Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems

You may find yourself reading critically acclaimed poetry in "The New York Review of Books" and other highbrow literary journals, only to think, "This stuff is horrible!" So you pick up your dog-eared copy of Keats, Shelley, or Byron, and read those more familiar odes of yesteryear, lamenting that today's poets are too alien to enjoy. It's not that you're not intelligent or avant-garde enough; it's just that the poetry of today really is bizarre.
For you, reader, I recommend Billy Collins. He is critically acclaimed indeed--the Library of Congress' U.S. Poet Laureate, in fact--but he is also approachably good. Like Garrison Keillor, Mr. Collins understands the value of writing funny, and his dry, New York wit punctuates each verse like a breath of fresh air. When I first heard him read his poetry on NPR, I realized that there really is good poetry being written out there in America. Collins is the real thing, and it's writers like him that are bringing poetry back to popularity. I truly admire his work, and you will too.

Billy Collins' work is shiftless, mundane and irresistably dull. His wit lacks humor and the reader, (assuming he/she is an avid poetry reader) should be unimpressed by the second poem of this book. The voice that the reader should hear while reading this monstrosity is the voice of a 6th-grader with a college-level vocabulary. There is no spark in Collins' writing. There is no life in this work. And if that is what it takes to become America's Poet Laureate, I will never read nor review another again!

If, in fact, you are craving poetry with Outlaw flair and a touch of Hunter Thompson, I suggest you read "European Confession" by Timothy Edward Jones (ISBN: 1-4137-2867-7).

The first poem I read of Billy Collins' was "Forgetfulness". I am glad it is in this collection because it so well epitomizes the everyday nature of his poems, the way he speaks to us as if we were just visiting and he is describing some incident in his life, or expounding on something that matters to him. I could see him in the student lounge, in the leather chair next to the Rodin, at our local Dry Dock Brewery or at a coffee shop. He would be the one we would all gather around. I am the one, however, who posted that his reading style doesn't do justice to his writing. In retrospect, maybe his low key reading is nuanced to go with his poems.

Now, that I have been trying to write poems, when I read his poems, I find myself wanting to mimic his writing style. One of the things I notice is that he doesn't hurry things, he doesn't summarize. I feel rushed in my writing, like I'm giving an acceptance speech at the Oscars and someone is standing off camera signaling me to wrap it up. Billy, though, for example, in "Fishing on the Susquehanna in July" takes 13 stanzas to describe how the closest he ever came to fishing on the Susquehanna was seeing a painting in a museum, in Philadelphia, of someone in a little boat fishing on the Susquehanna. These extra lines, though, give the poem its depth and reality and the well drawn images then stay with you.

Billy Collins then goes deeper and adds themes to his basic subject matter. If Norman Rockwell had painted like Billy writes the pictures would not only have been warm slices of Americana, they would have contained poignant bits of reality such as maybe a woman looking bored at Thanksgiving Dinner or quarreling with whomever was seated by her.

I like how he shares with us as if we were his close friends. For example, in "The Three Wishes" he goes through the first several stanzas showing how the foolish man and wife wasted the wishes they were granted. The man, hungry from work, wishes for sausages which angers his wife who then wishes the pan to stick to his nose. Collins discusses the moral of the story, the foolishness of the couple and what they could have had. Then, he ends, in an almost covert whisper by telling us that this story always makes him hungry for sausages.

And of course he makes it all look so easy. Another favorite of mine is "Dharma" about his dog who "If only she did not shove the cat aside/every morning/and eat all his food/what a model of self-containment she would be". His use of line breaks and enjambment set the pace and place emphasis where he wants it. His techniques are subtle such as his use of consonance in this poem with brown coat, blue collar, steady breathing. He uses assonance too in this poem, earthly, eager, ears.

It's neat that he became Poet Laureate, that he was recognized for what he offers. This collection of his is a great book, for yourself or as a gift for a dear friend.

If a poet's service to others is to wipe off our eyes and then join us as we admire the way the smears distort our pet illusions and how the truth still shines through, then Mr Collins has succeeded masterfully. These might be your words when the mind is quiet enough to be allowed to bump along the ceiling like a lost helium balloon, no direction and no fear of seeing the simple, glorious dance all around us. A delightful tickle and cold water on the inside of your face.

I'm told that most modern poets don't like Billy
Collins. Good. Collins tells little stories of
the inside and outside world, composes jokes small
and large, points to the obvious, leaves some
interesting part unsaid, tickles the daylights out
of you and makes everything seem new again.

The title is, I guess, a reference to the wonderful
book Sailing Alone Around the World by Captain Joshua
Slocum and to the quirky but ultimately disappointing
Journey Around my Bedroom by Javier de Maistre. In
fact, Collins himself refers to the armchair nature
of his adventures several times in the poems.

