Product Description
You're an angel from heaven, sent down from above,
You're daddy's little boy, to have and to love. . .

The song "Daddy's Little Boy" has been a favorite of fathers and sons -- and mothers, too -- for more than fifty years. In this first ever picture-book version, a caring daddy bear and his little cub bring the moving lyrics to life as they bask in each other's love. The full lyrics and music are included for the whole family to enjoy together. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not the most exciting book, and not by the poet Billy Collins
Probably because the words of this book are the lyrics from a song entitled "Daddy's Little Boy," this is not the most interesting story for children or for adults to read to children.It is, in the most basic sense, song lyrics, not a story.

I was interested to learn that the Billy Collins who wrote the song and thus is the author of this book (and who died in the 1950's) is NOT the poet Billy Collins.Seems like it would be the poet BC, since all his books lead amazonians to this page and this book.I'm disappointed by that.If the poet Billy Collins had written a children's book, I'm certain it would have held the attention of a 4 year-old better.What am I going to do with this boring book? ... Read more

Product Description
This substantial anthology charts the development of this influential journal decade by decade, making clear that although it has close ties to a particular

region, it has consistently maintained a national scope, publishing poets from all over the United States. SPR’s goal has been to celebrate the poem above all, so although there are poems by major poets here, there are many gems by less famous, perhaps even obscure, writers too. Here are 183 poems by nearly as many poets, from A. R. Ammons, Kathryn Stripling Byer, James Dickey, Mark Doty, Claudia Emerson, David Ignatow, and Carolyn Kizer to Ted Kooser, Maxine Kumin, Denise Levertov, Howard Nemerov, Sharon Olds, Linda Pastan, and Charles Wright. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Enhanced with an informed and informative foreword by Billy Collins (U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003)
The 'Southern Poetry Review' is an iconic poetry journal with a long history of introducing distinguished poets to its readers, many of whom went on to literary honors and success. Now the very best of these poets published in its pages over the past half-century are represented in "Don't Leave Hungry: Fifty Years of Southern Poetry Review" has been selected, compiled, and edited by James Smith (Associate Professor of English, Armstrong Atlantic State University). Enhanced with an informed and informative foreword by Billy Collins (U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003), the "Don't Leave Hungry" anthology is organized chronologically by decade, and includes a contributors list, and author index, a title index, and appendices listing the winner's of the Gary Owen Prize. ""Don't Leave Hungry" is a seminal and strongly recommended contribution to personal, community, and academic library American Poetry collections.

A Celebration of Fifty Years of Poetry
It boggles my mind that a poetry journal could even last fifty years, let alone last fifty years and still remain relevant and muscular, able to celebrate poetic voices old and new.

The Southern Poetry Review has earned this beautiful book, which showcases a wide scope of voices. As the Southern Poetry Review published a variety of poets, there is a variety of tones, styles and subjects matters. Sometimes this works well, but other times I wished there was a little more cohesiveness.

The book was organized in chronological order -- which makes utter sense, of course! -- but sometimes I wished it was organized by theme, allowing new and old poems on similar themes to compliment each other, and allowing the anthology to showcase those thematic "through lines" which make a poem "Southern Poetry Review"-worthy, not matter in which decade it was written.

Still, it is the Southern Poetry Review deserves a ton of praise for its amazing work in the service of poetry, and this thick collection is filled with some wonderful verse!
... Read more

Product Description
The editors of this legendary and hilarious anthology write: "Bad Verse has its canons, like Good Verse. There is bad Bad Verse and good Bad Verse. It has been the preoccupation of the compilers to include in this book chiefly good Bad Verse." Here one finds bad masterpieces by the greatest poets of the English language, including works by Dryden, Wordsworth, and Keats, among many others, together with an index ("Manure, adjudged a fit subject for the Muse, 91") that is itself an inspired work of folly. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Only the Best of Bad Verse
One of the first to recognize the "bounty of god-awful" verse out there, this anthology was initially published in 1930, on the cusp of poetic modernism.The editors find that bad poetry was merely tiresome before mid-seventeenth century, where the anthology begins.It ends with Tennyson, so as not to offend living poets, and only includes distinguished poets--those who have been rewarded with reverence or royalities by their contemporaries.The editors insist that bad poetry in their anthology be grammatical and innocent of the faults of craftsmanship.Poetasters are out.The inflated, flouncy diction of Victorian poetry is their special target.The title of the work gives a taste of what bathos it contains.Written by William Wordsworth, "The Stuffed Owl" of the title is a sonnet, whose subject is the sole object comforting the ailing Miss Jewsbury.The work is arranged chronologically by author with a subject index.

Beef, death dealing
This book is a gem. It's a little hard to read from cover to cover -- kind of like a box of bitter chocolate, you come back to it again and again. The index is the ultimate scream, though.

