Billy Collins, former Poet Laureate of the United States, graces us again with Water, Water: Poems, slated for release on November 19, 2024, by Random House. A master of quiet, conversational brilliance, Collins brings this collection into the world, adding to his impressive list of twelve books, including Aimless Love, The Trouble with Poetry, and Sailing Alone Around the Room.

I’m about to make a controversial statement, but Billy Collins reminds me of Lana Del Rey. Not in mood or style, but in the way I first encountered both artists in their more melancholic eras, only to watch them evolve, in real-time, toward optimism and joy. It’s a journey that feels both intimate and communal, and it’s been nothing short of delightful to witness.

In Water, Water, the Florida sun and sea glisten on every page. Collins meditates on the small, tender moments — the humble beauties of life. He reflects on culture, aging, and aging with someone you love. He also invokes Blake, as any decent poet should at least once.

What Collins achieves, and what so many Instagram poets have yet to master, is the art of transforming the ordinary into something profound. (No, a sentence broken into several lines does not a poem make, Instagram.) His poems appear effortless but look closer, and you’ll find the poetic technique hidden behind decades of refinement.

The speaker in Water, Water is a man who knows the end is near — both in the broad, existential sense of climate change and in the personal, inevitable sense of aging. Yet, from his place on the shoreline, the view is too dazzling to be overrun by dread. There’s a sense of peace, a quiet nostalgia, that permeates the book. Life well-lived, days still worth anticipating.

Collins is always a joy to read. Though I received an early copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, I’ll be buying a hardcopy the moment it’s out. You should, too. Pre-order it. Add it to your TBR list. This one’s a gem.

Signature Billy Collins poetry - direct, thoughtful, layered, complex, simple. Begs to be read aloud.

Lines from these poems will randomly pop into my head and I have to stop and think about where it is from. When I remember it is always with a smile so I can definitely recommend this book.

I have long been a Billy Collins fan, so I was thrilled to receive an ARC edition of his new and soon-to-be-published poetry collection, Water, Water: Poems (Random House Publishing House - Random House, November 19, 2024).

I always find Billy Collins’ poetry to be accessible, relatable, and charming – with those perfectly orchestrated “aha” moments tucked in to make you smile or nod right there, at the end. The poems in Water, Water follow that beloved Billy Collins pattern, but I think the “ahas” in this collection are a little more subtle, perhaps a bit more . . . settled than in some of his earlier work.

As with most poetry collections, I enjoyed some poems more than others. That always has to do with my state of mind, as a reader. I find that poems I particularly relate to one day may not even be on my radar another. For me, that is the gift of a poetry collection! You never quite read the same collection twice - even if you are reading the same collection twice.

My favorite poem in this collection (for today, at least) is Poem Interrupted by Gabby Hayes. It made me think of my dad, who at 88 - and after a lifetime of B-western movie fandom - regularly peppers his everyday conversations with Gabby Hayes phrases. (Thanks for that, Billy Collins.)

Thank you to Random House Publishing House - Random House and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on November 19, 2024.

4 stars

I've been a reader of Billy's work since studying his Picnic, Lightning collection in college, but this collection didn't make the same impact on me. The poems felt disjointed and weren't well organized. It features reflections on animals, creation, Christianity, grief, childhood, and so many other themes. While I was hoping to walk away with more favorites, there are a few gems in here.

As with any volume of poetry, some are better than others. With good ones and dull ones, that usually averages out to two stars for me, meaning OK. Billy Collins poetry is always a notch above. While I always appreciate his skill, not all poems resonate with me. Others do.

I particularly liked the early search for validation found in reports of Brooklyn Dodgers games. The Monet Conundrum feels like questions every artist asks themselves. Drawing a Pineapple says so much to me about my failure to really look at the things around me. Magical Realism allowed me to snicker. And Change of Heart, so poignant! Are there others? Of course. Will your favorites be different than mine? Most likely. That is the joy of a volume of poetry, the surprises that speak personally to you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for making an advance copy of this title available for an honest review.

It's hard not to like a Billy Collins poem, but I think I preferred him in his slightly more melancholy days. These poems radiate happiness. This life in Florida -- the shrimp, the pool -- seems to be treating the people's favorite poet very well, though I can't say it resulted in a ton of standout poetry for me. These poems have simple shapes, gentle, foreseeable turns, and occasionally, I felt, too many jokes. But there's so much to enjoy in their enjoyment of the world, and my favorite moments come when Collins (as he calls it in "Zero Grannies") simply "records" things in the world around him. Three lemons doing nothing in a bowl!

I was going to say that Water, Water is Billy Collins' best poetry collection to date, but I don't know if I've actually read any of his other books. I've certainly read other poems of his, and these rank right up there with the best of them. In this book of 60 new poems, I found only four or so that didn't speak to me. The author can write about Elsie the Cow, wondering who wove the daisy garland around her neck, figuring it was probably a little girl, and where she is now. One that I liked the most was about spying a cardinal and its mate and vowing not to tell his wife about them. "Indeed, I would take the two cardinals to my grave." I'll let you read this book of accessible poetry yourself to find out all that Collins told his wife (or not), in addition to the many other relatable poems in this collection full of beauty, humor, and satisfaction.

Thank you to Random House an NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on November 19, 2024.

