Book cover of Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems

Book description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“America’s favorite poet.”—The Wall Street Journal

From the two-term Poet Laureate of the United States Billy Collins comes his first volume of new and selected poems in twelve years. Aimless Love combines fifty new poems with generous selections from his four most recent books—Nine Horses, The…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Aimless Love as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

His poems are always true. Nothing contrived. I feel they speak to me -- to the situation I am in -- even if they are talking about something I don't know.
For example, he has a poem called "Monday" in which we keep returning to the image of poets at their windows watching the world. And he talks about how
"they are at their windows
in every section of the tangerine of earth --
the Chinese poets looking up at the moon,
the American poets gazing out
at the pink and blue ribbons of runrise."
This struck me because I'd…

There’s a reason Billy Collins served two terms as the Poet Laureate of the United States. His work is known to be both serious and playful, and he is able to take everyday moments and turn them into lessons for living. I always love what he calls “the turn” in his poem—the surprise direction a poem suddenly takes, seemingly departing from its original subject and taking your breath away or leaving you in complete surprise. Aimless Love is a beautiful compilation of fifty new poems and some of the best of four previous books.

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