Tell It, Brother!
Thanks to Walt for sending this to me. If you'd like to share a poem or thought or anything whatsoever, email me at alphabetrock@yahoo.com, or post a comment.
The Trouble with Poetry
By Billy Collins
Credit: Corbis Images
Billy Collins, the U.S. poet laureate from 2001 to 2003, is the author of seven collections of poetry and is a distinguished professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York. He serves as the poet laureate of New York state.
Copyright 2006 © The George Lucas Educational Foundation www.glef.org
Download a PDF of this article
The Trouble with Poetry
By Billy Collins
The trouble with poetry, I realized
as I walked along a beach one night--
cold Florida sand under my bare feet,
a show of stars in the sky--
as I walked along a beach one night--
cold Florida sand under my bare feet,
a show of stars in the sky--
the trouble with poetry is
that it encourages the writing of more poetry,
more guppies crowding the fish tank,
more baby rabbits
hopping out of their mothers into the dewy grass.
that it encourages the writing of more poetry,
more guppies crowding the fish tank,
more baby rabbits
hopping out of their mothers into the dewy grass.
And how will it ever end?
unless the day finally arrives
when we have compared everything in the world
to everything else in the world,
unless the day finally arrives
when we have compared everything in the world
to everything else in the world,
and there is nothing left to do
but quietly close our notebooks
and sit with our hands folded on our desks.
but quietly close our notebooks
and sit with our hands folded on our desks.
Poetry fills me with joy
and I rise like a feather in the wind.
Poetry fills me with sorrow
and I sink like a chain flung from a bridge.
and I rise like a feather in the wind.
Poetry fills me with sorrow
and I sink like a chain flung from a bridge.
But mostly poetry fills me
with the urge to write poetry,
to sit in the dark and wait for a little flame
to appear at the tip of my pencil.
with the urge to write poetry,
to sit in the dark and wait for a little flame
to appear at the tip of my pencil.
And along with that, the longing to steal,
to break into the poems of others
with a flashlight and a ski mask.
to break into the poems of others
with a flashlight and a ski mask.
And what an unmerry band of thieves we are,
cut-purses, common shoplifters,
I thought to myself
as a cold wave swirled around my feet
and the lighthouse moved its megaphone over the sea,
which is an image I stole directly
from Lawrence Ferlinghetti--
to be perfectly honest for a moment--
cut-purses, common shoplifters,
I thought to myself
as a cold wave swirled around my feet
and the lighthouse moved its megaphone over the sea,
which is an image I stole directly
from Lawrence Ferlinghetti--
to be perfectly honest for a moment--
the bicycling poet of San Francisco
whose little amusement park of a book
I carried in a side pocket of my uniform
up and down the treacherous halls of high school.
whose little amusement park of a book
I carried in a side pocket of my uniform
up and down the treacherous halls of high school.
Credit: Corbis Images
Billy Collins, the U.S. poet laureate from 2001 to 2003, is the author of seven collections of poetry and is a distinguished professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York. He serves as the poet laureate of New York state.
Copyright 2006 © The George Lucas Educational Foundation www.glef.org
Download a PDF of this articleThis article is also published in Edutopia magazine's June 2006 issue.
posted by yelhsacrow at 10:55 AM
3 Comments:
I have been enjoying Mr. Collins' readings on Prairie Home Companion for years. If you would like to hear him read this poem, the show is archived at
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2005/12/31/
Other shows with him reading include:
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/19980131/
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/20021130/
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/20020420/
Enjoy!
Thanks, I'll check that out!
Oh, this poem is absolutely beautiful. I love the feather in the wind and chain flung. It's the first I've heard of Billy Collins. I'll be looking out for him. Cheers from Singapore!
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