From the former United States Poet Laureate and New York Times bestselling author of Aimless Love comes a collection of more than 125 small, incisively brilliant poems which, in his own words, "begin in Kansas and end in Oz."

"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.

'America’s favourite poet' – Wall Street Journal

"'America's favourite poet'" - Wall Street Journal

"'Chatty, witty, wholly dependable'" - Guardian

"'Collins remains the most companionable of poetic companions'" - The New York Times

"'The treat of treats. Unlike the wedding guest waylaid by Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, the reader emerges from encounters with Collins as a wiser and far happier person.'" - New Statesman

"'A writer . . . fully aware of his work’s power to delight'" - The New York Times

"‘A poet of plenitude, irony, and Augustan grace’" - New Yorker

"‘Delightfully direct, he won’t lose you in his lyricism but will transport you to a better place’" - The Times

"‘The most popular poet in America’" - The New York Times

"'Imaginative thinking gives this collection its richness.... The work also shows a variety of styles...[that] provide both pleasure and a vivid example of how one's thoughts, when unrestrained, can lead to unexpected destinations'" - The Washington Post