Last Monday, my sweetheart and I went to the 92nd Street Y in New York to attend a reading by Billy Collins. You see, he had a new book coming out (last Tuesday), and I really wanted to hear him while touring. Only he's not scheduled to read at anything else I could possibly get to. (Yeah, he'll be reading in Philly in early 2014, but it's part of a sold-out speakers' series to which I do not have a subscription, so . . . )

Billy Collins was, as always, brilliant in his delivery, and his comments between poems was enjoyable and entertaining. He started with "Another Reason I Don't Keep a Gun in the House", one of my long-time favorites. Here, from memory (aided by reference to his latest collection, Aimless Love) and not in any real order, is a list of the poems he read.


Another Reason I Don't Keep a Gun in the House
Aimless Love
Litany
Monday
Building with its Face Blown Off
A Don on his Master
The Revenant
In the Evening
Flock
Divorce
Oh, My God!
The Future
The Dead Look Down on Us
Nostalgia
Consolation
The Golden Years
Orient
Forgetfulness
Grave
The Sandhill Cranes of Nebraska
Drinking Alone
To My Favorite 17-Year-Old High School Girl
The Suggestion Box
Cheerios
After the Funeral
Litany

A terrific night of poetry, and afterwards, we got my new copy of Aimless Love signed. My sweetheart, who had never heard Collins before, really and truly enjoyed the evening, even though poetry readings remain a bit of a stretch for him. Not this one, though - he loved all of it.