Friday, February 14, 2014

Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins


Release Date: October 22, 2013
Publisher: Random House

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Synopsis:
After a twelve year hiatus, Billy Collins is back with a large collection of poetry covering a wide variety of topics. Aimless Love includes more than fifty new poems among a generous selection from his early poetry collections - Horoscopes for the Dead, Ballistics, The Trouble with Poetry and Nine Horses.

A two-time Poet Laureate of the United States, Billy Collins uses his poetry to explore the every day things that we so often take for granted.  He explores the infinite landscapes of love, the various types of love, betrayal, confusion, eating alone within a Chinese restaurant and so much more.

Review:
In fairness and honesty, I haven't read as much poetry as I would have liked. When I saw a Goodreads giveaway for a large collection, I entered without a second thought. I was delighted to win a free copy. Before winning this book, I wasn't familiar with much of the author's work. Aimless Love was a great introduction to his previous volumes of poetry and his latest works.

The wide variety of poetry encompassed quite a lot of subjects. There were the usual suspects - love, nature, emotions, and special occasions. Yet, there were some out of the ordinary subjects as well. The author found inspiration in common items (houses, a sculpture, a lunch in a Chinese restaurant) and explored the different ways a person could conceive of the item as in his poems "The Lanyard" and "Envoy."

"Endless Love" and "Obituaries" were among those that I felt deeper in my spirit than I anticipated. And yet "Writing in the Afterlife", "Adage", and "Ode to a Desk Lamp" made me both smile and feel sadness at different points throughout the poems. I loved how I was able to see through his point of view and feel some of the emotions coursing through his veins at the time of his writing. The collection of poetry was seamless, timeless really, and easily read from cover to cover.

Overall, I enjoyed the entire collection. I even committed the sin of dog-earing pages to mark the various poems which grabbed me for various reasons. His work also inspired me to begin writing my own poetry, something I had given up years ago when writing was difficult. If you're looking for an all-encompassing volume of poetry, this is the book for you. I truly recommend this book for any poetry lover out there.

Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins is currently available at many retailers. It can be purchased in various formats including hardcover, paperback, Kindle and audio-book. Clicking the link below will take you to the book's Amazon page.
Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins

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