The Owl is All Wise Atop the Bust.
These poems were chosen from American and English Literature to signify the worst in a history of pratfalls as exhibited by some of the big names."If you glance at History's pags, in all lands and eras known, you will find the buried ages far more wicked than our own; as you scan each word and letter you will realize it more, that the world today is better than it ever was before."

Poe's "Eulalie' was chosen: "I dwelt alone in a world to moan,
And my soul was a stagnant tide,
Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride --
Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride."

Longfellow's 'Excelsior' goes thusly: "The shades of night were falling fast, as trough an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device, Excelsior!
...
There in the twilight cold and grey, lifeless, but beautiful, he lay, And from the sky, serene and far, A voice fell, like a falling star, Excelsior!"

"Something to love, some tree or flow'r,
Something to nurse in my lonely bow'r,
Some dog to follow, where'er I roam,
Some bird to warble my welcome home,
Some tame gazelle, or some gentle dove:
Something to love, oh, something to love!

Some to love, oh, let me see!
Something that's filled with a love for me;
Beloved by none, it is sad to live,
And 'tis sad to die and leave none to grieve;
And fond and true let the lov'e one prove.
Something to love, oh, something to love!"

'A Lesson for the Proud'

"The scheme is tried; and shall it prosper too?
Yes; what can't steam and gold united do?
Near the commencement of Victoria's reign,
Both sea-chiefs started on th' Atlantic main;
While all the merchantmen they met and pass'd,
Long looks of wonder on the heroes cast;
Their proud, majestic march, their stately air,
Their god-like prowess, and their length of car,
Made gazers all, with great reluctance, see
Their own comparative nonentity."

Wordsworth wrote:"Yet, helped by Genius -- untired Comforter,
The presence even of a stuffed Owl for her can cheat the time."The Capricorn edition has eight cartoons from the works of Max Beerbohm.There is a subject index and an author index.A bit of nonsense, but D. B. Wyndham Lewis and Charles Lee must have had fun chosing what they considered the worst of the lot.Of course, everyone has his own opinion and, what's bad for someone may be good to someone else and vice versa.That's what a reviewer if for, to cause another to think differently from what he might otherwise.But, of course, you must have an open mind.

'Criticise as some have done/Hitherto herebefore'
This is not just a collection of any old bad verse. McGonagall for one is not represented. Nor are the forgotten poetasters `...the semi-literate, the nature-loving contributor to the county newspaper...the hearty but ill-equipped patriot, the pudibond but urgent Sapphos...' to take a sample ofthe disregarded from the anthologists' preface. The main qualifying factor for inclusion in The Stuffed Owl is solemnity. It may be that now and again Wyndham Lewis and Lee deviate slightly from this criterion, and I wonder whether in Boston churches they still sing

`Ye monsters of the bubbling deep/Your Maker's praises shout/Up from the sands, ye codlings, leap/And wag your tails about'

but a fairer sample of the `target' style would be e.g. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's

`Will you oftly/Murmur softly?' or `Our Euripides the human/With his droppings of warm tears'; or Crabbe's `Brother, there dwell, yon northern hill below,/Two favourite maidens, whom `tis good to know,/Young, but experienced'.

The very greatest can be found here at their less-than-greatest. The title of the book is itself a quotation from Wordsworth. Toweringly great poet though he was, he lacked, as everyone knows, any sense of the ridiculous whatsoever. He really did cite

`...the umbrella spread/To weather-fend the Celtic herdsman's head' as an instance of spreading decadence. One inclusion that seems to me marginal is from Resolution and Independence, the celebrated question to the old leech-gatherer, betraying that William had not been listening to a word the old fellow said

`My question eagerly did I renew/How is it that you live, and what is it you do?' Say what you like, I still find nothing absurd in it and I still think this is one of his greatest poems. How this got into The Stuffed Owl is obvious - the whole scenario was more than Lewis Carroll could take, and it inspired him to perhaps the most hilarious parody (along with Housman's Fragment of a Greek Tragedy) I have ever read, the White Knight's tale of the aged aged man a-sitting on a gate.

The funniest things in the book are not so much the poems themselves as the commentaries. These are mainly the work of Wyndham Lewis and Lee, but there is some Olympian demolition by Macaulay of a certain Robert Montgomery (1807-1855) who specialised in obsequious piety. The anthologists themselves contribute a wonderful preface, the captions over the extracts, and, maybe best of all, the index. From this you can easily access, say, `Leeds, poetical aspects of'; or `Oysters, reason why they cannot be crossed in love'; or `Trains, rapture of catching'.

How they must have enjoyed doing it all! It appeals quite inordinately to my sense of humour, and perhaps it will to yours.

