Used Books is a new favorite of mine.
The book of small poems is impactful, and at times incredibly humorous. There were poems in here that made me chuckle, others that cause an intake of breath and realization, and yet some still that I relate to profoundly. Billy Collins proves that he is always one to come back to. ( )

The epigraph is from a poem in Go Giants by Nick Laird ("Talking in Kitchens"), but is a slight misquote. The original is here: https://poetryarchive.org/poem/talking-kitchens/

Very small (short) poems, many clever (see also: Brian Bilston), as much jokes or wordplay as poems.

"The Sociologist" (23)
I wandered lonely as a crowd.

"A Memory" (38)
It came back to me
not in the way
a thing might be returned
to its rightful owner

but like dance music
traveling in the dark
from one end
of a lake to the other.

"Angler" (113)
Alone
with my thoughts

I spent the day
in the stream
of consciousness.

"Corn Field" (114)
Far from any lake,
I walk in over my head.

"The Student" (117)
She made asterisks
next to passages she liked,

little stars that kept shining
after she closed the book. ( )

Billy Collins' latest collection of poetry contains very short poems, ranging from about one to nine lines, and averaging out somewhere between 4-6. It's very easy to just sit down and read a bunch at once, a temptation the poet himself is aware of in "Page-Turner":

Desirable
in fiction.

Not so much
with a slim book of poems.

I would urge you to resist and try to slow down, as the poems have all the signatures of Billy Collins' wry observations, humor and whimsy, distilled in spare writing. One of my favorites is "New Calendar":

The poem of next year--
every week a line,
every month a stanza,

and a tiny sun
rising and setting
in every numbered square.

Recommended. ( )

Wonderful and witty ( )

I love Billy Collins' poetry, so I very happily picked up a copy of this new volume when it was released. The poems within are much shorter than his readers may be accustomed to seeing from him, but they are still filled with wit and mischief. I prefer longer format poems most of the time but I did enjoy this collection. ( )