Billy Collins
Billy Collins
William James "Billy" Collinsis an American poet, appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. 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 Libraryand selected as the New York State Poet for 2004 through 2006. He isa teacher in the MFA program at Stony Brook...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth22 March 1941
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
Emily Dickinson never developed. She remained loyal to her persona and to that same little metrical song that stood her in such good stead. She is a striking example of complexity within a simple package. Her rhymes are like bows on the package.
I'm a great believer in poetry out of the classroom, in public places, on subways, trains, on cocktail napkins. I'd rather have my poems on the subway than around the seminar table at an MFA program.
Humor, for me, is really a gate of departure. It's a way of enticing a reader into a poem so that less funny things can take place later. It really is not an end in itself, but a means to an end.
I first came across 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' in college, with other anthologized poems by Yeats.
I learned snails don't have ears. They live in silence. They go slowly. Slowly, slowly in silence.
I think 'accessible' just means that the reader can walk into the poem without difficulty. The poem is not, as someone put it, deflective of entry.
I'll listen to anything authentic whether it's bluegrass or gospel or blues.
I'm a nearly uncontrollable Geoff Dyer fan, who I think is one of the most comically brilliant writers today.
I'm an only child, and I can take all the attention you manage to pile on me.
I'm easily frightened, and I've also come to realize that old Catholic guilt or remorse is easily stimulated.
I'm going through life's cycles at an alarmingly fast pace, but my persona has a Peter Pan quality: he doesn't age.
Poems are perfect for something to listen to while you're walking around because they don't take very long.
The poets who have written the best poems about war seem to be the poets whose countries have experienced an invasion or vicious dictatorships.
The public is probably more suspicious of poets than women, and maybe for good reason.