Water, Water

Poems

By: Billy Collins

Narrated by: Billy Collins

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the former Poet Laureate of the United States and New York Times bestselling author of Aimless Love comes a wondrous new collection of poems focused on the joys and mysteries of daily life.

“Among the best poems that [Billy] Collins has ever written.”—Maureen Corrigan, NPR

“Witty, wry and tender when it hurts, Water, Water is a pleasure to read and easy to give.”—The Washington Post

“Collins remains the most companionable of poetic companions.”—The New York Times

One of People’s Best New Books

In this collection of sixty new poems, Billy Collins writes about the beauties and ironies of everyday experience. A poem is best, he feels, when it begins in clarity but ends with a whiff of mystery.

In Water, Water, Collins combines his vigilant attention and respect for the peripheral to create moments of delight. Common and uncommon events are captured here with equal fascination, be it a cat leaning to drink from a swimming pool, a nurse calling a name in a waiting room, or an astronaut reciting Emily Dickinson from outer space. With his trademark lyrical informality, Collins asks us to slow down and glimpse the elevated in the ordinary, the odd in the familiar. It’s no surprise that The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal both call Collins one of America’s favorite poets.

The Monet Conundrum

Is every one of these poems
different from the others
he asked himself,
as the rain quieted down,

or are they all the same poem,
haystack after haystack
at different times of day,
different shadows and shades of hay?

Critic reviews

“Witty, wry and tender when it hurts, Water, Water is a pleasure to read and easy to give.”—The Washington Post

“Poems that center the beauty in the mundane . . . [Collins’s] approachable verses are a delightful balm.”—People

“These poems offer variations on the theme of finding wonder in everyday things. They shimmer with wry revelation, a bright tonic in a fading year.”—Christian Science Monitor

“Among the best poems that Collins has ever written.”—Maureen Corrigan, NPR

“Every page of this delightfully readable collection of poems by a former U.S. poet laureate will remind you of the pleasures of the simple act of observation, putting ordinary moments and common sights into words. Collins’s humor, kindness, and unassuming intelligence infuse every subject: a lost dog, a flash of memory, a bowl of cereal and berries, a wife in her yellow robe. A perfect topper for your bedside stack.”—Good Housekeeping

Billy Collins is charming witty and somewhat irreverent.

I liked all the poems which are better when heard orally. That’s all I have to say.