Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry

356 Pages·2003·13.539 MB·English

by  Billy Collins, Barbara M. Bachman

poetry
TURNING BACK TO POETRY
A
AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY POEMS
SELECTED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
COLLINS
BILLY
Poet Laureate of the United States

ABOUT THE EDITOR
billy COLLINS isthe authorofseven
collections ofpoetry, includingNineHorses;
SailingAloneAroundtheRoom; Questions
AboutAngels-, TheArtofDrowning; andPicnic,
Lightning. He isaDistinguished Professorof
Englishat LehmanCollege ofthe City
UniversityofNewYork. Collins isthe Poet
Laureate ofthe UnitedStates.

Random House Tra&e Paperbacks New York
o
18
poetry
TURN POETRY
N C A C K T O
Selected and with an Introduction by
Billy Collins
A RANDOM HOUSE TRADE PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Copyright©?oo3byBillyCollins
AllrightsreservedunderInternationaland
Pan-AmericanCopyrightConventions.Publishedinthe
UnitedStatesbyRandomHouseTradePaperbacks,
adivisionofRandomHouse,Inc.,NewYork,and
simultaneouslyinCanadabyRandomHouseof
CanadaLimited,Toronto.
RANDOM HOUSE TRADE PAPERBACKS andcolophon
areregisteredtrademarksofRandomHouse,Inc.
Owingtolimitationsofspace,permissionacknowledgments
beginonpage3i3.
LIBRARYOFCONCRESSCATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Poetry180:aturningbacktopoetry/selectedand
withanintroductionbyBillyCollins.
p. cm. i
Includesindex.
ISBN0-8129-6887-5
I.Americanpoetry—21stcentury. I.Title: PoetryOne
hundredeighty. II.Collins,Billy.
PS615 P6245 2003
811'.608—dcai 2002036949
RandomHousewebsiteaddress:www.atrandom.com
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
6897
BookdesignbyBarbaraM.Bachman
contents
Introduction by Billy Collins xv
Introduction to Poetry | 001 Billy Collins 3
Selecting a Reader 002 • Ted Kooser 4
I
Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad | 003 * Jan Heller Levi 5
Singing Back the World 004 • Dorianne Laux 6
|
The Pink Car 005 • Mark Halliday 8
j
Acting 006 * Suzanne Cleary 10
I
The Cord 007 • Leanne O'Sullivan 12
|
Ode: The Capris 008 Mark Halliday 14
|
Bringing My Son to the Police Station to Be
Fingerprinted 009 * Shoshauna Shy 17
|
On the Death ofa Colleague 010 • Stephen Dunn 19
|
The Space Heater 011 • Sharon Olds 21
j
Numbers 012 * Mary Cornish 23
|
Lines 013 • Martha Collins 25
|
Listen 014 Miller Williams 26
|
Unholy Sonnets 015 • MarkJarman 27
|
Poem for Salt 016 * Leroy V. Quintana 28
|
The Hand 017 • Mary Ruefle 29
|
Where I Was | 018 • Dan Brown 30
CONTENTS
vii
I
hoop snake 019 Rebecca Wee 32
|
Bestiary for the Fingers ofMy Right Hand ofco
|
Charles Simic 34
The Summer I Was Sixteen | 021 * Geraldine Connolly 36
Did Miss Anything? 022 Tom Wayman
I | 37
Song ofSmoke 023 Kevin Young 39
|
Autobiographia 024 • C. E. Patterson 41
|
White Towels 025 * RichardJones 42
|
To You 026 * Kenneth Koch 43
I
It's Raining in Love 027 • Richard Brautigan 44
|
Moderation Kills (Excusez-Moi, je Suis Sick
as a Dog) 028 • David Kirby 46
|
Mrs Midas 029 » Carol Ann Duffy 49
|
The Oldest Living Thing in L.A. 030 * Larry Levis 53
|
Little Father 031 Li-Young Lee 54
|
Alzheimer's 032 Bob Hicok 55
|
The Book ofHand Shadows 033 • Marianne Boruch 56
I
Sidekicks 034 • Ronald Koertge 57
|
A Poetry Reading at West Point 035 «
|
William Matthews 58
Only One ofMy Deaths 036 * Dean Young 60
|
I'm a Fool to Love You 037 • Cornelius Eady 6i
|
Love Poem 1990 038 * Peter Meinke 63
|
Passer-by, these are words . . . 039 • Yves Bonnefoy 65
|
Wheels 040 • Jim Daniels 66
|
Rain 041 Naomi Shihab Nye 68
«
|
A Myopic Child 042 « Yannis Ritsos 69
|
At the Other End ofthe Telescope 043 •
|
Ceorge Bradley 70
vi i i