This book is indispensable!
This collection is much more interesting *and* funny than a more recent anthology of bad poetry, because it draws so heavily on great poets--Wordsworth, Byron, Poe et al. Laughing at semiliterate amateurs is acheap shot. The wonder is the follies of the talented, and Stuffed Owldisplays these. The introductory matter and editorial comments are alsobrilliantly funny, and the index--yes, the index--is a scream. THIS TITLESHOULD BE READILY AVAILABLE (publisher please note.) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Brilliant observations with arrow-like writing
An ex-girlfriend had a copy of this book she picked up @ the LA Book Fair in 1977... I've never seen it since, but remember the vivid, precise and -- I want a word that means fantastically well-targeted -- use of words. I'd LOVE to find a copy of this thin book. ... Read more

Product Description
So welcome, readers, to a plurality of poets, a cornucopia of tropes, and a range of interests.

-- From Billy Collins's introduction

The Best American Poetry series offers a distinguished poet's selection of poems published in the course of a year. The guest editor for 2006 is Billy Collins, one of our most beloved poets, who has chosen poems of wit, humor, imagination, and surprise, in an array of styles and forms. The result is a celebration of the pleasures of poetry -- from Laura Cronk's marvelous "Sestina for the Newly Married" to the elegant limericks of R. S. Gwynn and from Reb Livingston on butter to Mark Halliday's "Refusal to Notice Beautiful Women."

In his charming and candid introduction Collins explains how he chose seventy-five poems from among the thousands he considered. With insightful comments from the poets illuminating their work, and series editor David Lehman's thought-provoking foreword, The Best American Poetry 2006 is a brilliant addition to a series that links the most noteworthy verse and prose poems of our time to a readership as discerning as it is devoted to the art of poetry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

a friendly introduction to what the best means
Collins' poetry is one of "accessibility"--a term he expands upon greatly in his introductory remarks, and there, his voice is firm and assured about the kind of poetry he favors versus drivel passing for verse in contemporary American poetry.Sure, Collins' poetics might not gel very well with the crap being published today, but that is his singular stance and vision of what American poetry is like in 2006, one filled with "Laughter in the Dark" (to borrow a scintillating title by Nabokov).

the best I've read in the series
There is no doubt in my mind that 06's collection is the best I've read (and I've been reading them for some time now), though to be fair, somehow I missed 2005--though I'm not much for Hejimen's taste. I'm not surprised how good this one is though, after all, Billy Collins selected them, and he is a phenomenal poet with great taste. He picked poems that covered all schools but were told in language and images that we can all appreciate and understand. Keep picking poets like this (hey, consider Gioia, Dave Mason and R.S. Gwynn--they'll give you collections as good or better than even this one.).

A wonderful sampling of contemporary poetry
Since a great many contemporary poems leave me confused or disappointed, I was delighted to connect positively with so many of the seventy-five poems selected by guest editor, Billy Collins.The editor's Introduction brought insights that contributed to my enjoyment, as well as providing guidance to would-be poets.Of course, the guest editor makes a huge contribution to the success of this annual series, and Billy Collins has ferreted out some treasures for 2006.

Good to keep up with current poetry
It is good for those who are not inclined to keep up with currently published poets to see the choices of a poet laureate.

Ok
The only favorite poem of mine is by Kay Ryan. The rest of the stuff is mediocre.. ... Read more

Product Description
Poignant, hilarious, and brutally frank, Dear Editor reveals the personalities and untold stories behind the creation of modern poetry.

"The history of poetry and Poetry in America are almost interchangeable, certainly inseparable," A. R. Ammons wrote. Dear Editor, in gathering over 600 surprisingly candid letters to and from the editors of Poetry, traces the development of poetry in America: Ezra Pound's opinion of T. S. Eliot ("It is such a comfort to meet a man and not have to tell him to wash his face, wipe his feet") and of Robert Frost ("dull as ditch water...[but] set to be 'literchure' someday"); Edna St. Vincent Millay's pleas for an advance ("I am become very, very thin, and have taken to smoking Virginia tobacco"); Wallace Stevens on himself ("I have a pretty well-developed mean streak").

Here are the inside stories, the rivalries between aspiring authors, the inspirations behind classics, the practicalities (and politicking) of publishing. In fascinating anecdotes and literary gossip, scores of poets offer insights into the creative process and their reactions to historic events. 40 b/w illustrations. ... Read more

Product Description
Emily Dickinson lived as a recluse in Amherst, Massachusetts, dedicating herself to writing a "letter to the world"--the 1,775 poems left unpublished at her death in 1886. Today, Dickinson stands in the front rank of American poets. This enthralling collection includes more than four hundred poems that were published between Dickinson's death and 1900. They express her concepts of life and death, of love and nature, and of what Henry James called "the landscape of the soul." And as Billy Collins suggests in his Introduction, "In the age of the workshop, the reading, the poetry conference and festival, Dickinson reminds us of the deeply private nature of literary art."Amazon.com Review
The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Archibald MacLeish has notedthe "curious energy" which pervades Emily Dickinson's work. She, alongwith Walt Whitman, helps make up the very foundation of Americanpoetry. This Modern Library edition from Random House is an excellentoverview of Dickinson's work, divided by theme, including "Life,""Nature," "Love," and so forth. This volume of selected poems is amust for any serious reader of American poetry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

DO NOT GET THIS EDITION
NOTE: This is not a 1-star review for Emily Dickinson. She is one of the greatest poets of all time, and should be read by everyone who loves poetry (and even those who don't).

