobile
standing and kneeling in rows for a group photograph.
Here father is next to sire and brother close
to sibling, separated only by fine shades of meaning.
And every group has its odd cousin, the one
who traveled the farthest to be here:
astereognosis, polydipsia, or some eleven
syllable, unpronounceable substitute for the word tool.
Even their own relatives have to squint at their name tags.
I can see my own copy up on a high shelf.
I rarely open it, because I know there is no
such thing as a synonym and because I get nervous
around people who always assemble with their own kind,
forming clubs and nailing signs to closed front doors
while others huddle alone in the dark streets.
I would rather see words out on their own, away
from their families and the warehouse of Roget,
wandering the world where they sometimes fall
in love with a completely different word.
Surely, you have seen pairs of them standing forever
next to each other on the same line inside a poem,
a small chapel where weddings like these,
between perfect strangers, can take place.
Billy Collins
Thesaurus
It could be the name of a prehistoric beast
that roamed the Paleozoic earth, rising up
on its hind legs to show off its large vocabulary,
or some lover in a myth who is metamorphosed into a book.
It means treasury, but it is just a place
where words congregate with their relatives,
a big park where hundreds of family reunions
are always being held,
house, home, abode, dwelling, lodgings, and digs,
all sharing the same picnic basket and thermos;
hairy, hirsute, woolly, furry, fleecy, and shaggy
all running a sack race or throwing horseshoes,
inert, static, motionless, fixed and immobile
standing and kneeling in rows for a group photograph.
Here father is next to sire and brother close
to sibling, separated only by fine shades of meaning.
And every group has its odd cousin, the one
who traveled the farthest to be here:
astereognosis, polydipsia, or some eleven
syllable, unpronounceable substitute for the word tool.
Even their own relatives have to squint at their name tags.
I can see my own copy up on a high shelf.
I rarely open it, because I know there is no
such thing as a synonym and because I get nervous
around people who always assemble with their own kind,
forming clubs and nailing signs to closed front doors
while others huddle alone in the dark streets.
I would rather see words out on their own, away
from their families and the warehouse of Roget,
wandering the world where they sometimes fall
in love with a completely different word.
Surely, you have seen pairs of them standing forever
next to each other on the same line inside a poem,
a small chapel where weddings like these,
between perfect strangers, can take place.
Billy Collins
July 23, 2025
i’m the top listener of this collection on spotify
February 10, 2025
Collins is the master of the funny, serious poem. This compilation is superb and I’m so glad I stumbled upon his work. There is something special about listening to poetry, rather than reading it.
My favorite poems from this include: thesaurus, driving myself to a poetry reading, flames, sweetalk, and the first dream.
My favorite poems from this include: thesaurus, driving myself to a poetry reading, flames, sweetalk, and the first dream.
July 20, 2018
This is a phenomenal audiobook. Bill Collins reads so smoothly, so charmingly. The live audience reactions clearly affect him, you can hear the happiness in his voice as they laugh and sigh and are moved by his poems. Just a gem. I'll be listening to this again.
November 8, 2025
I must say the title poem is pretty great. Each piece offers a unique perspective to mundane happenings and feelings, and with each introspection, proves just how each day can be turned into, well, something to talk about.
December 22, 2018
Fine selection of Billy's poems, as only he can read them. No wonder he was America's Poet Laureate. I always recommend his poems to people who are afraid of poetry.
April 3, 2008
The author reads a selection of his poems aloud in this cd, and if I had hand-picked my 33 favorites by him, I'm sure I would have loved it because some of his poems are superb. As it is, this collection contains several poems that I just don't like, although the overall quality is fine. The tracks included on the cd are:
1. another reason I don't keep a gun in the house
2. shoveling snow with the buddha
3. marginalia
4. afternoon with irish cows
5. walking across the atlantic [I like this one]
6. intro
7. consolation
8. forgetfulness
9. workshop
10. morning
11. driving myself to a poetry reading
12. wolf
13. purity [this one is ugly]
14. the art of drowning
15. nostalgia
16. candle hat
17. sweetalk instructions to artist
18. pin-up [this one angers the feminist in me]
19. flames
20. Saturday morning
21. the afterlife
22. man in space
23. aristotle
24. wires of the night
25. history of weather
26. the best cigarette
27. invention of the sax
28. child development
29. on reading in the morning paper that dreams may be only nonsense
30. the first dream [I love this one!]
