Picnic, Lightning

by Collins, Billy

• ISBN13: 9780822956709
• ISBN10: 0822956705
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of Pittsburgh Pr

Summary

Billy Collins's poetry has been described by Gerald Stern as "heartbreakingly beautiful." Annie Proulx admits, "I have never before felt possessive about a poet, but I am fiercely glad that Billy Collins is ours." The "New York Times calls him simply "the real thing." Over the past decade, Collins has garnered critical acclaim and broad popular appeal. To celebrate his years as U.S. Poet Laureate, the three books that helped establish and secure his reputation during the 1990s--"Questions About Angels; The Art of Drowning; and "Picnic, Lightning--are now available in special, limited edition hardcovers as well as in paperback.

Author Biography

Billy Coilins, named U.S. Poet Laureate in June 2001 and reappointed to the post in 2002, has published seven collections of poetry, including The Apple That Astenished Paris: Nine Hoiscs; The Art of Drowning; Questions About Augels; and Sailing Alone Around the Room. A professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York, he lives in Somers, New York

Table of Contents

A Portrait of the Reader with a Bowl of Cereal	p. 3
Fishing on the Susquehanna in July	p. 7
To a Stranger Born in Some Distant Country Hundreds of Years from Now	p. 9
I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of "Three Blind Mice"	p. 10
Afternoon with Irish Cows	p. 12
Marginalia	p. 14
What I Learned Today	p. 17
Journal	p. 20
Some Days	p. 22
Silence	p. 23
Picnic, Lightning	p. 24
In the Room of a Thousand Miles	p. 29
Morning	p. 31
Bonsai	p. 32
Splitting Wood	p. 34
Shoveling Snow with Buddha	p. 37
I Go Back to the House for a Book	p. 39
After the Storm	p. 41
Snow	p. 44
Moon	p. 46
Looking West	p. 48
The Much I Do Remember	p. 49
Japan	p. 51
Victoria's Secret	p. 55
Musee des Beaux Art Revisited	p. 59
Lines Composed Over Three Thousand Miles from Tintern Abbey	p. 61
Paradelle for Susan	p. 64
Duck/Rabbit	p. 65
Egypt	p. 66
Home Again	p. 68
Lines Lost Among Trees	p. 70
The Many Faces of Jazz	p. 72
Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes	p. 74
The Night House	p. 79
The Death of the Hat	p. 81
The List of Ancient Pastimes	p. 83
Passengers	p. 85
Serpentine	p. 87
Reincarnation and You	p. 89
Jazz and Nature	p. 91
And His Sextet	p. 94
Where I Live	p. 96
My Life	p. 98
Aristotle	p. 100
Acknowledgments	p. 103
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