In this thoughtful and open book of poetry, Billy Collins muses on teaching, time and the work of other poets. He is often introspective as in his poem "Autobiography" which notes "the limits of first-person-selfish point of view" and "the voices of vicious reviewers happy to dwell on my shortcomings." The beauty and craftsmanship of illustrated manuscripts is examined in "Incipit" and contrasted to the advantages of our modern existence "I love being stuck here in the science fiction of my 21st-century life ... my pen slithering off into oblivion." This is a most rewarding and engaging collection.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the advance ecopy of this book.

One of the aspects of Collins's poetry that I enjoy is his ability to take everyday experiences and turn them into something deeper and more thought-provoking. This book was a big difference from his past one. The last was comprised of short poems, many intentionally humorous. This one is comprised of mainly longer poems. As I just read the last one a week or two ago, jumping into this one so soon was a big difference. Not a bad difference, as far as I am concerned, but a difference nonetheless.

Before reading 'Water, Water' I wasn't too familiar with the work of Billy Collins. I'd read one poem - 'Autumn', I think it was called - and really enjoyed it. He struck me as a very accessible poet, and 'Water, Water' has confirmed that impression. This collection has four sections, with sixty poems in total. There are some delightful touches in the collection - Collins has a knack for taking something mundane and making it sound magical. One particular poem, about a still life drawing of a pineapple, gives life and imagination to an otherwise flat subject. He gives still life movement. In short, this collection has something for everyone, from those new to the genre to poetry aficionados.

Engaging. Wonderful.

Billy Collins does not disappoint; his everyday observations are touching. Multiple poems made me stop and think which I appreciated. I highly recommend this to any poetry reader.

I am a fan of Billy Collins poetry because each poem will definitely engage you. It could be silly/profound observations like the time it takes for snowflake to fight gravity. What the dead might feel or not. Him holding Emily D's letters and reverse imagining others reading his letters later on. Fastest poem circling around the earth. "Three lemons in a bowl doing nothing".
"They say a child might grow up to be an artist
if his sandcastle means nothing
until he leads his mother over for a look."
And just now, my child had to show a sheer hanging veil of slime. Its this everyday happenings of everyday people that makes Billy Collins so relatable. But it doesnt stop there, there's going to be some ambition of becoming someone or something big.

I love poetry, but honestly don’t know many modern poets. This was first time to read Billy Collins and there’s just something about his everyday observations that touched me. I’ll read more!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for a digital copy. All opinions are my own.

Collins' spare writing style and eye for the beautiful in the everyday is wonderful as ever. I found it harder to connect with this collection; not every poem was able to stick the landing for me. Largely that's going to come down to personal preferences though rather than any inherent fault of the poet.

This is my first time reading poetry by Billy Collins. I really enjoyed this collection of poems about everyday life experiences. It was amazing how he could make common life experiences so interesting.

Another wonderful collection by Collins! Exploring life and death and all the seemingly insignificant—but beautiful— moments in between. I would love a physical copy of this for my shelf—to return to in every season.

Collins is known for his playfulness, wit, and quotidian details, and that's exactly what you will get in this new collection. Some of these poems struck me as a bit TOO mundane, they were nothing more than a retelling of an event. Others still manage to get me to pause and think. He's so much fun, I feel like I'm sitting across the room from him, laughing at his stories.

I wish I could quote some poems here, but I cannot, since I was lucky enough to receive an ARC via NetGalley and the publisher.

This book just grew and grew on me as I read it. There is something conversational about these poems, and something so fresh, open, and spacious about them. You feel like you will step away from the book and see the world with more clarity.

“Emily Dickinson in Space” (while the title sounds gimmicky) is one of the loveliest.

The title poem “Water, water” lives up to being the title. Its final line: “and just enough water to fill the lake exactly to the brim.”

And “Thought a Rarity on Paper” is beautiful.

In one of the final poems, “Your Poem,” he includes the line “buoyant ease in the shadow of mortality,” which struck me as a perfect description of the overall feeling of this collection. This is the first Billy Collins book I have read, and I would definitely pick up another one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advance copy of the book in exchange for a review.

My sudden determination to read more poetry collided with the opportunity to review “Water, Water”, and that was my introduction to Billy Collins; I wish I had known his work sooner.

This collection of poetry is an examination of daily life. It doesn’t take some common mundane event and turn it fantastical, vulgar, dangerous, saccharine, or any other kind of nonsense. It just is what it is - appreciation for small moments, taking care to turn them over a few times without full clinical (or worse, literary) dissection. Though poetry concerning identity, politics, psychology, and unrequited love is incredibly important, I found myself longing for more of exactly this - knowing that someone stood on a lakebed and thought about it for a while, or they ate fish and had a glass of white wine with it, or they have an interpretation of baseball statistics and attendance that I hadn’t considered before. I love the way Collins knows his own world.

One complaint I have with poetry is that, occasionally, it is so steeped in ambiguous form, vague language, and deeply encoded knowledge that I feel more a victim to it than a reader. Collins’ poetry in “Water, Water” sheds that pomp; the voice he uses is approachable, warm, thoughtful, with no intent to brag about how much he knows or how wise he is. I got the impression that he may have wanted to teach the reader how to find “more” in their own mundane lives. I certainly found myself wanting to.

I look forward to reading more of Collins’ work, and soon.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley ARC for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this collection.