The Apple That Astonished Paris

Billy Collins strikes at the deepest concerns of the human heart and mind. His metaphysical wit and comic puzzlement, expressed always in a clean, direct, unpretentious idiom, will touch every reader who is fascinated by the play of a truly original imagination and a disarming way of seeing the world.

USA Today

"Using simple, understandable language, Collins captures ordinary life -its pleasure, its discontents, its moments of sadness and joy."

Enjoying a popularity unheard of for most poets, Billy Collins has had a remarkable late-life surge, aided by NPR exposure and his 2001 and 2002 appointments as the U.S. poet laureate. His style is engaging, conversational, funny, and surprising.