Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry »

Enjoying a popularity unheard of for most poets, Billy Collins has had a remarkable late-life surge, aided by NPR exposure and his 2001 and 2002 appointments as the U.S. poet laureate. His style is engaging, conversational, funny, and surprising.

A dazzling new anthology of 180 contemporary poems, selected and introduced by America’s Poet Laureate, Billy Collins.

Inspired by Billy Collins’s poem-a-day program with the Library of Congress, Poetry 180 is the perfect anthology for readers who appreciate engaging, thoughtful poems that are an immediate pleasure.

A 180-degree turn implies a turning back—in this case, to poetry. A collection of 180 poems by the most exciting poets at work today, Poetry 180 represents the richness and diversity of the form, and is designed to beckon readers with a selection of poems that are impossible not to love at first glance. Open the anthology to any page and discover a new poem to cherish, or savor all the poems, one at a time, to feel the full measure of contemporary poetry’s vibrance and abundance.

With poems by Catherine Bowman, Lucille Clifton, Billy Collins, Dana Gioia, Edward Hirsch, Galway Kinnell, Kenneth Koch, Philip Levine, Thomas Lux, William Matthews, Frances Mayes, Paul Muldoon, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sharon Olds, Katha Pollitt, Mary Jo Salter, Charles Simic, David Wojahn, Paul Zimmer, and many more.

James Beschta - KLIATT

Perhaps the focus and quality of Poetry 180 is best summed up in poet laureate Billy Collins' only poem in this anthology. In reference to poetry as taught in high school, he concludes, "I want them to waterski / across the surface of a poem / waving at the author's name on the shore. / But all they want to do / is tie the poem to a chair with rope / and torture a confession out of it. / They begin beating it with a hose / to find out what it means." In fact, Poetry 180 consciously avoids those pieces that "had become a standard offering in textbooks and anthologies." Instead, Collins states, "The idea behind this ... collection ... was to assemble a generous selection of short, clear, contemporary poems which any listener could basically 'get' on first hearing poems whose injection of pleasure is immediate." It is intended "to expose high school students to the new voices in contemporary poetry." Yet the appeal is simultaneous to teenagers and those well beyond high school. The authors are top notch, the scope of the work is universal, and the approaches are varied: humorous, sad, reflective, giddy, always honest and perceptive. Where was this book when I was struggling to teach Creative Writing: Contemporary Poetry to juniors and seniors in high school? Any such course today has to consider Poetry 180 as a textbook and every library needs a copy on its shelves. It is, in Collins' words, "a big bouquet of poems that I happen to like." I'm betting you will too. KLIATT Codes: SA* Exceptional book, recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2003, Random House, 323p. index.,