Billy Collins, Poet Laureate

I enjoy reading poetry. I also enjoy listening to audio books when I’m in the car. So what a treat last night when I found an audio presentation of U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins reading some of his work.

Actually, it is a recording of a live reading, apparently sponsored by National Public Radio because the speaker introducing him begins by saying that before they can begin he will be doing a pledge drive. The audience laughs heartily at the inside joke because it does seem whenever NPR has something especially good for its listeners, it's Pledge Drive season.

Anyways, William “Billy” Collins is an American poet who served two terms as the U. S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003 as well as New York State Poet for 2004. I try to picture why he goes by Billy and not William or Bill. I would imagine his mom calling him William when he didn't eat his peas.

Billy Collins is the name and it fits because, like his poetry, it's unpretentious. There's a down-to-earth whimsical quality to a lot of his work. And though I don't much read what poetry critics say because I read to enjoy it, not to write a paper, I'm guessing that some critics might say he's too accessible to be considered "great." My opinion is that his work is a rich mother lode of entertainment and content, word play and imagery, and worth whatever time you invest to sit with him a spell. Especially when it's absolutely frigid cold like as it has been this week in Northern MN. Sit by a fireplace, curl up with Billy, and enjoy his company.

This one is from his book Sailing Alone Around the Room

Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark
hat he barks every time they leave the house.
They must switch him on on their way out.

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
I close all the windows in the house
and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast
but I can still hear him muffled under the music,

barking, barking, barking,
and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,
his head raised confidently as if Beethoven
had included a part for barking dog.

When the record finally ends he is still barking,
sitting there in the oboe section barking,
his eyes fixed on the conductor who is
entreating him with his baton

while the other musicians listen in respectful
silence to the famous barking dog solo,
that endless coda that first established
Beethoven as an innovative genius.


For a few other comments along this line, read my blog entry The Love of Poetry & Other Surprises. And if you want to take a chance on a handful of poems that I've penned, here are a few early favorites.


And, finally, here is a link to a whole lot of other poems by Mr. Collins, who really is a national treasure.