That said, this is a terrible edition. I was shocked when I opened it in a bookstore, looking to show a friend one of her poems I had just been talking about, to discover that the punctuation had been completely modified. The meanings of some of her best poems hinge on varying interpretations of Dickinson's eccentric punctuation, and to change it seems to me one of the great crimes against poetry. I am especially disappointed because Modern Library normally puts out such excellent editions, but this one is just awful.

Sanitized Emily
Emily Dickinson is a genius and great poet, but this isn't the way to experience her work. Dickinson's distinctive punctuation and capitalization are "corrected"; the effect is maybe a smoother read but one far less rich in implications and possibilities. The division of the poems employed here , and in many of the older collections ("Life," "Nature," "Love," "Time and Eternity") are not Dickinson's, and are not very useful in experiencing the poems. In my opinion, this volume omits many of Emily's best poems and includes some of her least interesting/ daring. Of course, there can be many varying opinions as to what Emily's best work was, but since all of her poems are collected in one manageable volume there's no need to let someone else decide that for you. As another reviewer has said, the Johnson "Complete Poems" volume is what you want.

This isn't quite the letter Emily was writing to the world...
I picked up this selection of Dickinson's poems on a whim because I am a huge fan of her poetry--it simply reaches to your very soul and leaves you rapt in awe.However--I must say--that I am sorely disappointed with this edition of selected poems.As one of the other reviewers has stated, this edition has been greatly tampered with--the editors have reworked the punctuation and capitalization stylistic genius of Dickinson and bastardized it to accommodate the modern reader--but, honestly, to do this severely detracts from Dickinson's so very unique voice.Particularly, the editors employed the comma as a replacement for her frivolous usage of the dash, which left me squirming in distaste--it nearly ruins the poems in my opinion.To "fix" a poem--punctuation or otherwise--is to change the very essence behind it--I was very surprised the editors would take such strange liberties in modifying these poems.If you're a stickler about poetry, this is not the edition for you.But if you wish to simply read these poems for the sake of reading them, then you may be ok with this edition--but I still would recommend against it; you don't quite get the same sense of Dickinson's subtle and profound examinations of the world.

You gotta buy this book.
This book is awesome! Everyone should buy it.

This is not really the edition you want.
I don't doubt that it's possible to enjoy Emily Dickinson's poems in editions like this.But you should be aware that you are not really reading what she wrote.You are reading what earlier editors _wish_ she had written - a sort of 'tidied-up' and regularized version, thebadly tampered-with-text of a genius by those who weren't.

In a way, the situation is a bit like the one that prevails with regard to food.Would you rather eat natural food or genetically modified food?Maybe the modified food doesn't taste any different, but it might be doing harmful things to us that the author of real food never intended.So why take a risk when we can have the real thing ?

There are two major editors who can be relied on for accurate texts of ED's poems.These are Dickinson scholars R. W. Franklin and Thomas H. Johnson.Both produced large Variorum editions for scholars, alongwith reader's editions of the Complete Poems for the ordinary reader.Details of their respective reader's editions are as follows.

THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON : Reading Edition.Edited byR. W. Franklin.692 pp.Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999.ISBN 0-674-67624-6 (hbk.)

THE COMPLETE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON.Edited by Thomas H. Johnson. 784 pp. Boston : Little, Brown, 1960 and Reissued.ISBN: 0316184136 (pbk.)

For those who don't feel up to tackling the Complete Poems, there is Johnson's abridgement of his Reader's edition, an excellent selectionof what he feels were her best poems:

FINAL HARVEST : Emily Dickinson's Poems.Edited by Thomas H. Johnson. 352 pages.New York : Little Brown & Co, 1997. ISBN: 0316184152 (paperbound).

Friends, do yourself a favor and get Johnson's edition.Why accept a watered-down version when you can have the real thing? ... Read more

