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

I spent the last year-and-one-day chipping away at this collection, and it has been such a marvelous experience. Collins is simply a master and has become, above all, my favorite poet.

Someone once said of Collins’ poems: “You begin in Kansas; you end in Oz.” This description rings powerfully true. Collins has an unparalleled ability to begin a poem with a simple image – a dog breathing, a man chopping wood, a window – and, by the end, wringing your heart with staggering depth.

Here’s to many, many more readings of the great Billy Collins. I highly recommend him.

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