Saturday, October 27, 2007

Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry selected and with an introduction by Billy Collins

Normally, I read the first volume in a set, then go onto the second. Many times, the second is a disappointment after the first. However, this collection of poems (the first of two), is not as good as the second -- by that I mean not as many poems made me smile as the second volume (180 More) did. Collins did open the collection with one of my favorite of his poems: "An Introduction to Poetry," and another, "Did I Miss Anything?" by Tom Wayman, has been on my office door for a couple of years. After that it was pretty thin sailing. Collins also wrote the introduction to this one, and he has a little more of a stern tone to it than the gentle prodding to "give poetry another chance" of the second introduction. I shared the second intro with my creative writing class, I doubt I will do the same with this one.
--Chiron, 10/16/2007

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