Dog Show

Billy Collins’ medium is a rare amalgam of accessibility and intelligence. I’d follow this man’s mind anywhere. Expect to be surprised – Michael DonaghyBilly Collins is one of my favourite poets in the world – Carol Ann DuffyChatty, witty, wholly dependable * Guardian *Smart, his strings tuned and resonant, his wonderful eye looping over the things, events and ideas of the world, rueful, playful, warm voiced, easy to love – Annie ProulxFunny but serious, accessible but rich in meaning, consistently surprising – the world looks slightly different after reading a Billy Collins poem. He’s a one-off, an American treasure – Nick LairdThe treat of treats. Unlike the wedding guest waylaid by Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, the reader emerges from encounters with Collins as a wiser and far happier person * New Statesman *Collins remains the most companionable of poetic companions * New York Times *A writer … fully aware of his work’s power to delight * New York Times *A poet of plenitude, irony, and Augustan grace * The New Yorker *Delightfully direct, he won’t lose you in his lyricism but will transport you to a better place * The Times *Billy Collins ‘puts the “fun” back in ‘profundity’ – Alice FultonThe most popular poet in America * New York Times *Billy Collins writes lovely poems … Limpid, gently and consistently startling, more serious than they seem, they describe all the worlds that are and were and some others besides – John UpdikeImaginative thinking gives this collection its richness…. The work also shows a variety of styles…[that] provide both pleasure and a vivid example of how one’s thoughts, when unrestrained, can lead to unexpected destinations * Washington Post *

Billy Collins is the author of numerous poetry collections, including Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes, Whale Day, and Horoscopes for the Dead. He is also the editor of Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry, 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day, and Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds. A former Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York, Collins served as Poet Laureate of the United States for 2001 to 2003 and as New York State Poet from 2004 to 2006. In 2016 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Florida with his wife, Suzannah.