What do you think?
Rate this book
Poetry 180
Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry
A dazzling new anthology of 180 contemporary poems, selected and introduced by America’s Poet Laureate, Billy Collins.
Inspired by Billy Collins’s poem-a-day program with the Library of Congress, Poetry 180 is the perfect anthology for readers who appreciate engaging, thoughtful poems that are an immediate pleasure.
A 180-degree turn implies a turning back—in this case, to poetry. A collection of 180 poems by the most exciting poets at work today, Poetry 180 represents the richness and diversity of the form, and is designed to beckon readers with a selection of poems that are impossible not to love at first glance. Open the anthology to any page and discover a new poem to cherish, or savor all the poems, one at a time, to feel the full measure of contemporary poetry’s vibrance and abundance.
With poems by Catherine Bowman, Lucille Clifton, Billy Collins, Dana Gioia, Edward Hirsch, Galway Kinnell, Kenneth Koch, Philip Levine, Thomas Lux, William Matthews, Frances Mayes, Paul Muldoon, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sharon Olds, Katha Pollitt, Mary Jo Salter, Charles Simic, David Wojahn, Paul Zimmer, and many more.
Inspired by Billy Collins’s poem-a-day program with the Library of Congress, Poetry 180 is the perfect anthology for readers who appreciate engaging, thoughtful poems that are an immediate pleasure.
A 180-degree turn implies a turning back—in this case, to poetry. A collection of 180 poems by the most exciting poets at work today, Poetry 180 represents the richness and diversity of the form, and is designed to beckon readers with a selection of poems that are impossible not to love at first glance. Open the anthology to any page and discover a new poem to cherish, or savor all the poems, one at a time, to feel the full measure of contemporary poetry’s vibrance and abundance.
With poems by Catherine Bowman, Lucille Clifton, Billy Collins, Dana Gioia, Edward Hirsch, Galway Kinnell, Kenneth Koch, Philip Levine, Thomas Lux, William Matthews, Frances Mayes, Paul Muldoon, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sharon Olds, Katha Pollitt, Mary Jo Salter, Charles Simic, David Wojahn, Paul Zimmer, and many more.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
135 people are currently reading
2179 people want to read
About the author
Billy Collins
150 books1,610 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 265 reviews
June 3, 2008
The introduction to this book is such bullshit! Some friends say it's best to just ignore such nonsense that SPEWS out of Billy Collins, the Phil Collins of POETRY! And I say NO, DON'T IGNORE IT! How can we?
He makes an argument AGAINST experimentation in poetry in his introduction much like one would tell a child to NOT run barefoot through the field of broken glass down the street.
The truth is that Billy Collins IS THE REASON the very BIG and UGLY REASON I have found myself doing damage control with European poets who think HE represents American poetry!
Billy Collins BORES the readers of Europe! He neuters American poetry (and not in a good way!), he has no sharp edges himself and GLADLY trims the edges off of anyone who actually has the courage to have them!
Billy Collins is a DANGER to the history of ART!
Billy (Phil) Collins is that WRETCHED SONG "Sussudio" playing on a loop in the hospital, or wherever it is you must die, playing over and OVER!
And I don't want to die, so maybe I need his awful poems and his twin borther Phil Collins's stupid song BLASTING to keep Death at bay! Maybe in the end, these will be the tools to make it through!
But while I'm alive and well, FORGET IT!
CAConrad
http://CAConrad.blogspot.com
He makes an argument AGAINST experimentation in poetry in his introduction much like one would tell a child to NOT run barefoot through the field of broken glass down the street.
The truth is that Billy Collins IS THE REASON the very BIG and UGLY REASON I have found myself doing damage control with European poets who think HE represents American poetry!
Billy Collins BORES the readers of Europe! He neuters American poetry (and not in a good way!), he has no sharp edges himself and GLADLY trims the edges off of anyone who actually has the courage to have them!
Billy Collins is a DANGER to the history of ART!
Billy (Phil) Collins is that WRETCHED SONG "Sussudio" playing on a loop in the hospital, or wherever it is you must die, playing over and OVER!
And I don't want to die, so maybe I need his awful poems and his twin borther Phil Collins's stupid song BLASTING to keep Death at bay! Maybe in the end, these will be the tools to make it through!
But while I'm alive and well, FORGET IT!
CAConrad
http://CAConrad.blogspot.com
January 19, 2009
I commend Billy Collins and the Library of Congress for this initiative. The whole goal of this book is to re-introduce ourselves to poetry as entertainment -- as a pastime rather than as a lesson plan.
