The poet Stephen Dunn writes, "We seem to always know where we are in a Billy Collins poem, but not necessarily where he is going. I love to arrive with him at his arrivals. He doesn't hide things from us, as I think lesser poets do. He allows us to overhear, clearly, what he himself has discovered."
Billy takes the ordinary and adds humor or gives it a twist. Enjoy his take on how to encourage students nudge a poem into creation.
| Introduction to Poetry | ||
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.
| ||
| by Billy Colllins Creative Write: Take a tip from Billy and drop a critter into your writing today. Try a squirrel or a songbird. Choose an insect . GIve it a name, let it speak and probe its way out. Don't worry about producing poetry, just follow your creature's lead. | ||
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