Product Description
In The Subway Pictures, Peter Peter shares his extraordinary images of life on the move, capturing “ordinary” New Yorkers in a remarkable give-and-take with their public surroundings. As Billy Collins writes in his Foreword, “Each of these images is a visual report from underground, the testimony of an optical Virgil bringing us news of the travelers below, momentarily stopped figures in the nonstop shuttling that goes on beneath the concrete skin of the city.”
In the wake of September 11, Peter found the heart of New York City in the subterranean world through which he rode nearly every day for the next three years. “It was like being carried along on a river of whispering signs and symbols,” he writes. “Travelers suspended in contemplation by the steady rhythm of stop-and-go seemed like speechless souls from a different dimension. The scene reshuffled at each stop and every now and then the elements would slip into a visual story.”
In the seventy-seven candid color pictures culled from the thousands Peter snapped with his basic 3 megapixel camera, the magic is everywhere. Whether we are looking at a very tall man crocheting with incredible concentration, someone flamboyantly stretching on the platform, or a Jackie Collins look-alike applying makeup, the world that comes across is vibrantly human and defiantly unself-conscious. Published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the opening of the fabled New York City subway system, The Subway Pictures is an unforgettable tribute to the individuality of all those who ride underground in New York, and to every urban American. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Well done
Best photos of the NYC subway as you experience it everyday.Peter Peter (what a name) manages to capture some of the most ironic, comical and touching photos of "everyday" people from all backgrounds.Slightly dated now, but if you love NYC this book will resonate.

Great Photography
It's a great book. A must buy for anyone interested in candid photography. Every picture tells a story and the contrast at times is amazing.

Makes your subway ride so much fun!
While visiting New York City, I, too, noticed the beauty of people I saw in the subway. What I didn't have was a courage to take pictures because I was afraid that people may not feel comfortable being taken pictures by a stranger like myself. This book is something I wish I could have done, something my dream came ture. Just take a look around while riding subway. You'll be amazed at how beautiful people are.

Nice Pics, Great Texts
Nice pics about "true underground people".
If you want to know the "feeling" of NY's subway, this is the book...

An epitome of New York today
These astonishing digital photographs are witty without being condescending, intimate without being impertinent, and unsentimental without being cold. As Billy Collins writes in his introduction, "These images speak of a boldness associated with reports from the front...." Peter Peter is a Czech and his pictures belong to the photography of discovery brought to New York by such Europeans as Andreas Feininger, Andre Kertesz, Rudy Burckhardt and Robert Frank. ... Read more

Product Description
Contemporary enthusiasts have fallen in love with the DeVorss pin-up. His rich and colorful girls have a charm and grace that sets them apart from other calendar girls of the golden age. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Billy DeVorss
This is a visual treat. When original DeVorss illustrations come up for auction, they are quite pricey. Very good quality reproductions and suitable for framing.

A timeless memorial to pretty girls artfully presented.
In the heyday of the pin-up girl, Billy DeVorss offered gorgeous women rich in color, glamour, fashion, and appeal. With a sincere appreciation of the female form and the romantic, artful eye of a painter, DeVorss pin-upsboldly engage the viewer with confidence, charm, and grace. These weresweethearts, not hussies, icons of love, not lust. Pin-Up Poster Book: TheBilly DeVorss Collection is a timeless memorial of the golden age ofpin-ups now available for a modern generation to rediscover what theirgrandfathers knew -- the inspiring allure of a pretty girl artfullypresented. ... Read more

Product Description
Featuring contributions from widely published and practicing poets who are also experienced teachers and presenters of poetry, The Eye of the Poet: Six Views of the Art and Craft of Poetry provides students and other readers with invaluable practical advice. Ideal for courses in poetry writing and creative writing, it includes six sections written by Billy Collins, Carol Muske, David Baker and Ann Townsend, Yusef Komunyakaa, Maxine Kumin, and David Citino. These poets speak their minds about their relationship with their art and craft, offering guidance to writers at all levels of experience from the beginner to the veteran.
In his section, Billy Collins looks at the ways reading and writing poetry give readers pleasure, while Carol Muske's essay examines the question, "What is a poem?" David Baker and Ann Townsend discuss the formal and musical aspects of composing and reading poems; they include many engaging exercises and directions to further reading. Yusef Komunyakaa enrolls readers in a virtual poetry workshop, Maxine Kumin considers the necessities and demands of audience, and David Citino talks about the roles that poets play as they conceive and execute their work. In their essays, the contributors include examples of poems--written by themselves or others--to illustrate key points. While the chapters are meant to be self-contained explorations, they are also interrelated parts of the volume as a whole. The Eye of the Poet is a stimulating conversation in which successful poets share with readers their enthusiasm, knowledge, and vision, as well as their estimation of the possibilities of the poem. In this book, students of poetry will discover the wide variety of options available to them when they sit down to create their own works. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Aye of the Poet too
These are essays on the craft, process, and thinking of poetry. It's the sort of book that's easy to carry and worth carrying because when you sit down to read it you're happy you have it.There are six essays by seven authors. Two essays are outstanding.The first is by Billy Collins, not really my type of poet in the large picture, but he's accessible, which I think is the goal of the book. He pursues the question of what happens to us when we read a poem and he approaches the possible answers from a variety of points touching on the someplace else-ness of a poem or the way it asks readers to slow down.For me the most memorable essay was by Yusef Komunyakaa and I marked quite a few passages that I will reconsider as I continue writing and planning future classes.I suggest getting a copy, for these two essays alone. However, if you take my recommendation, don't get mad if you find a pedantic essay about meter (that I felt was better presented in other books)or other less than compelling pieces.That said, I think what Citino has done is admirable because we can never have too many books where poets speak to their processes and passions. ... Read more

