How I Began 2014 with Billy Collins

I started my new year with a book that had been sitting sadly unread on my bookshelf since last Christmas. (As in, 2012 not one week ago.) I had read one of Billy Collins’ collections and asked for more of them. I’m glad I did! I read this new collection in one day–actually, in one hour. I took it with me this morning to my friend’s cafe and read it on the couch with a latte and a slice of Peanut Butter Oreo Pie (a.k.a. “Heaven”) and all of this made for a delightful hour in my day.

Billy Collins does with words and moments what I can only try to do and hope that somebody picks up on it. He has made beautiful, clever poems out of chairs that no one sits in, meatballs, and the feeling of a hangover. And if you’re reading this thinking, “Yeah, but it’s poetry. I don’t understand any of that stuff,” you’re wrong. Go read them all.