Well, we've been reading one poem aloud at the beginning of every class, and I think the sheer practice is more important than anything else we've gotten from this collection.
Only about one in five poems really "moves" my honors class of sophomores.... and I have to say I'm mostly in agreement. This isn't to say that there aren't some terrific modern poems in here, but many of them are more accessible when they are read and mulled over, rather than heard aloud. And I hesitate to analyze or discuss any of them in depth, for fear that it would somehow go against the purpose of the anthology.
We have taken to reading many of the poems twice. That seems to help.
I wish that this book featured more poems from its accompanying website, which seems more tailored to younger and teenaged readers. (And I like them more too!)
It's kind of refreshing to read a poem and not discuss it to death. But it makes me seriously question the best way to "enjoy" poetry.
Well, we've been reading one poem aloud at the beginning of every class, and I think the sheer practice is more important than anything else we've gotten from this collection.
Only about one in five poems really "moves" my honors class of sophomores.... and I have to say I'm mostly in agreement. This isn't to say that there aren't some terrific modern poems in here, but many of them are more accessible when they are read and mulled over, rather than heard aloud. And I hesitate to analyze or discuss any of them in depth, for fear that it would somehow go against the purpose of the anthology.
We have taken to reading many of the poems twice. That seems to help.
I wish that this book featured more poems from its accompanying website, which seems more tailored to younger and teenaged readers. (And I like them more too!)
It's kind of refreshing to read a poem and not discuss it to death. But it makes me seriously question the best way to "enjoy" poetry.
October 24, 2012
I don't love poetry but i love billy collins, and he makes me want to give poetry a second chance. I saw this collection at the library; it's a book of 180 poems that were selected for the 180 program he created as poet laureate, when students at high schools had the chance to hear one poem on every school day — with no pressure to interpret, respond, write a paper, anything. His introduction touches on exactly why I and apparently so many other people gave up on poetry; he uses the syllogism "I speak English. You are writing in English. Why can't I understand what you are saying?"
These are not poetry lite, they're all excellent and there are all different styles. I found myself reading them aloud to friends. That's what poetry should be like. I highly recommend this; go get it, you can read the whole thing in an hour.
These are not poetry lite, they're all excellent and there are all different styles. I found myself reading them aloud to friends. That's what poetry should be like. I highly recommend this; go get it, you can read the whole thing in an hour.
August 31, 2011
My fiance and I are reading through this together, slowly -- we get to it before bed once a week or so, and then only for a handful of poems. I love reading new poetry aloud with someone, as it allows and forces me to go more slowly and reflect/discuss what I'm hearing. This particular anthology is perfect for this: it was edited by Billy Collins, who specifically went for poetry that is easy to access, heavy on imagery (unsurprising from him, as this tends to be the style he writes with as well). I'm discovering new stuff and dog-earing lots of pages. (I know folks rail against this but I'm unrepentent here: poetry books are the only books I dog-ear, so I have a record of what struck me and what I loved and can get back to it easily. It works for me.)
September 2, 2018
I read this book roughly in the way described in the preface, reading a few at a time and not trying to analyze them at all. I have to say, this has done much more for my poetry appreciation than having someone try to explain in depth the masterful construction of one single poem I don't really like. While most of these poems didn't do much for me, the fact that a few did makes me want to read more, and learn why they do.
November 4, 2023
Every high school student can come to love poetry. Yikes, did I really say that? Even the seemingly simple-minded athletic types whom Dr. Johnson in his early dictionary would have dismissed as “brutes”? I’m including everyone, and I’ve found the method to reach everyone. In Poetry 180, Billy Collins delivers 180 poems that he feels are accessible to high school students and of interest to them. The number, 180, corresponds to the days that we are in school (when winter storms aren’t chewing them up like granola). Collins wants us to simply read a poem to the kids every day. We are not to analyze it. We are not meant to “torture a confession out of it” or “[beat] it with a hose,” as he says in his opening poem, “Introduction to Poetry.” We are simply meant to “waterski across the surface” of it. He suggests that we read it over the morning announcements, but that is taking it a bit too far. Whenever the announcements come on in my classroom, a meditative glaze falls over my students’ eyes, and all they can hear is the sound of one hand clapping. However, the idea of just reading one of these poems a day to the students and allowing them to comment on it freely for a few minutes is pure genius. I put the poem up on the Smartboard for the ones who don’t take anything in if they just hear it, since I am like that myself. (I remember adults chiding me when I was a kid, “In one ear and out the other,” as though I could do something about it.) I knew I was onto something when I forgot to put the poem up one day. With their knee-jerk sense of entitlement usually reserved for jeopardy games, bathroom breaks, or a chance to go outside, they asked why we didn’t get to look at a poem. Hitherto unimaginable!
