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Musical Tables

By: Billy Collins
Narrated by: Billy Collins
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Summary

"I’ve grown old–

now my own name

rings a bell."

In each of the short poems in Billy Collins’s Musical Tables, the former United States Poet Laureate tempers his characteristically jocular voice with what he calls the “thrill of mortality” – flashes of profundity amongst the mundane, startling reminders of the wonder of being alive.

Through the brevity of these poems, Collins’ knack for coaxing the poetry out of the everyday becomes ever more refined. Whether reflecting on mornings spent in the thicket of Los Angeles traffic, or turning over clichés on the tongue until old metaphors become new again, Musical Tables is Billy Collins at his most meditative: brief, and all the more brilliant for it.

©2022 Billy Collins (P)2022 Penguin Random House LLC
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Critic reviews

‘Limpid, gently and consistently startling, more serious than they seem, they describe all the worlds that are and were and some others besides.’ (John Updike)

‘Smart, his strings tuned and resonant, his wonderful eye looping over the things, events and ideas of the world, rueful, playful, warm voiced, easy to love.’ (E. Annie Prolux)

‘Funny but serious, accessible but rich in meaning, consistently surprising.’ (Nick Laird)

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