Thanks to him, I am, like other reviewers of this
collection reading poetry again. But mostly I'm living
some bits of it and writing little poems to my kid.

Thanks, Billy. Especially for The Nightclub.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books.ISBN 9781601640005

Billy Collins' previous works have been bestsellers, a rare achievement in poetry publishing. He is one of a rare breed-a popular poet. Billy Collins is the current poet laureate of the United States. His previous collections include The Apple that Astonished Paris, The Art of Drowning, and Questions about Angels.
Sailing Alone Around the Room combines poems from all his previous collections as well as a few new ones. It is, in effect, a "greatest hits book". Collins is a poet who does not specialize in any one topic. His inspiration for poems seems to come from reflection and everyday life. The poems he writes about everyday life are not simple. They incorporate simile and metaphor, and give the reader's brain some exercise.
This compilation of previously-published and new poems showcases the many facets of Collins' style. He experiments with ancient forms such as the paradelle and the sonnet, poking fun, and producing images. All the while his self-deprecating humor shows through.
Billy Collins work appeals to a wide audience. His work is very accessible, and if not for its sometime adult subject matter would be appropriate for and understood by children. His poetry is funny on the surface, but when closely read reveals new meanings.

there's a thousand reasons I could cite in support of my
contention that
Billy Collins oughtta be off'd. but heh,
someone says, he's the poet laureate of the United States!
...
yeah.
when I see a Lutheran minister amble outta the athenaeum with an
armload of Billy's books, I take
a swig of cough syrup and hope that
I can save up enough dough to move
elsewhere (Trinidad & Tobago?)

At his best, Billy Collins can be funny and clever and unexpected. I have yet to see him other than at his best. This collection offers an excellent selection of Collins's previously published poetry as well as some new ones.

Collins has a way of turning the simple and mundane into the wildly humorous and devastatingly poignant. His accessible style is deceptively simple and, judging by some of the other reviews of the book, a bit off-putting to those I imagine in my head as "those of lesser imagination." Collins's poetry works for me in its simplicity and beauty. But, it's not like I am waiting breathlessly for Collins's next book to be released or for his next appearance on National Public Radio.

It's not like that. Not exactly.

Jeremy W. Forstadt

Billy Collins’ poetry collection "Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems" is a book for the average everyday reader or a reader who is new to poetry. Unlike poetry that is heavy in its meaning, metaphors, or use of older English such as poetry by William Shakespeare, John Milton, or Robert Frost, Collins creates poetry that is more accessible to the modern reader by making his poetry more approachable, especially if the reader is new to poetry. The different ways his poetry is more approachable is through his readability, language usage, relatable content, and his use of imagery.

Readability
Collins poetry is humorous, light, and insightful allowing an inexperienced reader to easily read through his poetry while also giving substance to the more devout poetry reader. He is able to gently guide the reader through a poem allowing the reader to smile, to get anxious, or to laugh without always having to look for a deeper meaning, as the surface of the poem is just as telling as the deeper meaning.

Language Use
His modern language is relatable to everyone in the modern age giving a feeling of inclusiveness to his poetry. New readers will be able to laugh with Collins in his poem “Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House”, while more experienced readers will enjoy other poems such as the poem “Litany”.

Relatable
Most of the poems within this collection have relatable content. There are multiple poems relating to school settings, and usually end up as parodies that give passing commentary as well as entertainment to this theme. If you are a history buff, then Billy Collins poems are for you as well, as many of his poems make comments on historical events. Overall, this collection has a variety of poems that allow almost all readers to connect with at least one poem.

Imagery
Another advantage of reading Collins’ poetry is his use of imagery. The reader does not need to struggle to understand the content because of the simplicity of the language he uses, and the ability to create an image in the reader’s mind. Collins’ poetry is good at creating an image in the reader’s head through the words he chooses to use.

Billy Collins’ "Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems" will enhance your mind and life, while giving a new perspective on modern culture.

All too often people grow up learning to hate poetry because some well-meaning teacher dissected a poem right before their eyes and killed it in the process. Either that, or they were exposed to bizarre free verse poems that made absolutely no sense. No one wants to read stuff they can't understand or that seems to be written in code.

Billy Collins is the antidote to your high school English teacher. He doesn't write in code, but in a simple and understandable, yet vibrant and moving style. His poems will affect you without overwhelming you; they will touch you without assaulting you.

As a poet myself, I'm always intrigued by how other word artists are able to strum deep chords of emotion through simple observations and reflections about our world--chords that may reverberate for years. Billy does this through letting each poem grow into a transformative event. You never leave the poem viewing the world in the same way. I suppose that's what I enjoy most about Billy Collins--his ability to cause the reader to enter the poem while reading it and then end in a different place altogether.

If you hate poetry, try Billy Collins. If you love poetry, my guess is you already have.