The art of drowning / Billy Collins.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Collins, Billy

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Pitt poetry series

Language:

English

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

95 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, [1995]

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.

Contents:

Consolation 7

Osso Buco 8

Directions 10

Influence 12

Water Table 14

Reading in a Hammock 16

Print 17

Sunday Morning with the Sensational Nightingales 18

Cheers 20

The Best Cigarette 22

Metropolis 24

Days 26

Tuesday, June 4, 1991 27

The Art of Drowning 33

Canada 34

The Biography of a Cloud 36

Death Beds 38

Conversion 40

Horizon 41

The City of Tomorrow 42

Thesaurus 44

Fiftieth Birthday Eve 46

On Turning Ten 48

Shadow 50

Workshop 51

Keats's Handwriting 57

Budapest 59

My Heart 60

Romanticism 61

Monday Morning 63

Dancing Toward Bethlehem 64

The First Dream 65

Sweet Talk 66

Dream 67

Man in Space 68

Philosophy 69

While Eating a Pear 71

The End of the World 72

Center 74

Design 75

The Invention of the Saxophone 79

Medium 81

Driving Myself to a Poetry Reading 83

Pinup 84

Piano Lessons 86

Exploring the Coast of Birdland 89

The Blues 91

Nightclub 92.

ISBN:

0822938936

0822955679

OCLC:

31970979