Nine Horses: Poems

Nine Horses, Billy Collins's first book of new poems since Picnic, Lightning in 1998, is the latest curve in the phenomenal trajectory of this poet's career. Already in his forties when he debuted with a full-length book, The Apple That Astonished Paris, Collins has become the first poet since Robert Frost to combine high critical acclaim with broad popular appeal. And, as if to crown this success, he was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States for 2001-2002, and reappointed for 2002-2003.

What accounts for this remarkable achievement is the poems themselves, quiet meditations grounded in everyday life that ascend effortlessly into eye-opening imaginative realms. These new poems, in which Collins continues his delicate negotiations between the clear and the mysterious, the comic and the elegiac, are sure to sustain and increase his audience of avid readers.

Today Show Book Club April 2003 selection

It is difficult not to be charmed by Collins, and that in itself is a remarkable literary accomplishment.

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

There are brainy, observant, spit-shined moments on almost every page.... You finish feeling pleased that such a sensible and gifted man is America's Poet Laureate — young writers have plenty to learn from his clarity and apparent ease.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Poems by the Poet Laureate of the United States.

Nine Horses, Billy Collins's first book of new poems since Picnic, Lightning in 1998, is the latest curve in the phenomenal trajectory of this poet's career. Already in his forties when he debuted with a full-length book, The Apple That Astonished Paris, Collins has become the first poet since Robert Frost to combine high critical acclaim with broad popular appeal. And, as if to crown this success, he was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States for 20012002, and reappointed for 20022003. What accounts for this remarkable achievement is the poems themselves, quiet meditations grounded in everyday life that ascend effortlessly into eye-opening imaginative realms. These new poems, in which Collins continues his delicate negotiations between the clear and the mysterious, the comic and the elegiac, are sure to sustain and increase his audience of avid readers.

Billy Collins is the author of six collections of poetry, including Sailing Alone Around the Room; Questions About Angels; The Art of Drowning; and Picnic, Lightning. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York. Collins is the Poet Laureate of the United States.

Country — Velocity — "More than a woman" — Aimless love — Absence — Royal aristocrat — Paris — Istanbul — Love — Languor — Obituaries — Today — Ave atque vale — Roadside flowers — As if to demonstrate an eclipse — Trompe l'oeil — Creatures — Tipping point — Birthday — Albany — Study in orange and white — Rooms — Nine horses — Litany — Return of the key — Listener — Literary life — Great Walter Pater — By a swimming pool outside Siracusa — Bermuda --Ignorance — Death in New Orleans, a romance — Air piano — Drawing — To my patron — Writing in the afterlife — Parade — Only day in existence — No time — Balsa — Elk River Falls — Earth — Colorado — Lying in bed in the dark, I silently address the birds of Arizona — Bodhidharma — Rain — Christmas sparrow — Stare — Surprise — Poetry.