Billy Collins can be simultaneously simple and overwrought. His subjects are typical meditations of old-school verse -- nature, art, food and drink, poetry and poets -- but in droll and deceptively spare language that tries not to lose the reader, just stay a teasing step ahead. A lot of this collection is self-referential, first-person, my-life-as-a-poet stuff, but Collins invites you to stay, nap on the couch or watch him rearrange the furniture or chew the scenery. Fun stuff.

In this book of poems, former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins ruminates on the everyday, love, divorce, solitude, and more.

The poems are free verse with two or three lines per stanza and hardly a rhyme, but full of succinct and memorable images such as in "Divorce": "Once, two spoons in bed, / now tined forks // across a granite table / and the knives they have hired." It's not dense, but it's not simple, either, as I ponder the layers of meaning in the imagery. Some of his poems are playful, such as "Adage," which begins, "When it's late at night and branches / are banging against the windows, / you might think that love is just a matter // of leaping out of the frying pan of yourself / into the fire of someone else, / but it's a little more complicated than that." He then proceeds to pick apart love and adages, and cleverly turn their meanings to his purposes. Every now and then, he captured a feeling that I instantly understood but could never put into words, such as a reaction of sorrow and guilt "On the Death of a Next-Door Neighbor": "The harmony of this house, not his, / might be missing a voice, / the hallways jumpy with the cry of the telephone --" This was my first collection of Billy Collins' poems, and won't be the last. ( )

Having read some of Collins' other collections, I can only say that this work doesn't stand up to his earlier collections. I may be judging this collection slightly more harshly because of my past exposure to his work, but in my defense, I'm also judging it against the many other poetry collections I've read. And, without Collins' name, I don't think many of the previoiusly published poems (in high name journals) would have found nearly such prestigious publications. I can only say, if you're new to Collins: start with his earlier works.

As for this collection, all of the poems come from interesting places, and most give a unique view that stands out, thought-wise, admirably. Yet, the emotion is in many cases absent or distanced. And, more bothersome in my own view, few of the lines stand out in such a way as to surprise you or catch your breath. And,still fewer of the poems demand rereading. In other words--I found much of it good, and very little, if any of it, great.

On the whole, this is an interesting collection with interesting thoughts--but, the poetry at the heart of this collection does not stand up to its pedigree, press, or author and publications. I'd like to say otherwise, but in the end, it just felt rather a let-down. ( )

In Ballistics, Billy Collins former United States Poet Laureate delivers another great collection of poetry. Collins shows his wit and self deprecating humor along with his unique skills of observation. Collins poems prove again worthy of all his accolades. A very good collection. ( )

This collection is darker and more somber than previous books. Many poems still have that unique edge, but I missed the lighter subject matter. ( )