The book draws students in with poems that echo their lives. I think our favorite so far has been “Did I Miss Anything?” by Tom Wayman. It begins, “Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here / we sat with our hands folded on our desks / in silence for the full two hours.” I can’t read this poem without hearing the voice of Mrs. Margene, a recently retired A. P. English teacher who has been my greatest mentor in sarcasm (Despite what Education professors might say, her students loved her for it). This poem led to a lengthy discussion on other stupid questions worthy of a poem and a few honest confessions.
Mixed in with the familiar are poems that require students to step outside themselves. In “What I Would Do” by Marc Peterson, the narrator reflects on what he would do if his wife left him—push his motorcycle over, throw things into the back yard, play Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as loud as he can—stuff that implies a wild rage that is almost humorous. Toward the end, he repeats, “I would see our maple budding out the window,” as though he is so tripped up with emotion that one wonders if his suspicions are not completely imaginary.
Another moving poem in the book is “In Simili Materia” by Timothy Russell, in which the narrator sees a little girl slap her baby doll. At the sound, pigeons fly up from their nests at a factory nearby, but soon “return to their niches to roost.” We come home to what we know, however ugly it is. It took a bit for the students to connect the dots, but when they did, I could really see it in their faces.
There are a few poems in the book that have fallen on the floor with a clunk. “We don’t get it” has to be an acceptable phrase as long as it doesn’t come too soon. The only real drawback to following Collins’s plan is that, with all this learning, it’s hard to get back to teaching. I have a fixed amount of material to cover, right? The book is just another reminder that sometimes the best way to teach is to step out of the way.
The book draws students in with poems that echo their lives. I think our favorite so far has been “Did I Miss Anything?” by Tom Wayman. It begins, “Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here / we sat with our hands folded on our desks / in silence for the full two hours.” I can’t read this poem without hearing the voice of Mrs. Margene, a recently retired A. P. English teacher who has been my greatest mentor in sarcasm (Despite what Education professors might say, her students loved her for it). This poem led to a lengthy discussion on other stupid questions worthy of a poem and a few honest confessions.
Mixed in with the familiar are poems that require students to step outside themselves. In “What I Would Do” by Marc Peterson, the narrator reflects on what he would do if his wife left him—push his motorcycle over, throw things into the back yard, play Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as loud as he can—stuff that implies a wild rage that is almost humorous. Toward the end, he repeats, “I would see our maple budding out the window,” as though he is so tripped up with emotion that one wonders if his suspicions are not completely imaginary.
Another moving poem in the book is “In Simili Materia” by Timothy Russell, in which the narrator sees a little girl slap her baby doll. At the sound, pigeons fly up from their nests at a factory nearby, but soon “return to their niches to roost.” We come home to what we know, however ugly it is. It took a bit for the students to connect the dots, but when they did, I could really see it in their faces.
There are a few poems in the book that have fallen on the floor with a clunk. “We don’t get it” has to be an acceptable phrase as long as it doesn’t come too soon. The only real drawback to following Collins’s plan is that, with all this learning, it’s hard to get back to teaching. I have a fixed amount of material to cover, right? The book is just another reminder that sometimes the best way to teach is to step out of the way.
July 7, 2018
It's important to have context for this book.
"Poetry 180 is designed to make it easy for students to hear or read a poem on each of the 180 days of the school year. The poems were selected with the intended audience of high school students. They are intended to be listened to by all members of the school community through the end of daily announcements over the public address system. Poems can inspire and make us think about what it means to be a member of the human race. By just spending a few minutes reading a poem each day, new worlds can be revealed."
The poems range from funny to sad to exciting. I def recommend this book, "especially for high schoolers and college students like me haha" @baldwinseniors2017 ...if you know you know.....find the easter egg
"Poetry 180 is designed to make it easy for students to hear or read a poem on each of the 180 days of the school year. The poems were selected with the intended audience of high school students. They are intended to be listened to by all members of the school community through the end of daily announcements over the public address system. Poems can inspire and make us think about what it means to be a member of the human race. By just spending a few minutes reading a poem each day, new worlds can be revealed."
