Recent United State Poet Laureate BILLY COLLINS has described himself as a “recovering surrealist,” yet his poems have never lost a sense of imaginative play, often journeying from the familiar to the fantastic and finding humor even in the deepest meditations on human life. His books of poetry include Nine Horses (2002), Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems (2001), and Questions About Angels (1991), which was selected by Edward Hirsch for the National Poetry Series. He has also recorded a spoken word CD, The Best Cigarette (1997). A Guggenheim fellowship winner, Billy Collins has been named a “Literary Lion” by the New York Public Library and was honored as “Poet of the Year” by Poetry Magazine in 1994. A professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York, Billy Collins lives in Somers, New York.