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Bruce Weber in the New York Times called Billy Collins �the most popular poet in America.� He is the author of many books of poetry, including, most recently, The Rain in Portugal: Poems. In 1988 the University of Arkansas Press published Billy Collins�s The Apple That Astonished Paris, his �first real book of poems,� as he describes it in a new, delightful preface written expressly for this new printing to help celebrate both the Press�s twenty-fifth anniversary and this book, one of the Press�s all-time best sellers. In his usual witty and dry style, Collins writes, �I gathered together what I considered my best poems and threw them in the mail.� After �what seemed like a very long time� Press director Miller Williams, a poet as well, returned the poems to him in the �familiar self-addressed, stamped envelope.� He told Collins that there was good work here but that there was work to be done before he�d have a real collection he and the Press could be proud of: �Williams�s words were more encouragement than I had ever gotten before and more than enough to inspire me to begin taking my writing more seriously than I had before.� This collection includes some of Collins�s most anthologized poems, including �Introduction to Poetry,� �Another Reason Why I Don�t Keep a Gun in the House,� and �Advice to Writers.� Its success over the years is testament to Collins�s talent as one of our best poets, and as he writes in the preface, �this new edition . . . is a credit to the sustained vibrancy of the University of Arkansas Press and, I suspect, to the abiding spirit of its former director, my first editorial father.