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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What can I say about Billy Collins? His writing is just so common that I can totally identify with what he’s written. He’s one of the few poets whose books I actually buy. It’s easy for me to see why he was dubbed “the most popular poet in American.” He just takes life and makes it into an uncomplicated poem…
Absence
This morning as low clouds
skidded over the spires of the city
I found next to a bench
in the park an ivory chess piece –
the white knight as it turned out –
and in the pigeon-ruffling wind
I wondered where all the others were,
lined up somewhere
on their red and black squares,
many of them feeling uneasy
about the saltshaker
that was taking his place,
and all of them secretly longing
for the moment
when the white horse
would reappear out of nowhere
and advance toward the board
with his distinctive motion,
stepping forward, then sideways
before advancing again –
the same move I was making him do
over and over in the sunny field of my palm.
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No Time
In a rush this weekday morning,
I tap the horn as I speed past the cemetery
where my parents are buried
side by side beneath a slab of smooth granite.
Then, all day, I think of him rising up
to give me that look
of knowing disapproval
while my mother calmly tells him to lie back down.
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Christmas Sparrow
The first thing I heard this morning
was a rapid flapping sound, soft, insistent—
wings against glass as it turned out
downstairs when I saw the small bird
rioting in the frame of a high window,
trying to hurl itself through
the enigma of glass into the spacious light.
Then a noise in the throat of the cat
who was hunkered on the rug
told me how the bird had gotten inside,
carried in the cold night
through the flap of a basement door,
and later released from the soft grip of teeth.
On a chair, I trapped its pulsations
in a shirt and got it to the door,
so weightless it seemed
to have vanished into the nest of cloth.
But outside, when I uncupped my hands,
it burst into its element,
dipping over the dormant garden
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Here’s a little bonus, billy Collins talking about how many poems he writes that no one ever sees…
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Picture Source: larybloom.net
I love Billy Collins and you shared three poems I had never read before. Thanks! In his poem Absence, I loved the image of a salt shaker in place of the missing chess piece and all the other chess pieces feeling uneasy about the replacement. I love how he so often uses the mundane to encourage the reader to notice the unusual in the common. I shared the video with my writers’ group just now. I always enjoy hearing about process.
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I’m glad they were new to you. I had just bought one of his books. The whole idea of process fascinates me, too. I used to think it was because I was searching for a process that would “work” for me. But recently I’ve come to believe my interests — not just with poetry but with inner work as well — are actually about the processes themselves. Does that make sense?
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Yes, it does! I used to teach freshman comp at a local university and I had this process I taught. Then one semester a student told me “I don’t like that process.” That really got me thinking. (I loved teaching because I learned so much with that job!) Since then I have so enjoyed hearing the variety of processes writers use. I loved how Collins said that sometimes a good poem emerges from the failures. I can so relate!
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I thought that was interesting, too. And how he usually KNEW before he even got a few lines into the poem that it wouldn’t work. Amazing.
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Thank you for introducing me to Billy Collins. Indeed, I do enjoy his poems.
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I love playing match maker with poets! 😀
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Hmm. I have a hard time getting into poetry, although I’ve often enjoyed your Friday Favorites and been pleasantly surprised as I’m introduced to a new poet whose work I actually like. I wonder if one of the reasons that I think I don’t like poetry in general is that I don’t like Billy Collins’ poetry, and it’s so ubiquitous. I’ve had it recommended to me so many times (especially when I tell people that I’m not a poetry fan!) and I still can’t stand it. Especially his poem called “Introduction to Poetry.” Sorry 😉
But I’ll keep coming back to Friday Favorites because there are more hits than misses!
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LOL All I can say is keep looking. You never know when someone might surprise you! 😀
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Love the No Time one !
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Reminded me of our waving goodbye ritual with my dad. 🙂
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Wow, a fantastic post to find on my catch up visit with you here. I really enjoyed reading those poems and moreso listening to the poet speak in the video clip. I’ll look out for more of his work.
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Thanks, hon. Yeah, I really LIKE poems I can understand!!! LOL
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