31. japan [and this one]
32. thesaurus
33. nightclub [and this one]
The tracks can be downloaded as free MP3s at c|net download.com, and I would recommend this over purchasing the cd.
1. another reason I don't keep a gun in the house
2. shoveling snow with the buddha
3. marginalia
4. afternoon with irish cows
5. walking across the atlantic [I like this one]
6. intro
7. consolation
8. forgetfulness
9. workshop
10. morning
11. driving myself to a poetry reading
12. wolf
13. purity [this one is ugly]
14. the art of drowning
15. nostalgia
16. candle hat
17. sweetalk instructions to artist
18. pin-up [this one angers the feminist in me]
19. flames
20. Saturday morning
21. the afterlife
22. man in space
23. aristotle
24. wires of the night
25. history of weather
26. the best cigarette
27. invention of the sax
28. child development
29. on reading in the morning paper that dreams may be only nonsense
30. the first dream [I love this one!]
31. japan [and this one]
32. thesaurus
33. nightclub [and this one]
The tracks can be downloaded as free MP3s at c|net download.com, and I would recommend this over purchasing the cd.
December 8, 2016
My first encounter with Billy Collins' poetry was a few years back when he came to Austin and on a last minute whim I went to his reading at the Paramount Theater out of curiosity. I had never heard of him, though he was Poet Laureate of the US from 2001 to 2003 (I will admit I couldn't off the top of my head name another other than Robert Frost). That evening was a pure delight.
With that inspiration, I sought out his poetry and found this on audible.com. The only thing better than listening to carefully crafted, witty and wise poetry is listening to it being read by the author. Not every poem is a big winner, but the author's reading buoys those as well.
With that inspiration, I sought out his poetry and found this on audible.com. The only thing better than listening to carefully crafted, witty and wise poetry is listening to it being read by the author. Not every poem is a big winner, but the author's reading buoys those as well.
November 9, 2013
Poetry is to be listened to. This was my first chance to find a recording of Collins reading his poems. Many were included in Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems, which was very fun along with some new ones.
If you've been challenged by poetry - give this a try.
If you've been challenged by poetry - give this a try.
October 4, 2007
Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic poems. Collins come up with these metaphors that make you go, Yes, of course. But I think my favorite thing about him is his sense of humor.
You can download this audiobook for free:
http://www.bestcigarette.us/
You can download this audiobook for free:
http://www.bestcigarette.us/
March 1, 2008
This is not quite as good as hearing Billy Collins live, but it is still wonderful. The best thing is that you can download this CD for free on Billy Collins's website. I love the poem "Morning" on this CD. It's very funny.
April 18, 2008
An awesome read that covers a wide range of his material and style, with the added bonus of his voice.
April 20, 2009
Listen to this read by the author!
December 3, 2010
audiobook
October 28, 2023
Comfortable
February 6, 2011
honestly this story or stories had no real impact on me and i've forgotten the majority of what it was about. so, i'll give this a two. i'm sure it wasn't miserable though.
March 11, 2012
This audiobook is available for free from billycollins.com. Well worth the time it takes to download it! Collins is a former 2-term poet laureate and his poetry is exceptional.
April 3, 2025
Collins is one of my favorite poets. I enjoyed revisiting this book I read longer ago than I thought.
July 18, 2016
This is the only "book" of modern poetry I ever finished because humor and audio. Which makes me not remotely a deep person, and I own that.
April 14, 2014
Billy Collins reading Billy Collins. It doesn't get any better. I've listened to it several times.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews