Picnic, Lightning (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780822956709)

Winner of the 1999 Paterson Poetry Prize

Over the past decade, Billy Collins has emerged as the most beloved American poet since Robert Frost, garnering critical acclaim and broad popular appeal. Annie Proulx admits, I have never before felt possessive about a poet, but I am fiercely glad that Billy Collins is ours. John Updike proclaims his poems consistently startling, more serious than they seem, they describe all the worlds that are and were and some others besides.

This special, limited edition celebrates Billy Collins's years as U.S. Poet Laureate. Picnic, Lightning--one of the books that helped establish and secure his reputation and popularity during the 1990s--combines humor and seriousness, wit and sublimity. His poems touch on a wide range of subjects, from jazz to death, from weather to sex, but share common ground where the mind and heart can meet. Whether reading him for the first time or the fiftieth, this collector's edition is a must-have for anyone interested in the poet the New York Times calls simply the real thing.

Author: Billy Collins
ISBN-10: 0822956705
ISBN-13: 9780822956709
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Language: English
Published: 01/29/1998
Pages: 104
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.39lbs
Size: 8.01h x 6.10w x 0.35d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/1998 pg. 224
Booklist 03/01/1998 pg. 1086

About the Author
Billy Collins, named U.S. Poet Laureate in June 2001 and reappointed to the post in 2002, has published many collections of poetry, including The Apple That Astonished Paris; Nine Horses; The Art of Drowning; Picnic, Lightning; Questions about Angels; and Sailing Alone Around the Room. A professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York, he lives in Somers, New York.