Billy Collins
William James “Billy” Collins (born March 22, 1941) is an American poet, appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003.[1][2] He is a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York and is the Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute, Florida. Collins was recognized as a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library (1992) and selected as the New York State Poet for 2004 through 2006. He is (in 2015) a teacher in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
Dubbed “the most popular poet in America” by Bruce Weber in the New York Times, Billy Collins is famous for conversational, witty poems that welcome readers with humor but often slip into quirky, tender or profound observation on the everyday, reading and writing, and poetry itself.
Collins has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the New York Foundation for the Arts and has taught at Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence, and Lehman College, City University of New York, where he is a Distinguished Professor. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute in Florida, and a faculty member at the State University of New York-Stonybrook. (The Poetry Foundation)
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I LOVE this poem for the simple reason I’m a horrible flyer! A real worst case scenario person! Felt like he was in my head when I read it the first time. Love this guy!
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Passengers
At the gate, I sit in a row of blue seats
with the possible company of my death,
this sprawling miscellany of people –
carry-on bags and paperbacks –
that could be gathered in a flash
into a band of pilgrims on the last open road.
Not that I think
if our plane crumpled into a mountain
we would all ascend together,
holding hands like a ring of sky divers,
into a sudden gasp of brightness,
or that there would be some common spot
for us to reunite to jubilize the moment,
some spaceless, pillarless Greece
where we could, at the count of three,
toss our ashes into the sunny air.
It’s just that the way that man has his briefcase
so carefully arranged,
the way that girl is cooling her tea,
and the flow of the comb that woman
passes through her daughter’s hair…
and when you consider the altitude,
the secret parts of the engines,
and all the hard water and the deep canyons below…
well, I just think it would be good if one of us
maybe stood up and said a few words,
or, so as not to involve the police,
at least quietly wrote something down.
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Picture Credit: www.dinnerpartydownload.org
Impromptu Promptlings 
“He is a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York and is the Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute, Florida.”
I’m ROTFL… I actually read that as Disgruntled LOL
Sort of like how Andy Rooney was proud of being a curmudgeon. 😀
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He’d probably find that pretty funny. 😀
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There are so many Poets who go unheard, so many who write and may offend but tell the truth Was Walt Whitman ever a Poet Laureate. I think it is a snobbish thing here. Very interesting response Cheryl thank you.
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Nope. I checked. He never was.
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No I did not think he was, he was so vilified in his lifetime but declared a hero on his death, like Walter Benton he was another ignored until too late – so much beauty out there that deserves more – you know where I an going Cheryl and I will keep up the fight.
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Yes, dear heart. I know well of whom you speak. 🙂
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Why do all Poet Laureates have to have Degrees – surely they should be judged on their work only, snobbish.
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That’s actually a very interesting question. I poked around on the internet and couldn’t find anywhere it said a degree was a requirement. Yet looking at a list of past US poets, they all had at least a BA. In the US they are appointed by the Library of Congress. But here’s a bit of the history of Poet Laureate. I do agree with you, btw. They certainly should be judged on their work alone. But is it possible that the only people who write poetry and get their names out there are ones with some kind of further education? I love S. Thomas Summers’ stuff, for example. And he’s a teacher.
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, who is often expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. The Italians Albertino Mussato and Francesco Petrarca were the first to be crowned poets laureate after the classical age,[citation needed] respectively in 1315 and 1342. In Britain, the term dates from the appointment of Bernard André by Henry VII of England. In modern times, the title may also be conferred by an organization such as the Poetry Foundation, which has a designated Children’s Poet Laureate.[1] Other examples are the Pikes Peak Poet Laureate,[2] which is designated by a “Presenting Partners” group from within the community; the Minnesota Poet Laureate chosen by the League of Minnesota Poets (est. 1934);[3] the Northampton Poet Laureate[4] chosen by the Northampton Arts Council,[5] and the Martha’s Vineyard Poet Laureate chosen by ten judges representing the Martha’s Vineyard Poetry Society.
Over a dozen national governments continue the poet laureate tradition.
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