Picnic, lightning /
Billy Collins -- winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship, veteran of a one-hour Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross, and a guest on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion -- arrives at Random House with the poetic equivalent of a Greatest Hits album, seasoned with some wonderful new numbers. Rang...
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| Format: | eBook Electronic |
| Language: | English |
| Imprint: | Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, ©1998. |
| Series: | Pitt poetry series.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Click here for full text at JSTOR |
| Summary: | Billy Collins -- winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship, veteran of a one-hour Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross, and a guest on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion -- arrives at Random House with the poetic equivalent of a Greatest Hits album, seasoned with some wonderful new numbers. Ranging from a lament over "Forgetfulness"--"Whatever it is you are struggling to remember/it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, /not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen"--to a love poem that starts with weighing a dog, to a definitive "Life of Riley" ("He never had a job, a family or a sore throat"), Billy Collins' poems often seem modest and homespun, until the reader finds himself suddenly dissolving into laughter or tears. As for his popularity, a recent piece in Publishers Weekly, which ran before his three-book deal with Random House was made public, will perhaps be more convincing than any editor trying to flog a book in a fact sheet could be: "In February alone, three of Collins' collections sold nearly 8000 copies ... Fresh Air/Terry Gross recently rebroadcast an hour-long interview with Collins; the following day Picnic, Lightning briefly hit #59 in Amazon.com's bestseller rankings." Billy Collins is a dynamic and popular reader. He makes between thirty and forty appearances a year. His arrival at a prominent trade publishing house will ensure an even wider audience for his poetry and will capitalize on his increasing popularity. Household name may not be too much to ask for Winner of the 1999 Paterson Poetry Prize<br> <br> Over the past decade, Billy Collins has emerged as the most beloved American poet since Robert Frost, garnering critical acclaim and broad popular appeal. Annie Proulx admits, "I have never before felt possessive about a poet, but I am fiercely glad that Billy Collins is ours." John Updike proclaims his poems "consistently startling, more serious than they seem, they describe all the worlds that are and were and some others besides."<br> <br> This special, limited edition celebrates Billy Collins's years as U.S. Poet Laureate. Picnic, Lightning --one of the books that helped establish and secure his reputation and popularity during the 1990s--combines humor and seriousness, wit and sublimity. His poems touch on a wide range of subjects, from jazz to death, from weather to sex, but share common ground where the mind and heart can meet. Whether reading him for the first time or the fiftieth, this collector's edition is a must-have for anyone interested in the poet the New York Times calls simply "the real thing." |
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| Item Description: | Print version record. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (103 pages) : illustrations |
| ISBN: | 0822991055 9780822991052 |
| Author Notes: | (Bowker Author Biography) |