Here for download is the best-selling and award-winning recording of former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins. No poet since Robert Frost has managed to combine high critical acclaim with such broad popular appeal. His last three collections of poems have broken sales records for poetry, and his readings are usually standing room only. His audience has been enhanced tremendously by his appearances on National Public Radio, and it includes people of all backgrounds and age groups.
The poems themselves best explain this phenomenon. The typical Collins poem opens on a clear and hospitable note but soon takes an unexpected turn; poems that begin in irony may end in a moment of lyric surprise. No wonder Billy Collins sees his poetry as a form of travel writing and considers humor a door into the serious.
