 | |
| Author | Billy Collins |
|---|---|
| Genre | Poetry |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh Press |
Publication date | 1998 |
| Publication place | United States |
| ISBN | 978-0-8229-5670-9 |
| Preceded by | The Art of Drowning (1995) |
| Followed by | Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes (2000) |
Picnic, Lightning is a collection of poetry by Billy Collins, published in 1998. His fourth book of poetry, it was his first to be widely published (selling over 50,000 copies) [1] and his last before election as United States Poet Laureate.
The title poem is a reference to Humbert Humbert's description of his mother's death in the second chapter of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. "My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when I was three...."
