Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really like the poetry of Billy Collins. It’s whimsical, fun, and accessible. Collins writes to make us laugh, to make us reflect, and to help us simply enjoy being human beings.

Many of these poems left me with a smile on my face. The poems are imaginative, occasionally sad, and often hilarious. There’s even a poem that’s intentionally lousy—his “Paradelle for Susan.” Although three or four of the poems are too crass for me, I really enjoyed this book overall. Here were a few of my favorites:

• “Reading an Anthology of Chinese Poems of the Sung Dynasty, I Pause To Admire the Length and Clarity of Their Titles”: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetr...

• “Workshop”: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/...

• “Introduction to Poetry”: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/...

• “First Reader”: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetr...

• “Winter Syntax”: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetr...

• “The Rival Poet”: http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5...

• "The History Teacher": http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org...

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