Billy Collins

I have been reading some of Billy Collins’ poetry, as well as watching a master class he gave on the process of writing poems. It makes me wish I could take a class from him! Even in a little class, he gives lots of useful advice and combines it with humor. He also seems down-to-earth, despite the fact he was the US Poet Laureate and the NY Poet Laureate. If you haven’t read any of his work, you should check it out. You could even start with one of my favorites, which I’m sharing here.

Introduction to Poetry

By Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem

and hold it up to the light

like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room

and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem

waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope

and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose

to find out what it really means.