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Ballistics

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description Ballistics Overview

'Ballistics' is a 2008 poetry collection by American poet Billy Collins, who previously served as the United States Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003. The collection features accessible, conversational verse that often explores everyday observations, gentle humor, and existential reflections. Divided into several sections without a unifying overarching theme, the poems rely on clear imagery and free verse structures. The work was published by Random House and continued Collins's tradition of reaching a broad readership outside the traditional academic poetry audience.

help Ballistics FAQ

Who wrote Ballistics and when was it published?

Ballistics is a 2008 poetry collection by American poet Billy Collins. Collins served as United States Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003, which gives useful context for the author's public profile.

What subjects does Billy Collins explore in Ballistics?

The collection moves through love, death, solitude, youth, and aging using everyday observations and gentle humor. Its conversational surface often opens into existential questions, which is a hallmark of Collins's accessible style. [Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/30079/ballistics-by-billy-collins/) describes those recurring subjects.

How long is the Ballistics poetry collection?

The first-edition catalog record lists 112 pages and includes poems such as The Golden Years, The Future, and Ballistics. It was published in New York by Random House in 2008. [The Ohrstrom Library catalog record](https://librarycatalog.sps.edu/bib/65916) lists the page count and contents.

Is Ballistics written as difficult experimental poetry?

It is better described as accessible, conversational verse than as a densely abstract experiment. Collins often starts with an ordinary scene, then turns it toward humor or mortality, as the 2008 collection's subject list suggests.

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