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Introduction To Poetry by Billy Collins   
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  Introduction To Poetry

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  I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

Billy Collins


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Read poems about / on: poem, light, poetry

 
  Comments about this poem (Introduction To Poetry by Billy Collins )
Click here to write your comments about this poem (Introduction To Poetry by Billy Collins )
 
  Sandra Andrew  (6/3/2009 11:43:00 AM)

His poem was touching, makes you feel different ways about the poem.
  Bob Beers  (12/27/2008 4:07:00 PM)

DEAR BILLY COLLINS

Where’s the one
where you crawl under skin
pierce the bad man’s heart
get dirty with the homeless
save the world from annihilation?

You waterski and wave,
dropp a mouse and feel for a switch,
press an ear and see the light.

Superman, yes!
Or is it Clark Kent?

I see you working at the Planet
reclined in your favorite chair
more powerful than a locomotive.
Feel you forming your next word,
bending steal with bare hands.

But, where’s the one that speaks
of pain, of fear, of vice and sin?

I want to be your neighbor on Lois Lane
lined with elm trees and picket fence.

Very truly yours, Bob Beers


(Sorry, the system insists on placing an extra p in drop.)
  Terrence Loth  (10/2/2008 4:01:00 PM)

Just discovered Billy Collins today! He himself holds up an idea like a multifaceted crystal and as it rotates he translates the light into such evocative and accessable poetry. Wonderful.
  Robert Howard  (5/20/2008 10:22:00 PM)

...tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

Literary analysis in a nutshell!
  J.t Singh  (2/21/2007 7:54:00 PM)

wat does it mean bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
  Meredith Bullock  (12/18/2006 9:03:00 PM)

i love this poem billy collins! ! ! it puts into words exactly how i want to see poetry.
  James Morrison  (10/23/2006 12:57:00 PM)

this is by far one of the coolest poems i have ever read.
other things i enjoy include;
potatos and potato including treats.
loud music and fishing.
  Brian Dorn  (7/25/2006 9:59:00 AM)

We'd like to think every poem has this profound, deep rooted meaning. We tend to analyze and analyze until we (in many cases) over analyze. Maybe the meanings are closer to the surface than we think?
  Dylan Da Man  (6/4/2006 7:49:00 PM)

CHEEUH i did this for a school project

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