Horoscopes for the Dead

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Description

A bold and richly imaginative new collection from the former US Poet Laureate However arresting, outlandish, or hilarious, the poems in Horoscopes for the Dead are typically prompted by the familiar things of the world: dogs, stars, food, love, and marriage as well as life's local triumphs and disappointments, joys and shames. Collins gift is to unlock the mysterious in the ordinary, and he is always careful to take his reader with him. Indeed, no other living poet has done more to reengage and revitalize poetry's readership, or so deservedly earned its trust. Few poets have his ability to mix bold, unadorned statements with lyric invention and imaginative richness. And here in these new poems, Collins inimitable tone - wry, smart, funny, and wise - takes on a darker shade, as the poems declare a deep awareness of transience and mortality. The result is the revelation of a world more precious, more fragile, richer in colour and form than ever.

Reviews

"The most companionable of poetic companions."--"The New York Times "
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"Collins continues his penchant for writing witty, companionable verse that's often rooted in everyday matters."--"The Wall Street Journal"

"Collins writes of time and death with humor and whirligig images and wordplay so unexpected and delectable, reading his poetry is like watching a magician transform ordinary objects--a coin, a card--into something breathtaking out of thin air."--"Booklist"

"This is the poet's richest work to date."--"Newsday"
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"Beloved, witty, smart, yet accessible.""--St. Petersburg Times"
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"Billy Collins is one of today's most popular poets, revered for his ability to evoke humor and heartbreak in verses both subtle and sagacious.""--Wisconsin State Journal"

Praise for Billy Collins
"Collins reveals the unexpected within the ordinary. He peels back the surface of the humdrum to make the moment new."--"The Christian Science Monitor"
"The most companionable of poetic companions."--"The New York Times
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"Billy Collins demonstrates why he is one of our best poets, with his appealing trademark style: a self-deprecating charm, playful wit and unexpected imaginative leaps."--"San Antonio Express-News"
"By careful observation, Collins spins comic gold from the dross of quotidian suburban life. . . . Chipping away at the surface, he surprises you by scraping to the wood underneath, to some deeper truth."--"Entertainment Weekly
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"A poet of plentitude, irony, and Augustan grace."--"The New Yorker"
"It is difficult not to be charmed by Collins, and that in itself is a remarkable literary accomplishment."--"The New York Review of Books"

"From the Hardcover edition."an establishment, who fe

Author Bio

Billy Collins has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. A professor of English at Lehman College, he was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States for 2001 to 2003, and Poet Laureate of New York State from 2004 to 2006.