Billy Collins

Ballistics is the new book of poems by Billy Collins. Here are some excerpts from a few of them --

I am an ant inside a blue bowl
on the table of a cruel prince
("China")

and


There is a light rain.
A figure under an umbrella
is reading from a tick book with a black cover.
("Looking forward")

and

... this one marks nothing but the passage of time,
I realized, as I lowered a tin diving bell
of leaves into a little body of roiling water.
("New Year's Day")

and

Maybe I am awake just to listen
to the faint, high-pitched ringing
of tungsten in the single lightbulb
which sounds like the rustling of trees.
("Aubade")


I don't want to elaborate on the simplicity of these poems - I just want to love them.