Memoir Monday... Billy Collins Shares Memories... and I Share a Review

Water, Water poems by Billy Collins

 

Memoirs are basically the memories of someone's life. For Billy Collins, his poems are snippets of observations and memories, which makes me conclude that each one of his books of poetry are like small memoirs. We find him casually looking at a girl at a bus stop, experiencing a spring afternoon, observing that a crow has a birthday. What makes Billy Collins a brilliant poet is that he writes about everyday things. He is accessible... we can read one of his poems and smile at how he points out to us something we've never thought about or seen before. 

In the poem Fire, he reflects on how he's "enjoying reading Lonesome Dove", but he wouldn't be grabbing it if he was running out of the house during a fire. In Ode to Joy, he points out how "she visits him on a regular basis", how it doesn't take much for that to happen, and tells us of some of the simple things that make him happy, like "just eating a banana". And these simple comparisons, and even the not so simple comparisons, will make you think about these things in your life.

In Water, Water, Billy Collins is definitely at his best. His wry humor (about not having any Grannies to write about) or his casual observances (how it takes two hours for a snowflake to fall to the ground and see all the things you can do in that time) make this collection of poems wonderful. I don't want to ruin the experience of reading these poems for the first time and the little surprises you get by doing so, by talking too much about them individually. You'll have to trust me that Billy Collins is brilliant and knows how to take pen to paper.  

If you're not a "poetry person", a person who has been turned off in the past by poetry (Maybe you burned out on Robert Frost?), please ignore all of that and open Water, Water by Billy Collins. You will smile and you will change your mind about poetry too. It's not a book you'll want to rush thru, it's the kind of book where you'll enjoy a poem or two every day, when you first get up in the morning or in the quiet of the evening when the world stands still just for a moment while you read. 

Here is a link to the preview of the book and the poem, Winter Trivia...

Published November 19, 2024 by Random House Publishing. I want to thank the publishers for sending along the eBook of Water, Water! I loved it! 

#NetGalley