Product Description
The selected poems of Billy Collins read by theauthor. 33 poems, over 70 minutes, very high quality recording oncassette or CD. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

An enjoyable poet
I listened to Billy Collins read around ten of these poems. He reads in a clear and pleasant voice. His poems often involve some trip of the imagination in which he thinks in an oddly new way about a familiar subject. For instance in the poem 'Nostalgia' he opens with a consideration of what might be missed in the decade beginning with the year 1340. He then chooses other decades in history and reflects on what those who lived them might have missed in them. He in doing this puts on our nostalgia for our own lifetime in a different perspective.
Often his poems are 'thought- exercises' and involve catalogues of the subject in question. But when he makes his catalogues there are usually odd twists and metaphorical surprises which prevents the poems being boringly predictable. In his poem 'Afterlife' he imagines people getting what they want from the Afterlife, but then makes a wonderful turn and has those in the other world imagining what they would like to have in this present earthly existence.
He has a mild, softly ironic pleasant sense of humor also.
The poems are written with great skill. And they are understandable at first hearing though of course even more understandable when heard or read again.
Collins opens Poetry to the 'common reader' but not in a condescending or simplistic way.
His Poetry is a pleasure to listen to, and to read.

the best
Probably the only thing better than reading Billy Collins is listening to Billy Collins read.If you've never experienced him - buy this CD.If you have, and you don't have this CD - buy this CD.

Worth Your Times
It is worth buying this just to hear the recording of Another Reason I Don't Keep a Gun In The House.Billy Collins unique view of the world in both touching, and at times very funny.

wiity verse
A poetry cd of both live and studio performance by American poet Billy Collins. This is great, witty, ironic and clever. Hearing the poet himself read his verse adds to the enjoyment of his poems. I love 'forgetfulness'. His poems strike a chord with modern life. A must for fans and newcomers to his verse.

Good collection, but live performance better
We bought this collection of Billy Collins' poems shortly after being introduced to him by friends who lent us the CD of Billy Collins' live performance at Peter Norton Hall (with the intro by Bill Murray).This collection has a few of the same poems as the other, but not enough duplication to make this an unwise choice.I enjoy listening to this collection, but get a little more enjoyment from the lively and responsive atmosphere that the audience gives the uninterrrupted live performance. Still, I haven't heard any other of his readings, so this is a very small sample to be judging from. In the end, I don't think you can go wrong with either CD. ... Read more

Product Description
"Edith Grossman again demonstrates thatshe indeed is the Glenn Gould oftranslators."—Harold BloomCelebrating the Spanish Renaissance's greatestpoems and offering a new appreciation ofSpain's "Golden Age, " Edith Grossman turns her passionate fervor and stylistic brilliance to the works of Jorge Manrique; Garcilaso de la Vega, asoldier and courtier who wrote love poetry; Fray Luis de León, a converso Jew; San Juan de laCruz, whose poems are the finest exemplars ofChristian mysticism; Luis de Góngora, a greatsensualist; Lope de Vega, Cervantes' rival;Francisco de Quevedo, the ultimate Baroque poet; and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the nun whosehaunting poetry embodied the voice of Mexico.Through these glorious voices, presented infacing-page Spanish and English, The GoldenAge offers a new way to connect with theliterary heritage of the Spanish-speaking world. 10 illustrations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Exquisite Renaissance poetry that most English speakers never encounter.
I don't quite understand all the quibbling and crankiness from my colleague reviewers here.This is an absolutely lovely book in terms of content and physical format as well.As often in her coloratura translation of DON QUIXOTE, the renderings literally sing off the page.I am not at all proficient in Spanish, but acquaintances who are, whom I've persuaded to do so, have read here and there in the poems in their native tongue.While that beauty and sonority is truly sublime, Grossman does well in capturing much of it in English.What fun this would be to include in a World Poetry class!While there is much to love here, and Saint John of the Cross and his Dark Night have long been among my favorites, his Mexican namesake, Sor Juana Inez has certainly enchanted me with her sweet sonnets.The Billy Collins introduction is a pleasantly insightful bonus.

A Golden translation
The poems of the Spanish Renaissance are beautifully translated and very readable.Many of the poems have relevance for today.

Never trust translations
There are exceptions: Ciardi's Dante, Robert Bly's rendering of Rilke but overall nunca confianza traducciones. Aprenda el idioma y leerlo en ese idioma.

