It is no understatement to say that Billy Collins has found poetry a whole new a
udience across the English-speaking world. No poet writing today insists on such
open, direct and courteous engagement with the reader, and no poet has shown th
e common experience to be such an astonishing and singular one. Collins' gift is
to make the reader believe that everything is unfolding in real time and in liv
ing speech; his poetry always has the sheen and vibrancy of the present moment.
While Ballistics addresses the most grave and serious of subjects - death and
love, solitude and aging - Collins' light touch and lighter spirit never desert
him. Even in his darkest verses, Collins never fails to remind us of the sheer
miracle, comedy and strangeness of our simply being here. 'The teasing, buoyant
images in Ballistics are firmly anchored in visions of too-quiet mornings, dropl
ets of water, cold marble and bare light bulbs.
