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Actually, the full title is "The Trouble with Poetry and other poems". And it's a couple of years old, so I don't know if the author, Billy Collins, is still Poet Laureate of the State of New York, but one thing for sure, this collection has my poetry bone banging itself numb over and over again, as I groan, smile, laugh...
It reads, from cover to cover, in the light-hearted and happy range, with even its kernels of wisdom, airy.
Poems here are narratives, keenly observational, and written to be read.
"The birds are in their trees,
the toast is in the toaster,
and the poets are at their windows"
"All I wanted was to be a pea of being
inside the green pod of time..."
"If the British call z zed,
I wondered, why not call b bed and d dead?"
and of course, from the title poem:
"The trouble with poetry is
that it encourages the writing of more poetry"
This collection has 43 poems, 40 of which have previously appeared in magazines. I take exception to something like that. But then, maybe a Poet Laureate can get away with not serving up 25-50% of new material in a collection. I don't know. Does anybody?
Bottom line: it's good poetry. It's fun, and funny, notices everything and has something to say.
Best read in the poetry aisle of the bookstore. (Hardly anybody goes there...)
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Of all known institutions, I attend only two: church, in my heart, and school, in yours. Both are subject to demolition. - Lucie Adams, 2007
It is only for poetry to know how many stanzas fit into one caress. - Lucie Adams, 2008
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