SPANISH GOLDEN AGE POETRY IN ENGLISH
These are welcome selections from Manrique, Garcilaso, Fray Luis, St. John of the Cross, Gongora, Lope, Quevedo and Sor Juana accompanied by facing
English translations. The versions are serviceable cribs, freely rendering
Spanish in a prose that captures, for the most part, the original sensebut, inevitably, lets the music slip away.Edith Grossman's free prose renderings offer a sufficient glimpse of the original to interest readers.Specialists will quibble at issues of rhyme, verse form, archaism; some, no doubt, will
grate at ocassionally flat, stilted and wooden moments. However, with a little forgiveness of the translator for undertaking a daunting task, these well chosen and rich selections will repay the reader's efforts.

Devilish details
The author's selection is an interesting mix of canonical gems and other admirable pieces.I think I would have sacrificed the Manrique piece for more Garcilaso, Quevedo, Góngora, a ballad by Lope, or something by one of the Argensola brothers.Of course, that is simply a matter of personal preference.

It is unfortunate that the author did not have a good proofreader.I suppose 10 or 11 spelling problems is not unreasonable, but for a popular audience who might be odd enough to use the bilingual text as a tool for perfecting their Spanish, it would be a shame to see items such as "duéño" (Coplas)or "contar" instead of "contra" (p. 64).

Even so, the book is a much-needed anthology by a very talented translator.It is physically very attractive as well. ... Read more

Product Description
This Little Red Bitch in My Chest is a collection of poetry, a collection of lifewritten by Rik Woods. This is not a collection of flowing words that rhyme to a certain rhythm. The writing style is open, descriptive and aggressive.The book is divided into chapters, allowing the reader to choose the type of poetry their mind dictates. This Little Red Bitch in My Chest is a collection of life. Life isn't always gentle and beautiful. This poetry collection may open doorsinto subjects many would prefer to ignore. You will find poetry about the beauty of love and life, but you will also read about the pain and heartbreak of love and about the pain and sorrow of abuse.When you read This Little Red Bitch in My Chest, you will be drawn into the pages to experience life as seen through the eyes of the author. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

One star for the title only
I am not sure who gave this book those other reviews but I suspect it was RW's friends and family. I give this book one star and that is for the title, which is not the name of a poem inside the book. I was on Amazon looking for anything new by my favorite Poet Laureates Billy Collins and Ted Kooser when I came across the un-deniably great title "Little Red Bitch in my Chest" and impulsively bought it. Well , let me just say that after a very brief sampling I knew that this collection would very soon be making it's way to the "yard sale box". After reading and re-reading everything I could get my hands on by poets such as Collins, Kooser, Carl Dennis and the like, I must say that I was quite disappointed and bored to readthese stilted, whiny, grandiose lamentations of what appears to me to be an over-grown high school student. In fact, while reading pieces like "Searching for Salvation" I had the distinct impression that some of this book was written in high school. RK you should have left them there.
The pressmark for Copper Canyon Press is the Chinese character for poetry which is made up of two parts: "word" and "temple."This guy has certainly not learned how to make a temple with words...

Compelling
I couldn't put it down.The words swayed me into times and places of past, present, and future.Images cursed through mind of mad men and sultry lusts, dripping with sweetness and innocence.Some poems made me want to put my hand over my eyes like a child watching a scary movie, but still always peeking through the fanning of the fingers.I have tried to put the book down, and like an obsession, I keep reading, one more poem, one more poem.Wonderfully written, experience laden, and an emotional rollercoaster.Thank you for sharing, the world needs more.

what a wild ride that stops suddenly when your just getting into the groove of it
This Little Red Bitch In My Chest (2004.) A collection of poems covering the heavy andthe distraught the edge and the inner soul.

INTRODUCTION: (I discovered most of the following from Rik Woods' Yahoo 360 and Myspace.com sites.)
Rik Woods isn't some academia poet that lives under publish or perish. For decades, Rik Woods has been writing and building a following of people he knows without ever being published. Read on for my review on this new and exciting poet.

OVERVIEW:
This book is essential a wandering through a life, at least that is how it seems to me. A life lived and struggled through. But I wonder if he can sustain this kind of writing or will it run out before he can make a real impact on the world of poetry, notably the hardest writing market to succeed in.

REVIEW:
I hate writing reviews and you can see I have never posted one on Amazon before, but after watching this book for several years and ordering a few for friends and seeing great reviews but none that really highlighted what this poet can do. So I am going to take the time to make a few points out of the book.




Only the good die young
Excerpt: Just as sweet death comes to claim me
That damn machine brings me back
Have you ever dreamed on life support?

COMMENTS: Okay so this poem might irritate some people right off as it is about euthanasia, I can't really say from reading the book where the poet stands on this subject or any others for that matter. But the character in the poem is definetly pro-euthanasia, as you see the struggle his body is going through just to survive you kinda wish he would die.

The hand that hurts
Excerpt: My father was not a man of great acclaim, yet
He is mine to claim
COMMENTS: Okay so this one after you read it is clearly about child abuse, but asfter you get through it and reread it you realize that from the child's point of view only knowing that abuse, he stil loves his father.

