The Rain in Portugal

(Paperback)

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Description

The Rain in Portugal-a title that admits he's not much of a rhymer - sheds Collins's ironic light on such subjects as travel and art, cats and dogs, loneliness and love, beauty and death. His tones range from the whimsical - "the dogs of Minneapolis . . . / have no idea they're in Minneapolis" - to the elegiac in a reaction to the death of Seamus Heaney. A student of the everyday, here Collins contemplates a weathervane, a still-life painting, the calendar, and a child lost at a beach. His imaginative fabrications have Shakespeare flying comfortably in first class and Keith Richards supporting the globe on his head. By turns entertaining, engaging, and enlightening, The Rain in Portugal amounts to another chorus of poems from one of the most respected and familiar voices in the world of poetry.

Reviews

[Collins] at his finest -- Library Journal (starred review)
...Imaginative thinking gives this collection its richness.... The work also shows a variety of styles...[that] provide both pleasure and a vivid example of how one's thoughts, when unrestrained, can lead to unexpected destinations * The Washington Post *
Poets on the best-seller list remain as rare as albino deer, but one who does turn up...is Billy Collins -- Gregory Cowles * New York Times *
The most popular poet in America -- Bruce Weber * New York Times *

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.