The poems range from funny to sad to exciting. I def recommend this book, "especially for high schoolers and college students like me haha" @baldwinseniors2017 ...if you know you know.....find the easter egg
June 2, 2015
The longer I live with this collection, the more I find to love in it. If you'd like to read a great assortment of accessible, quirky, and sometimes brilliant contemporary poetry, pick this one up!
March 14, 2020
A rather delightful anthology inspired by poet laureate Billy Collins and the Library of Congress's poem-a-day program, in which high school students around the country are read one poem a day during the 180 days of a semester. Published in 2003, this diverse collection was selected by Billy Collins to present short, clear contemporary poems which any listener could "get" on first hearing and reading. Featuring such poets as Marie Howe, Charles Bukowski, Robert Bly, Naomi Shibab Nye, and Mary Ruefle, among others, it's a gratifying read. I found Poem 001, Collins' "Introduction to Poetry" on page 3 to be a perfect introduction to this collection, encouraging readers to look, listen, and react to poetry's nuances, rather than dissecting it. Just as perfect is Ted Kooser's "Selecting A Reader" on page 4, which is self-explanatory and quite amusing.
February 6, 2025
A very diverse poetry anthology, and a great book for new readers of poetry and us "old" readers as well.
February 15, 2017
Wonderful collection! Introduced me to unknown poets to pursue.
November 5, 2020
cento e oitenta poemas, numa belíssima colectânea de poesia contemporânea organizada por billy collins
February 9, 2022
An interesting poetry collection from 180 authors. I wish it was a bit more varied in form.
I found most of the poems just okay, but my favorites were "Hoop Snake" by Rebecca Wee, "The Summer I Was Sixteen" by Geraldine Connolly, "The Bruise of This" by Mark Wunderlich, "Watching the Mayan Women" by Luisa Villani, and "Not Swans" by Susan Ludvigson.
I found most of the poems just okay, but my favorites were "Hoop Snake" by Rebecca Wee, "The Summer I Was Sixteen" by Geraldine Connolly, "The Bruise of This" by Mark Wunderlich, "Watching the Mayan Women" by Luisa Villani, and "Not Swans" by Susan Ludvigson.
March 20, 2022
This ain’t your usual poetry rodeo. I didn’t love all of it, but I was intrigued by much of it. In my mind, when I got to the last poem, I said “oh no!” because I realized I was nearly at the end. I am surprised some of these poems were read aloud over school announcement systems due to certain content. Some of the poems were too high school centric for me, others made me uncomfortable. My favorites intrigued or inspired or soothed. Thank you, Billy Collins.
December 5, 2024
Unique.
I understand English
This poem is written in English
I have no idea what this poem is saying
That's a quote from this book and I totally agree. But still, some poems were unforgettable even if difficult to understand while others were just bad 😆
I understand English
This poem is written in English
I have no idea what this poem is saying
That's a quote from this book and I totally agree. But still, some poems were unforgettable even if difficult to understand while others were just bad 😆
April 7, 2017
A great collection of fairly modern poems -- ideal for secondary students
June 23, 2017
Most of the poems are good. Some are really good! Lots of new ideas and perspectives to think about.
May 6, 2021
User friendly poetry by a poet laureate that wants the world to love poetry like he does.
December 11, 2024
This is a wonderful collection for folks who aren't that into poetry or have a hard time finding poetry they enjoy. Collins put together this anthology of contemporary works with the average American in mind while he was US Poet Laureate. Highly recommend.
September 25, 2025
didn't read every single poem but i really loved them overall
January 22, 2018
It's hard for me to give any anthology five stars. I enjoyed many of the poens in this collection, there were a few that I found underwhelming. Some of my favorites include the following: The Panic Bird, by Robert Phillips; Ordinance on Arrival, by Naomi Lazard, and; What He Thpught, by Heather McHugh.
April 18, 2024
cool concept for a book! i actually liked a lot of the poetry, which i wasn’t super expecting as someone who isn’t the biggest poetry fan.
November 1, 2017
Fabulous collection with the feeling that Billy Collins is right there with you sharing these as you read on and on. Lots of new names to me (I'm shamefully uneducated in North American poetry) and quite a few old friends.
I wish the UK had a Billy Collins.
I wish the UK had a Billy Collins.