Reproduction
Excerpt: As I stand here in the cold ass rain
The fear of loneliness gripping me
For the thousandth time this day
COMMENTS: When I first read this one I was kinda at a loss, I thought it was just a person depressed over not having children. But now I wonder if maybe there was and it was aborted or miscarried. I don't know like all poetry I think each person has to take their own away from it, and I think this short simple poem is a prime example.

A whole lot of nothing
excerpt: and a whole lot of nothing is what I will leave the
sons and daughters that will never be born
COMMENTS: Again one that evokes that feeling of longing. Sometimes you wish that when you turn the page there would be a happy poem, and I guess occasionally that does happen, but when you read ones like this you just want to cry.

Stuck
excerpt: Have you ever felt like a cigarette butt in the bottom
Of a half empty beer bottle
Unsure if it's stale beer or urine
COMMENTS: Okay so this one is just great in my book, those first three lines sum up what we have all felt in life at some point, but could really never put out finger on how to say just how crappy life felt at that time. If those three lines don't make you say "yeah" and laugh at how hard life really is then I don't know what will.

If I Fall Down on My Way to Heaven
excerpt: And now I'm so tired I lay me down to die
And if I should go to heaven instead of oblivion
I give my soul for Elvis to take
COMMENTS: Where the hell does a person come up with lines like these? I mean it is great to see that a person can take something in life that has become mundane like mentioning Elvis and turn it into something that makes you do a double take and say what!This is another of those that you will have to really take your own from it.

Sexual innuendo
excerpt: I reach for you and find your thighs wet
Come here, baby, kiss the king tonight
COMMENTS: To put it simply, this poem is erotic without being just porn as you so often see in erotic poetry. It appears to be a sweet memory from the past that a person relives. It is sweet is so many ways which is probably why it ended up in a chapter titled "Sweetheart"

OVERALL:
Overall, it's a good collection. If you don't want to spend the money to get this book believe me if you like poetry and reading poetry it will be your loss? I have spent a lot of money on poetry and I tell you this is one book I have not minded buying 4 times now, and three friends have agreed with me on this poet's work. I do not hesitate to say that often it left me in tears. When a writer (poet or novelist) can do that to a person you know you have hit upon a wonderful and insightful artist.

perfect unknown poet
I love reading poetry books and this was just a darling little thing that kept me horrified and freaked out and falling in love with the human spirit all over again. Reminds me a lot of Jim Morrison's work.

I hate poetry
Well I use to hate poetry. I remember back in highschool when they made us read Shakeaspeare and Lord Byron in English class. I hated it I couldn't understand it at all, and my teacher she gushed over Shakeaspeare, acted like he was a god. Well I refused to read a poem after I got out of college. So I have been dating this girl and guess what she's a teacher, she kept telling me about this book of poetry that she just loves and well it has been our only real disagreement. So finally I gave in, yeah women can be persuasive. I read her copy of this book and I was astounded, I couldn't believe that I had been refusing to read this stuff for years. Then I came to my senses and decided that this guy was alone and everything else was like Shakespeare, well I was wrong I picked up a copy of one of Saul Williams books and was just as astounded. But hey if you really want a fresh look at poetry, life, and all just read this guy. Now I need to go so I can order my copy of this book, my girlfriend has been insisting I give her's back. I especially loved the one on page 133. ... Read more

Product Description
Bartlett's Poems for Occasions, an entertaining, thought-provoking companion to the bestselling Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, is the book to turn to for any circumstance-from birth to death and everything in between. Under the direction of esteemed poet and writer Geoffrey O'Brien, Bartlett's Poems for Occasions will inspire you to turn to poetry to celebrate a new baby or marriage, toast a colleague, cheer a graduate, honor a birthday, deliver a eulogy, or add zest to a holiday party. It is the perfect solution to the age-old question, What should I say? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

rileys gammy
great for learning poems.good reference for teenagers...young love and papers for college students to use.full poems written by famous authors as well as some not known.Good for crafters wanting to have references.Very thick book!poems re: teen, teen issues, relationships, love, lovers, teen suicide, romance....of a few listed.

Good Collection
Well, at least I like it.Who knows?Anyone would want their particular favorites included in such a collection.Just check the Look Inside for what it includes.

The Table of Contents doesn't work
The Table of Contents
is one of the main points
of this collection
one would think
Shame Amazon!
You ought to repair it
and inform buyers to load it up again ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on April 1, 2003. The length of the article is 643 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Billy Collins. Nine Horses.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
Author: William Pratt
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2003
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: 77Issue: 1Page: 104(1)

Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
"A Bard, Who touched the tenderest notes of Pity's lyre." HAYLEY.

No one can have reflected on the history of genius without being impressed with a melancholy feeling at the obscurity in which the lives of the poets of our country are, with few exceptions, involved. That they lived, and wrote, and died, comprises nearly all that is known of many, and, of others, the few facts which are preserved are often records of privations, or sufferings, or errors. ... Read more