April 4, 2025
This book was pretty similar to the Grimm book that I read. It was pretty much just a bunch of stories. Some of them had hidden messages, but some also felt pointless. I don't feel like there was a main motif throughout the book. I do not think that I would read it again or suggest it to another friend.
September 18, 2010
I was hooked when one of Dorianne Laux's poems was near the front. A very un-Billy Collins type of poet. And I found in this collection deeper, more meaningful poems that what I would normally expect from Collins, a very readable and, dare I say - charming - writer.
Still, most of the poems were like Collins's work itself: free verse, conversational, descriptive and sympathetic but not all that poignant. Funny but slightly inane. Mainly centered around what seems to be his major couple of topics: death, wonder, and mom & dad. There are somewhat frivolous poems about not liking tofu and the need to memorize grammar definitions, while occasionally some more serious poems about poverty and divorce. Here's a typical poem, one I liked from Douglas Goetsch called "Smell and Envy":
You nature poets think you've got it, hostaged
somewhere in Vermont or Oregon,
so it blooms and withers only for you,
so all you have to do is name it: primrose
- and now you're writing poetry, and now
you ship it off to us, to smell and envy.
But we are made of newspaper and smoke
and we dunk your roses in vats of blue.
Birds don't call, our pigeons play it close
to the vest. When the moon is full
we hear it in the sirens. The Pleiades
you could probably buy downtown. Gravity
is the receiver on the hook. Mortality
we smell on certain people as they pass.
Good stuff. Collins excels at picking out quirky work that makes you furl your brow and occasionally scratch your temples. There aren't many GREAT poems here. Still, it's fun to read and talk about. This is poetry that keeps you on your toes while inviting you over for a glass of merlot.
Still, most of the poems were like Collins's work itself: free verse, conversational, descriptive and sympathetic but not all that poignant. Funny but slightly inane. Mainly centered around what seems to be his major couple of topics: death, wonder, and mom & dad. There are somewhat frivolous poems about not liking tofu and the need to memorize grammar definitions, while occasionally some more serious poems about poverty and divorce. Here's a typical poem, one I liked from Douglas Goetsch called "Smell and Envy":
You nature poets think you've got it, hostaged
somewhere in Vermont or Oregon,
so it blooms and withers only for you,
so all you have to do is name it: primrose
- and now you're writing poetry, and now
you ship it off to us, to smell and envy.
But we are made of newspaper and smoke
and we dunk your roses in vats of blue.
Birds don't call, our pigeons play it close
to the vest. When the moon is full
we hear it in the sirens. The Pleiades
you could probably buy downtown. Gravity
is the receiver on the hook. Mortality
we smell on certain people as they pass.
Good stuff. Collins excels at picking out quirky work that makes you furl your brow and occasionally scratch your temples. There aren't many GREAT poems here. Still, it's fun to read and talk about. This is poetry that keeps you on your toes while inviting you over for a glass of merlot.
Want to read
September 2, 2010So far I only know Tom Wayman's contribution to this collection:
Did I miss anything?
Nothing. When we realized you weren't here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours
Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 percent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I'm about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 percent
Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose
Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring the good news to all people
on earth
Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?
Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human experience
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been
gathered
but it was one place
And you weren't here.
Did I miss anything?
Nothing. When we realized you weren't here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours
Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 percent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I'm about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 percent
Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose
Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring the good news to all people
on earth
Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?
Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human experience
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been
gathered
but it was one place
And you weren't here.
April 11, 2012
For the most part, I thought this book was a valiant attempt to get high school students and the general public into some contemporary poetry without either boring the hell out of them or scaring them away from more. Of course, with any anthology, there are some winners and losers - and I would say that might entirely depend on what type of poetry reader you are (I tend to hate most really abstract poetry, especially if it's too absurd - which is why I hate existential literature - I could write the most absurd things, call it art and get people to believe it is...)
Anyway, some of the poems I really enjoyed are: "Mrs. Midas" by Carol Ann Duffy, Of Politics and Art by Norman Dubie, Rotary by Christina Pugh, "For Mohammed Zeid, Age 15" by Naomi Shihab Nye, Lesson by Forrest Hamer, and "Song of Smoke" by Kevin Young. But this is today - if I reread the collection next year, I may like a totally different group. Love poetry...
Anyway, some of the poems I really enjoyed are: "Mrs. Midas" by Carol Ann Duffy, Of Politics and Art by Norman Dubie, Rotary by Christina Pugh, "For Mohammed Zeid, Age 15" by Naomi Shihab Nye, Lesson by Forrest Hamer, and "Song of Smoke" by Kevin Young. But this is today - if I reread the collection next year, I may like a totally different group. Love poetry...
April 19, 2017
In the introduction to this book, Billy Collins says, "The idea behind this printed collection... was to assemble a generous selection of short, clear, contemporary poems which any listener could basically 'get' on first hearing -- poems whose injection of pleasure is immediate."
Someone, either Billy Collins or I, is completely out of touch with the masses.
Ten bucks says it is I.
Regardless, I didn't 'get' a most of these poems or, if I did, I didn't get any pleasure out of them. The poem about the antarctic birds very nearly made me quit reading the book altogether. But I stuck with it and found that I understood - even enjoyed - a higher percentage of the poems in the second half of the book. Some of the poems I really enjoyed: The Blizzard, Where is She?, Sentimental Moment or Why Did the Baguette Cross the Road?, I'm a Fool to Love You, The Old Liberators, The Panic Bird, In Praise of Bic Pens.
But I am done now. On to other things.
Someone, either Billy Collins or I, is completely out of touch with the masses.
Ten bucks says it is I.
Regardless, I didn't 'get' a most of these poems or, if I did, I didn't get any pleasure out of them. The poem about the antarctic birds very nearly made me quit reading the book altogether. But I stuck with it and found that I understood - even enjoyed - a higher percentage of the poems in the second half of the book. Some of the poems I really enjoyed: The Blizzard, Where is She?, Sentimental Moment or Why Did the Baguette Cross the Road?, I'm a Fool to Love You, The Old Liberators, The Panic Bird, In Praise of Bic Pens.
But I am done now. On to other things.
June 5, 2013
Billy Collins has offered an outstanding collection of poetry here. These poems are readily accessible to a wide range of readership.
This poetical assortment is headed off with Collins's poem, "Introduction to Poetry," which sets the tone for the rest of the collection, combatting the academy's sole desire to "tie the poem to a chair with rope / and torture a confession out of it. / They begin beating it with a hose / to find out what it really means."
Absolutely wonderful. And such fantastic poets! Charles Simic (a graduate of my high school and pulitzer prize winner), Christina Pugh (a professor at UIC), Kenneth Koch, Peter Meinke, Charles Bukowski, and Judith Kerman, just to name a few.
This is an empowering text that will help students to move against the notion that poems require a teacher's explanation, or an "OKAY" stamp on a reflective essay.
This poetical assortment is headed off with Collins's poem, "Introduction to Poetry," which sets the tone for the rest of the collection, combatting the academy's sole desire to "tie the poem to a chair with rope / and torture a confession out of it. / They begin beating it with a hose / to find out what it really means."
Absolutely wonderful. And such fantastic poets! Charles Simic (a graduate of my high school and pulitzer prize winner), Christina Pugh (a professor at UIC), Kenneth Koch, Peter Meinke, Charles Bukowski, and Judith Kerman, just to name a few.
This is an empowering text that will help students to move against the notion that poems require a teacher's explanation, or an "OKAY" stamp on a reflective essay.
April 24, 2016
What a gigantic crock of sh*t. If I were still living in Cuba, I'd have 180 guaranteed sheets to wipe my ass with.
I honestly do not understand what is the problem with contemporary poetry and poets. Contemporary Poets have turned deaf to lyricism, have abandoned any and all classical conventions and in their place instituted a diseased form of free verse. They have adopted a bland pen and killed the quill, and grossly promote the ritual sacrifice of anything that rhymes.
I blame editors more than poets for pushing doggerel on the unlettered masses. I understand that not everyone understands what is quality, I mean, the Kardashians have a following,..But if poetry "began" this way, it would never have made it into the 21 century.
Show me one poem, one friggin line in this entire collection worth committing to memory?
I honestly do not understand what is the problem with contemporary poetry and poets. Contemporary Poets have turned deaf to lyricism, have abandoned any and all classical conventions and in their place instituted a diseased form of free verse. They have adopted a bland pen and killed the quill, and grossly promote the ritual sacrifice of anything that rhymes.
I blame editors more than poets for pushing doggerel on the unlettered masses. I understand that not everyone understands what is quality, I mean, the Kardashians have a following,..But if poetry "began" this way, it would never have made it into the 21 century.
Show me one poem, one friggin line in this entire collection worth committing to memory?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 265 reviews